Monk
06-04-2003, 21:24
taken from a preview of R:TW on ugo.com, i dont know if you all have read it, but if nothing else it can be sat in the pile of all those other nice previews we have seen here.
Quote[/b] ]
Over the past decade, we've seen many a large battle scene in movies. Everything from Braveheart to Lord of the Rings has featured a people-heavy clash in which thousands run at thousands, arms flailing, soldiers screaming and dying by the handful. And, while we've seen several RTS games bring these grand battles to life in pre-rendered form, there's never really been a strategy game that made you believe you are in control of it all...that you could rush with your pikemen or call in your heavy infantry whenever you wanted...that you could mortar the main gates or try to bust it down with man-power. Not in the thousands, that is, until Rome: Total War.
The critically acclaimed Total War series has always been lauded for its massive battles. The previous games in the series (namely the Shogun and Medieval versions), featured RTS combat with armies numbering in the hundreds. The conflicts were fierce, strategic, and an overall blast. But with that said, the games didn't look especially good, graphically. Due to the number of units, each had to be rather limited in its detail and animation. The result was that you had fields lined with hundreds of soldiers that looked about as realistic as plastic army men
So imagine my surprise when I sat down with some guys from Creative Assembly (the Total War gurus), to take a look at their latest in the franchise, Rome: Total War. This game looks bloody fantastic. Each individual unit is now articulated with fully 3D animations, and modeled with utmost precision. Roman gladiators and legionnaires come equipped with massive shields and Marvin the Martian-esque brush hats. Horses having flailing tails and powerful strides. Catapults will rock with the momentum of each hurl. And, contrary to the game's moniker, the units aren't limited to Roman warriors. You'll see everything from the Arabian war hounds to the Egyptian special guard. And the famous elephants of the Carthanginians? Well, you'd best be packin' peanuts, because they make a strong showing.
What's so impressive about the game's engine is that even with the detail on each unit, the engine is still able to handle thousands of units on the screen (the official word is 10,000-plus at once!http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif. Obviously, when you zoom out, the models become slightly less detailed, but not to the point at which they look bad. In fact, it's at a distance that you'll be playing most of the game, and it's probably the most impressive view of them all. Just seeing a strong regiment of archers laying siege to an enemy city with flaming arrows is enough to make me smile. But when a team of elephants rides into that tight regiment, hurling and stomping unlucky bastards as they flee in terror, I just gotta do a jig.
Another improvement in the game engine involves in-depth unit interaction during combat. Whereas most RTS games feature minimal interaction when fighting (i.e., point rifle at enemy and fire), the units in Rome: Total War will actually battle each other. You'll see gladiators fighting, knocking enemies over with their shields and stabbing them while they're down. You'll see invading barbarian hordes throwing up ladders (Helm's Deep, anyone?) for easy entry into castle courtyards. You'll even see defending heroes pushing those invaders off the walls to their doom. It's this in-depth interaction among the units that really sells the game as a war of soldiers rather than a war of statistics.
But, surprisingly, the whole procedure is extremely statistics based. Higher terrain will give your ranged units an advantage, and heavy rain will cause your men to slow their pace, leaving them searching for a foothold. Hell, even morale is calculated, so if you start losing a ton of men within the first few minutes of the war, the remaining few might just turn tail. The system is in-depth, for sure, but you'll never have to worry about what's going on under the hood. The developers' idea is to keep all the statistics behind the scenes, so you'll never deal with percentage signs and 12-sided dice. What you're left with is a straight action-based RTS, for the majority of the game.
There is, however, a large strategy portion, similar to that of past Total War games. When not in battle, you'll be playing a trumped-up version of Risk, sending armies into foreign lands, conquering territory, and protecting weak assets. The only difference is that, when you run into an enemy's base, a dice roll is replaced by a full-on RTS battle to capture the town. Just a tad more interesting than board game night, no?
And Creative Assembly is also taking steps to ensure that their audience of History Channel fanatics is appeased by including real rulers from the time period. You'll be able to take on leaders from Julius Caesar to Hannibal to the Egyptian Pharaoh, some of whom might be in the field when you try to take their territory. And, as we all know, cut off the head, and the body goes with it. Killing the major units will deal a significant blow to your enemy's morale, so aim for those crowns, people.
OK, granted, Rome: Total War is not pitting orcs against elves for the battle of the Ring, but I don't care. The intense real world skirmishes are making me pine for some stomping elephants of my own. And besides, the developers have stated that they plan on making the game fully customizable, so if any modders out there are feeling particularly ambitious, we might just see a Lord of the Rings RTS at a scale worthy of the movies. As for release dates, Rome: Total War is currently in the "When it's done, it's done" pile of games I can't wait for, but keep an eye on this one. It's going to blow the roof off the strategy genre and then send some pachyderms to stomp on the remains.
Quote[/b] ]
Over the past decade, we've seen many a large battle scene in movies. Everything from Braveheart to Lord of the Rings has featured a people-heavy clash in which thousands run at thousands, arms flailing, soldiers screaming and dying by the handful. And, while we've seen several RTS games bring these grand battles to life in pre-rendered form, there's never really been a strategy game that made you believe you are in control of it all...that you could rush with your pikemen or call in your heavy infantry whenever you wanted...that you could mortar the main gates or try to bust it down with man-power. Not in the thousands, that is, until Rome: Total War.
The critically acclaimed Total War series has always been lauded for its massive battles. The previous games in the series (namely the Shogun and Medieval versions), featured RTS combat with armies numbering in the hundreds. The conflicts were fierce, strategic, and an overall blast. But with that said, the games didn't look especially good, graphically. Due to the number of units, each had to be rather limited in its detail and animation. The result was that you had fields lined with hundreds of soldiers that looked about as realistic as plastic army men
So imagine my surprise when I sat down with some guys from Creative Assembly (the Total War gurus), to take a look at their latest in the franchise, Rome: Total War. This game looks bloody fantastic. Each individual unit is now articulated with fully 3D animations, and modeled with utmost precision. Roman gladiators and legionnaires come equipped with massive shields and Marvin the Martian-esque brush hats. Horses having flailing tails and powerful strides. Catapults will rock with the momentum of each hurl. And, contrary to the game's moniker, the units aren't limited to Roman warriors. You'll see everything from the Arabian war hounds to the Egyptian special guard. And the famous elephants of the Carthanginians? Well, you'd best be packin' peanuts, because they make a strong showing.
What's so impressive about the game's engine is that even with the detail on each unit, the engine is still able to handle thousands of units on the screen (the official word is 10,000-plus at once!http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif. Obviously, when you zoom out, the models become slightly less detailed, but not to the point at which they look bad. In fact, it's at a distance that you'll be playing most of the game, and it's probably the most impressive view of them all. Just seeing a strong regiment of archers laying siege to an enemy city with flaming arrows is enough to make me smile. But when a team of elephants rides into that tight regiment, hurling and stomping unlucky bastards as they flee in terror, I just gotta do a jig.
Another improvement in the game engine involves in-depth unit interaction during combat. Whereas most RTS games feature minimal interaction when fighting (i.e., point rifle at enemy and fire), the units in Rome: Total War will actually battle each other. You'll see gladiators fighting, knocking enemies over with their shields and stabbing them while they're down. You'll see invading barbarian hordes throwing up ladders (Helm's Deep, anyone?) for easy entry into castle courtyards. You'll even see defending heroes pushing those invaders off the walls to their doom. It's this in-depth interaction among the units that really sells the game as a war of soldiers rather than a war of statistics.
But, surprisingly, the whole procedure is extremely statistics based. Higher terrain will give your ranged units an advantage, and heavy rain will cause your men to slow their pace, leaving them searching for a foothold. Hell, even morale is calculated, so if you start losing a ton of men within the first few minutes of the war, the remaining few might just turn tail. The system is in-depth, for sure, but you'll never have to worry about what's going on under the hood. The developers' idea is to keep all the statistics behind the scenes, so you'll never deal with percentage signs and 12-sided dice. What you're left with is a straight action-based RTS, for the majority of the game.
There is, however, a large strategy portion, similar to that of past Total War games. When not in battle, you'll be playing a trumped-up version of Risk, sending armies into foreign lands, conquering territory, and protecting weak assets. The only difference is that, when you run into an enemy's base, a dice roll is replaced by a full-on RTS battle to capture the town. Just a tad more interesting than board game night, no?
And Creative Assembly is also taking steps to ensure that their audience of History Channel fanatics is appeased by including real rulers from the time period. You'll be able to take on leaders from Julius Caesar to Hannibal to the Egyptian Pharaoh, some of whom might be in the field when you try to take their territory. And, as we all know, cut off the head, and the body goes with it. Killing the major units will deal a significant blow to your enemy's morale, so aim for those crowns, people.
OK, granted, Rome: Total War is not pitting orcs against elves for the battle of the Ring, but I don't care. The intense real world skirmishes are making me pine for some stomping elephants of my own. And besides, the developers have stated that they plan on making the game fully customizable, so if any modders out there are feeling particularly ambitious, we might just see a Lord of the Rings RTS at a scale worthy of the movies. As for release dates, Rome: Total War is currently in the "When it's done, it's done" pile of games I can't wait for, but keep an eye on this one. It's going to blow the roof off the strategy genre and then send some pachyderms to stomp on the remains.