Lego Battles
I should have mentioned this previously, because they’re great guys over at Hellbent Games.
If you like a good solid RTS (as in Warcraft 3, Command & Conquer, that part of the genre) and you’ve got a DS, give Lego Battles a try.
I think it could have been marketed a lot better, prior to release it was presented as if it were some sort of Lego block building game instead of a classic RTS. The DS needed one good RTS and this is it.
Supreme Commander time distortion field
Whoa, I’ve been playing Supreme Commander for longer than I thought today. I forgot how much an RTS can suck away the hours while you’re busy building and coordinating attacks. This is what took me so long to grab the game, I figured it’d be consuming.
Even though it’s about a year and a half old, I’m going to include my newb early impressions.
Pros:
- It’s totally Total Annihilation in a lot of ways, with an updated engine and UI.
- I love the scope of the camera controls, with the insane zoom all the way out to a tactical display. Kinda reminds me of Homeworld, but less confusing, more natural and very intuitive.
- AI on the computer side is decent, it’s giving me a serious run. Doesn’t act like a player would, but that’s a good thing.
- Keyboard shortcuts for almost everything. Just like Total Annihilation. There’s a depth to the controls that enables complex strategy.
- Tons of units. This is the other half of the complexity. It’s not as balanced as a Blizzard or C&C style RTS, but that’s the point: It gets insane and that’s glorious.
Cons:
- Campaign missions feel too long.
- Tons of units means a fast PC is necessary. Fortunately I have one, but I do expect that (again, just like Total Annihilation) some multiplayer games may bring the slower PCs to their knees, making an uneven playing field.
- I wish the first handful of missions were slower, simpler, and more tutorial-like (the actual “tutorial” is a series of mind-numbing videos). It needs better pacing. The starter mission for instance, should have me building a couple units and destroying a small number of enemy units. Instead, I’m rescuing an outpost from an entrenched enemy, with objectives to capture tech, take out anti-aircraft guns and finally flank the enemy to get to his Commander. That sort of mission should have been about 5 deep into the story.
- Controls & Actions are similar to Total Annihilation, but again, they need a tutorial or better explanations. Anyone not already familiar with this style of RTS may have a steep learning curve. Even for me to refresh, I found a bit of a disconnect from wanting to do something and being able to do it.
- The surround sound system is very odd, with voice pushed to the center speaker. Most everything is too quiet. I had to switch from my 5.1 settings to 2 speakers just to hear things clearly. Lots of other people online bitching about this too.
This is definitely one of those games where my complaints are almost stronger because I like the game so damn much.
Without LAN, I won’t buy Starcraft 2
I’m not a huge fan, although that’s part of the point, because I’ve purchased most of Blizzard’s games anyway. I appreciated the Warcraft RTS games more, but the idea of Starcraft 2 has been growing on me. I love a good RTS and the genre has certainly slowed down.
This is exactly the style of game that I like playing on a LAN or directly with friends. For an RTS I’m not interested in some match-making service, competition ladders or ego-driven stats comparisons (oh god, the clicks-per-minute tracking I’m assuming they’re gonna do). In this case, a centralized stats service is actually a turn-off, the e-peen waggling of Blizzard fans is already hella annoying.
I’d also prefer the immediacy and quality of service of my own PC, my own network, or peer-to-peer directly to my friends in near-local networks with great ping (meaning same city, without bouncing thru a server somewhere south of the border). This is not a click-and-wait RPG, immediacy matters or the game style is changed.
I’d be interested in buying the game, not a game service. This isn’t an MMO.
The paradox is that Blizzard is doing this to avoid piracy, but it’ll give a compelling boost to LAN cracks and bnetd. Update: PvPGN is probably the better solution.
If Starcraft 2 ships without ways to opt out of the “community service” and play directly (LAN or peer-to-peer), then I’m just not interested. It wasn’t super high on my radar, but this just shoved it under it.
