Jacque Schtrapp
03-27-2004, 00:32
April's PC Gamer hails a "Realtime Strategy Revolution" and does a short two page bit about the top ten RTS titles due out this year.
The third one up is RTW. The opening page is a two page shot of a massive battle featuring the Romans in blue armor under a blue wolfhead banner fighting barbarians in red under a red dragon banner. The Units are HUGE It would appear that each one contains 200 soldiers at least. At the bottom of the second page is a picture of a battle in a city. There is even artwork hanging on a wall in the background of the battle. This shot features a Roman legionaire about to smack a hoplite in the back of the head with his sword. It also shows fire, smoke, and a crumbled wall. Everything is gorgeous and the close up images of the soldiers do nothing to diminish the graphical quality of the screengrabs.
Mike Simpson, CA's creative director, give's a short talk about how there will be a learning tutorial and how easy it will be for first time players. But, since you are reading this on the Org, I'll assume you already know how to play TW games: kill, kill, kill.
20 Factions total including Macedon, Egypt, Dacia, Spain, and Carthage. Sentence ends with the ever vague "...and many more" phrase.
Initially you will only be able to play one of the three Roman factions and once you complete a campaign as the Romans you will unlock around 8 more factions. The design team is still trying to decide which 8. (Modders sharpen up your coding skills, I expect to be able to play any and all factions before RTW has been out a week)
6 major cultures, each with it's own tech tree with an optimized and "intuitive" build order. Some units will be shared but they state that there are many unique units.
They talk a little about diplomatic options such as agreeing not to attack in exchange for trading rights and selling cities for cash. They also say that arranged marriages will play a larger role allowing factions to bring "promising generals into the family."
The article moves on to talk about the combat aspect of RTW. PC Gamer states that "CA has also streamlined the combat to make it easier to control while offering a more cinematic presentation." The User Interface has been revamped and a new method of command has been established allowing the player to split the army into 3 section and give command of two of those sections to AI subcommanders who will follow strategic orders. There is also a new AI Helper that does thing like maker certain that the end of the lines meet when deploying into custom formations.
Special units include elephants, scorpions, rams, ladders, and artillery. PC Gamer says "Having seen these new units in actions, we can honestly say that we have never witnessed RTS battles that so perfectly capture the epic, brutal nature of ancient warfare."
Brief mention that there will be a multiplayer campaign and that head to head competition is still available also. Multiplayer will be available via online and LAN.
PC Gamer then ends the article by stating that as expected, RTW will be the new standard bearer for all RTS games.
Finally they mention a blurb about Time Commanders and go on to state that a pilot show called Total War has been filmed and is being shown to various bigshots in the American television industry. No more details on that yet.
PC Gamer still estimates that the release date will be Fall 2004.
The third one up is RTW. The opening page is a two page shot of a massive battle featuring the Romans in blue armor under a blue wolfhead banner fighting barbarians in red under a red dragon banner. The Units are HUGE It would appear that each one contains 200 soldiers at least. At the bottom of the second page is a picture of a battle in a city. There is even artwork hanging on a wall in the background of the battle. This shot features a Roman legionaire about to smack a hoplite in the back of the head with his sword. It also shows fire, smoke, and a crumbled wall. Everything is gorgeous and the close up images of the soldiers do nothing to diminish the graphical quality of the screengrabs.
Mike Simpson, CA's creative director, give's a short talk about how there will be a learning tutorial and how easy it will be for first time players. But, since you are reading this on the Org, I'll assume you already know how to play TW games: kill, kill, kill.
20 Factions total including Macedon, Egypt, Dacia, Spain, and Carthage. Sentence ends with the ever vague "...and many more" phrase.
Initially you will only be able to play one of the three Roman factions and once you complete a campaign as the Romans you will unlock around 8 more factions. The design team is still trying to decide which 8. (Modders sharpen up your coding skills, I expect to be able to play any and all factions before RTW has been out a week)
6 major cultures, each with it's own tech tree with an optimized and "intuitive" build order. Some units will be shared but they state that there are many unique units.
They talk a little about diplomatic options such as agreeing not to attack in exchange for trading rights and selling cities for cash. They also say that arranged marriages will play a larger role allowing factions to bring "promising generals into the family."
The article moves on to talk about the combat aspect of RTW. PC Gamer states that "CA has also streamlined the combat to make it easier to control while offering a more cinematic presentation." The User Interface has been revamped and a new method of command has been established allowing the player to split the army into 3 section and give command of two of those sections to AI subcommanders who will follow strategic orders. There is also a new AI Helper that does thing like maker certain that the end of the lines meet when deploying into custom formations.
Special units include elephants, scorpions, rams, ladders, and artillery. PC Gamer says "Having seen these new units in actions, we can honestly say that we have never witnessed RTS battles that so perfectly capture the epic, brutal nature of ancient warfare."
Brief mention that there will be a multiplayer campaign and that head to head competition is still available also. Multiplayer will be available via online and LAN.
PC Gamer then ends the article by stating that as expected, RTW will be the new standard bearer for all RTS games.
Finally they mention a blurb about Time Commanders and go on to state that a pilot show called Total War has been filmed and is being shown to various bigshots in the American television industry. No more details on that yet.
PC Gamer still estimates that the release date will be Fall 2004.