UPCOMING RTS PHENOM TO PC GAMER
Massive Entertainment Reveals
27, march, 2006
MASSIVE ENTERTAINMENT REVEALS ITS UPCOMING RTS PHENOM TO PC GAMER AND ABSOLUTELY BLOWS OUR MINDS
"We felt that strategy gaming should evolve into an experience where the outcome is decided on the battlefield and where a superior tactician can turn the tide of war ... ";
MARTIN WALFISZ, CEO
The appeal of Real-Time Strategy games versus turn based conflicts is obvious, elevating combat from something akin to watching two stubbly old guys playing chess in the park to a gritty brawl in which every second wasted is a setback that could turn victory into a humiliating defeat. Over the years, RTS pioneers (including Westwood and Blizzard) have gradually introduced new elements, such as balanced but truly unique multiple sides/races, 3D graphics, and, of course, more sophisticated multiplayer action. And between large leaps in innovation, we've seen every fundamental element of real-time strategy games tweaked, polished, and refined. So how do you go about capturing the attention of loyal RTS fans who are still creating mods for games that they first played before they got their driver's licenses back in the '90s? That's the question we put to Massive Entertainment, the Sweden based devs behind Ground Control and Ground Control II: Operation Exodus, when they came by the PC Gamer compound to show off an early build of their amazing looking World in Conflict.
THE RED MENACE
World in Conflict's back story hinges on a question that anyone old enough to remember Ronald Reagan's presidency has at some point asked themselves: What if the Soviet Union hadn't collapsed and the Cold War heated up until it boiled over onto U.S. soil? hat if, instead of perestroika and glasnost, we got the middle finger and tactical nukes? We find out in a startlingly vivid and brutal introductory cutscene that shows Seattle under siege by the Reds, where the shiny building exteriors of the resurging 1980s economy are reduced to rubble and innocent u.s. citizens are gunned down in the streets.
Massive Entertainment CEO Martin Walfisz and Lead Game Designer Magnus "Soundboy" Jansen were quick to acknowledge that much of WiC was built on the all-action, all-the-time gameplay of their baby, the Ground Control series. "WiC uses elements that we started to explore way back with the original Ground Control," Walfisz tells us. Both Walfisz and Jansen agree that building a next generation RTS game begins with ditching resource gathering. In WiC, it has been replaced with "tactical aid" credits that you earn by taking over control points scattered throughout each map. These credits can then be spent on reinforcement units that are air dropped to you over the course of a game, creating the kind of 20-minute in-and-out experience you're likely to find in an online shooter. Not surprisingly, WiC feels (and flows) a lot like Battlefield 2 as a result. Clever. Massive Entertainment chose a contemporary setting for WiC, so that even beginners will be able to grasp tactical situations and the basic use of each weapon and unit. Players can even drop into a first person mode in order to, say, whip out a shoulder mounted missile launcher and reduce approaching tanks to scrap metal. "We felt that strategy gaming should evolve into an experience where the outcome is decided on the battlefield and where a superior tactician should be able to turn the tide of war even late in the match!" says Walfisz.
And the tide can turn many, many times throughout a game. As PC Gamer looked on, American ground troops, who were defending a small town in hilly terrain from the Russkis, began to advance toward a small bridge connecting one side of the town to the other. This, in turn, drew the Russian vanguard toward the bridge, forcing its infantry into a bottleneck. Having baited the Russians, the American forces began thinning out the herd while their tanks seized the Russian held control point from behind. Victory, however, was short lived: The Russians had accumulated enough tactical aid points to cash in for a light nuke, and tens of acres were instantly incinerated, reducing a once bucolic American town to soot. This is what Walfisz mildly describes as a "mood change, "when strategies must be instantly revoked and retooled.
"IT'S LIKE A HOLY WAR"
Even in the early build we viewed, it's obvious that Massive Entertainment's proprietary MassTech engine is capable of delivering astounding visuals and physics. Trees shudder and lean away from the chop of a helicopter blade, for example, and from the air you can even make out muzzle flashes from enemies trying to use brush for cover. Naturally, if your plan is to build an RTS that's accessible and enjoyable in short bursts, you're going to have to make sure that your backend technology helps online players get into your game quickly and easily. Jansen is particularly proud of Massgate, Massive Entertainment's homegrown multi player service. 'We've poured an enormous amount of time and dedication into Massgate," he explains. "It's like a holy sword that ruthlessly slays all headaches associated with getting online with or without your friends: [it packs a] lightning fast server browser, automatching, deeply integrated friends and clan support, cross server messaging, global ladder, etc." This dedication to technology that most players won't even think about unless it doesn't work belies the basic goal of WiCs developers: to create a next generation RTS that's all about action and teamplay. "We knew from the start that team play is paramount. No man is an island in WiC," says Jansen as he powers down his laptop. "Cooperation in World in Conflict's battles is instant, constant, and crucial." Instant and constant; perfect words to describe our anticipation for this truly next gen RTS.
~ LOGAN DECKER
SOURCE: forum.massive.se
... SOURCE: repost of an article of PC GAMER Magazine, USA, MAY