Fearless
05-14-2004, 09:53
This review I read by Yoink in the .com so our thanks to him. Interesting
Hello friends
Please allow me to introduce myself I go by "Yoink" and I've been an avid reader of this board for about 8 months now. I discovered Medieval: Total War about 9 months ago and have been hooked on it ever since The insight, advice and discussion on this board helped to make my game experience the best it could be, so for that, I have to give a BIG THANK YOU to all the regular contributors to this board. I thought it was only fair that I give something back.
Today, I went to E3 at the Convention Center in Downtown Los Angeles. Today, I saw many, many people playing Rome: Total War. Today, I got the shivers. I may actually have to break up with my girlfriend over this game (or more, specifically, she may break up with me.)
Here's the story:
For anyone that's ever been to E3 before, you know in the past it's been huge. HUGE. Well, this year was no exception. The Microsoft area took up almost 1/4 of an entire hall at the convention center. The Electronics Arts area was a feast for the eyes. The Nintendo area was kinda like a giant electronic carnaval. My buddy and I walked around for 2 hours in this maze of million-dollar sets and blazing laser light shows. Then, we came across the Activision area. I told my friend Simon, "Stop. We have to go in here."
I walked into the area and there it was...a whole section of the Activition area devoted strictly to Rome:Total War. It was amazing. Running on no less than 10 top-of-the-line machines was an almost totally complete version of Rome:Total War. I (nearly) fell over myself trying to get to the front of a small crowd that had grown around these computers for a better look. I ponied up to the first computer I could and started talking to this blonde haired guy who was playing RTW and talking to some other conventioneers about the game. The guy was wearing a red RTW t-shirt and an E3 "developer" badge and I quickly learned that he was one of the producers of RTW. He said his name was "Guy". He had a British accent. We started to talk. And then he started to show me the game.
First, I gotta say that RTW looks like a game that's *AT LEAST* three generations ahead of Medieval: Total War in terms of technology and production value. I remarked to Guy that it seems like there should be two or three games between MTW and RTW because the two look SO different. It's like there were some sequals that everyone missed. Guy told me that the engine for RTW was totally new, everything was rebuild, but they aimed for the same experience of play as MTW.
Now I know everyone has read the professional previews of RTW on gamespy and ign and avault, blah, blah, blah...so I'll talk about the things that JUMPED out at me (an avid MTW player) and the stuff that I think will REALLY interest other avid MTW players like you guys.
First, we all know that the sprite graphics for individual soldiers are gone. Each soldier is now rendered with 3-d polygon-type graphics. But what I didn't realize is what *AMAZING* detail and animation each soldier is given. When fully zoomed, each soldier, archer, commander, and horse have the same level of detail you would expect from a solid First-Person-Shooter game like Unreal Tournament 2004 or Call of Duty. I was STUNNED When standing at attention, each soldier shifted while standing in the heat, scratching their heads, fiddling with their swords, or looking at their commander. When marching, they all marched in step...kinda. Here and there, a soldier would get out of step, giving the whole appearance a much more lifelike appearance. It was a joy to behold.
Second...the archery graphics were AWESOME. One thing I was kinda disappointed in with MTW was how relatively poor the archery graphics were. Arrows were just kinda like blurry little grey lines that moved quickly across the screen and didn't seem to have any depth or substance to them after being fired. Not so in RTW. Squads of archers firing arrows in RTW light each arrow on fire, and then launch them in unison into the sky. Each arrow blazes to life with a firey burst and leaves a smoke trail behind it as it streaks towards the enemy. The arrows in MTW looked kinda pathetic. The arrows in RTW look (and I'm not exagurating) postively deadly. And when they strike enemy soldiers, depending on where they hit, they can knock a soldier over, decapitate him, spin him around, strike his shield, etc. I got my first shiver watching this.
(more later...I'm at work and my lunch hour is over.)
-Yoink
Hello friends
Please allow me to introduce myself I go by "Yoink" and I've been an avid reader of this board for about 8 months now. I discovered Medieval: Total War about 9 months ago and have been hooked on it ever since The insight, advice and discussion on this board helped to make my game experience the best it could be, so for that, I have to give a BIG THANK YOU to all the regular contributors to this board. I thought it was only fair that I give something back.
Today, I went to E3 at the Convention Center in Downtown Los Angeles. Today, I saw many, many people playing Rome: Total War. Today, I got the shivers. I may actually have to break up with my girlfriend over this game (or more, specifically, she may break up with me.)
Here's the story:
For anyone that's ever been to E3 before, you know in the past it's been huge. HUGE. Well, this year was no exception. The Microsoft area took up almost 1/4 of an entire hall at the convention center. The Electronics Arts area was a feast for the eyes. The Nintendo area was kinda like a giant electronic carnaval. My buddy and I walked around for 2 hours in this maze of million-dollar sets and blazing laser light shows. Then, we came across the Activision area. I told my friend Simon, "Stop. We have to go in here."
I walked into the area and there it was...a whole section of the Activition area devoted strictly to Rome:Total War. It was amazing. Running on no less than 10 top-of-the-line machines was an almost totally complete version of Rome:Total War. I (nearly) fell over myself trying to get to the front of a small crowd that had grown around these computers for a better look. I ponied up to the first computer I could and started talking to this blonde haired guy who was playing RTW and talking to some other conventioneers about the game. The guy was wearing a red RTW t-shirt and an E3 "developer" badge and I quickly learned that he was one of the producers of RTW. He said his name was "Guy". He had a British accent. We started to talk. And then he started to show me the game.
First, I gotta say that RTW looks like a game that's *AT LEAST* three generations ahead of Medieval: Total War in terms of technology and production value. I remarked to Guy that it seems like there should be two or three games between MTW and RTW because the two look SO different. It's like there were some sequals that everyone missed. Guy told me that the engine for RTW was totally new, everything was rebuild, but they aimed for the same experience of play as MTW.
Now I know everyone has read the professional previews of RTW on gamespy and ign and avault, blah, blah, blah...so I'll talk about the things that JUMPED out at me (an avid MTW player) and the stuff that I think will REALLY interest other avid MTW players like you guys.
First, we all know that the sprite graphics for individual soldiers are gone. Each soldier is now rendered with 3-d polygon-type graphics. But what I didn't realize is what *AMAZING* detail and animation each soldier is given. When fully zoomed, each soldier, archer, commander, and horse have the same level of detail you would expect from a solid First-Person-Shooter game like Unreal Tournament 2004 or Call of Duty. I was STUNNED When standing at attention, each soldier shifted while standing in the heat, scratching their heads, fiddling with their swords, or looking at their commander. When marching, they all marched in step...kinda. Here and there, a soldier would get out of step, giving the whole appearance a much more lifelike appearance. It was a joy to behold.
Second...the archery graphics were AWESOME. One thing I was kinda disappointed in with MTW was how relatively poor the archery graphics were. Arrows were just kinda like blurry little grey lines that moved quickly across the screen and didn't seem to have any depth or substance to them after being fired. Not so in RTW. Squads of archers firing arrows in RTW light each arrow on fire, and then launch them in unison into the sky. Each arrow blazes to life with a firey burst and leaves a smoke trail behind it as it streaks towards the enemy. The arrows in MTW looked kinda pathetic. The arrows in RTW look (and I'm not exagurating) postively deadly. And when they strike enemy soldiers, depending on where they hit, they can knock a soldier over, decapitate him, spin him around, strike his shield, etc. I got my first shiver watching this.
(more later...I'm at work and my lunch hour is over.)
-Yoink