PC Player.dk | 09/06/03
Striking historical realism and the joy of good, action-minded storytelling is on the menu for Rick Goodman's team at Stainless Steel Studios. In Empires: Dawn of the Modern World -- a game, that balances between niche and "mainstream"
While thousands of fat and lazy Danes have held parties on the beach during this warm summer, Stainless Steel Studios, on the other side of the earth, have been working on the RTS game Empires: Dawn of the Modern World, which is now quickly nearing its release. Due to this fact, we have taken a closer look at the game; it is complex in an intuitive way, and very well could be the logical continuer of the RTS revolution that Microsoft's Rise of Nations started in an else stagnated genre.
Epic Extravagance
Unlike all the other competitors in the RTS genre since Civilization and Dune, does the former Age of Empires designer Rick Goodman leave the old conventions in RTS games that made all civilizations/countries/factions have units that not only had the same abilities, but also looked alike: "For the first time in an historical RTS, we wanted to have completely unique civilisations, so the gamers could experience each civilizations technology, culture, military and economic strengths and weaknesses." The result is a game with seven unique civilizations, where no one civilization shares a unit; units that are strikingly unique and can create tactic dimensions that aren't just a part of the basic attack, guard, and patrol commands. It isn't only the units, but also the way that you play each civilization and the possible upgrades each gets, that are unique.
The Americans can, by radio transmits and patriotism, have the enemy units deflect and join them, the German's nazi inspired fanatical programs secures German Storm-Troopers, and with their gigantic war-drums, the Chinese can strike fear into their enemies– just to mention a very, very, small amount of the epic game Stainless Steel Studios is creating.
From Hastings to Stalingrad
In the 1,000 years Empires covers, the player can relive classic battles like Hastings (1066), Waterloo (1815) or Stalingrad (1942), and does so with the historical realism, really playing their role with the civilization-determined tactics: "The game is more about how you use your units than what units you've got" Goodman claims and continues with a couple of examples from the german civilization in World War 1: "Should I use my 88mm units against tanks or planes? Should I place my sergeant in the back and command my troops or should I let them use the powerful Panzerfausts? Shall my Zepperlins bomb? Or scout the enemy? Or should they transport units behind enemy lines?" You'll have to make many manor tactic decissions likes those in Empires and you'll have to make them during the whole game, and furthermore the options to flight the enemy either via larger or more advanced armies seems nicely balanced.
Besides the ability to recreate those classic battles, there will be 3 campaigns in Empires. The first follows Richard the Lionhearted in the middle ages in his fight against English traitors and a French invasion, in the second, you are a Korean general in 1592 defending against a Japanese invasion force of 100,000 men with a much smaller navy and fewer resources. In the third campaign, you play as General Patton in Sicily, D-Day and other historic confrontations. In other words: There should be enough to please any RTS player or history freak, and with several hundred hours of research by the workers at Stainless Steel, Empires could very well become the first game to remove the dust from the old history books and animate history!
Bordeaux-Colered Bloodbaths
With over 250 unique units and around 100 technologies, balancing the seven civilizations in Empires is quite complicated, because, (unlike its competitors) this game doesn't just let archers from one civilization equal archers from another civilization, but as Rick Goodman explains tries to create balance through unbalance: "Our goal is not to have Chinese archers be of the same strength as English archers, but give each civilization special strengths and weaknesses. This might sound anti-progressive when it comes to balance, the goal is to create balance through civilizations that are using completely different strategies and units" This of course demands more of the AI and the gamer, but should open a more free and creative angle the RTS-genre, a genre that has been standing still for way to long,
While the resource part of Empires just consists of the tradional wood, stone, gold and food, it looks like no other RTS before. Empires' graphics build on an improved Empire Earth engine and shows 4 times as many polygons, gives huge zoom options and a very promising particle system. The last can be seen in the E3-trailer for Empires and means that, together with the good animations, soldiers can get their feet or arms blown off and that blood stains gradually will give the uniforms a beatiful bordeaux color. Furthermore, destroyed tanks, artillery, etc. be in the war zone -- elements that have been a part of FPS games for a long time and will add a new dimension to the RTS games.
From the elite to the masses
As a part of Mr. Goodman's fight to capture both the elite and the masses, Empires have 3 different multiplayer modes: "Empires Builder" will focus on the control of territory and hour long battles and will among other things have strong walls and towers which will make early attacks harder; "Action Mode" is 15-20 minutes offensive dishes that are made just for the hardcore gamers that wants to compete on the ladder; "Death Match" gives the player control of an huge amount of resources that then should be used ASAP. All of this and a server that includes a ladder, statistics and good match making options, just to name a few things. Additionally, Empires includes a scenario editor -- which Rick Goodman humbly calls "the most powerful of its kind" promises to add a bit more flavour to the dish.
With high ambitions and an energetic Rick Goodman controlling it all, it is getting harder and harder to stay pessimistic when it comes to Empires, a game that came out of nowhere, but promises so many things. With Empires it looks like the computer player finally will be able to embrace history completely. Be on the lookout for Empires this winter.
Note: This article has been translated from Danish to English. To see the original version, pick up the September 2003 edition of PC Player Magazine.
