Is World In Conflict the next great strategy title?
26, June, 2006
Is World In Conflict the next great strategy title?
Developer Massive Entertainment's previous work, the "Ground Control" series, may not have had the exposure of some more high-profile RTS titles.
However, that doesn't mean that "Ground Control" didn't deserve to be top-shelf -- the outstanding graphics and unique approach to combat were easily worthy of triple-A status.
The studio's next project, "World In Conflict," is ratcheting up the "Ground Control" design philosophy to the next level. Besides moving the setting to a full-scale Cold War scenario and evolving the overall design and technology of the game, Massive is putting serious work into the multiplayer aspect -- arguably the most important part of any RTS.
If you've ever had the pleasure of playing "Ground Control," you'll instantly be familiar with the basic premise of "WIC." There is no resource gathering, there is no base-building; there is only fighting. However, the low-level tactical fighting that makes up the vast majority of "WIC's" gameplay is much deeper than the typical "grab a bunch of troops and attack-move" RTS formula. You'll have to take into account the landscape and available cover; as well as effectively manage artillery, tanks, foot soldiers and support powers like airstrikes. Not to mention that the very surroundings can drastically change over the course of a battle -- "WIC" boasts an incredibly robust environmental destruction system and the map design to make it a real gameplay factor.
The final pieces of the "WIC" puzzle are the four specialist roles that players will be able to choose from at the beginning of a match. These will affect what support powers you'll be able to call on during a game, but more importantly, how much your units cost you to deploy. An air-focused commander will still be able to call in tanks, but they'll take up a much larger chunk of his available resources than they would for an armor specialist. As you would expect, this will be a central factor in online play -- a team that can play to each others' strengths and cover their weaknesses will easily steamroll a bunch of newbs who think that an old-fashioned C&C tank rush will get the job done.
Speaking of online, "WIC" sounds like it'll be ready to hang with the big kids on the block in that arena as well. Massive's proprietary Massgate online portal will make finding matches and creating clans easy, as well as tracking various stats for both solo and team play. A ladder system will let you compete for the bragging rights that come along with ranking, and Massive is planning on running tournaments to boot. And, of course, the online community will be able to take advantage of fully-featured map editors and mod tools as well.
All in all, there's not a whole lot more that we could wish for out of "World In Conflict." It's just too bad that we still have to wait a whole year to play it.
Source: Kansas.com the Wichita eagle