Thursday May 4, 2006 Real-Time Strategy Genre Pre-E3 Preview
The world of Real-Time Strategy games is always forgotten when it comes to E3 and the press. The big media sites and magazines tends to always be focused on the big console companies and huge First Person Shooter and MMO games. But being an avid Real-Time Strategy gamer and follower myself, the RTS games at this year’s E3 will not go unheard. In preparations for E3 coming up in under a week, we bring you this look at some of the biggest, and even some lesser-known, RTS offerings. We promise to scout out all of these games at E3 and bring back coverage from each and every one.
As a final note before we head into the E3 offerings, I suggest any avid RTS fans head over and read IGN’s fantastic “The State of the RTS” article. It dives deep into what has made and is making this wonderful world of Real-Time Strategy that I know many of you love.
Part 1 – The Bigs
There has been quite a big rumble recently in terms of some fantastic new RTS games in development. We haven’t seen a big new series (just add-ons, expansions, and sequels) in quite some time. There are some considerably unique games making their debut as well as old classic series being revived. Let’s see what big RTS games will be the noise makers on the E3 show floor this year.Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
EA LA / EA
www.CommandAndConquer.EA.com
Only a little is really known about this next installment in the beloved Command & Conquer series, but we are hoping to soon divulge into some of the details as EA LA shows it off behind-closed-doors starting Wednesday. There have already been some magazine scans from an upcoming June edition of PC Gamer showing the game on its cover and some exciting images and screenshots attached to an article inside. The immense success of the 2003 Command & Conquer Generals game developed by the Westwood-taken-over-by-EA has led to quite a bit of excitement in this upcoming installment.
Supreme Commander
Gas Powered Games / THQ
www.supremecommander.com
Supreme Commander has developed a massive underground following in a number of online communities due to its “heritage.” The game is being developed by Chris Taylor, who developed the Total Annihilation RTS back in 1997 that was an incredible success in the eyes of many of these underground RTS gamers. It is being considered as the new upbringing and even the successor to Total Annihilation (even though this is unofficial). Its screenshots and discussions have made their rounds on the internet, but there is still plenty to look forward to, including actual the actual gameplay and interface.
Spore
Maxis / EA
www.spore.com
This game itself has already created one of the biggest interests in the Real-Time Strategy genres in the recent years. The legendary Will Wright’s well-known Game Developer Conference talks have already been uploaded to Google Video and the extremely impressive demos shown in conjunction have “wow-ed” almost every viewer. Spore is the one upcoming Real-Time Strategy game that is looking to break all the “RTS rules” as an incredibly unique world that expands an extreme range (from a miniscule bacteria seen only through a microscope to across an entire galaxy). The hype surrounding this is quite big, and everyone is looking to see how much it has progressed since the GDC 2005 video and get a look at exactly what the final product will be.
Dawn of War: Dark Crusade Expansion
Relic / THQ
www.dawnofwargame.com
This recently announced second expansion to the popular Dawn of War game looks to fill the gap that they entirely missed in their first expansion pack, Winter Assault. Introducing two new races, the Tau and the Necrons, Dark Crusade is looking to expand upon the already impressive world of Warhammer 40,000. Dawn of War’s initial release was fairly popular amongst the RTS crowd, but it has since lost some of that hype and following. Let’s hope this new expansion will bring about a revival in the same way that Zero Hour brought to Command & Conquer Generals.
Warhammer: Mark of Chaos
Black Hole Entertainment / Namco
www.markofchaos.com
Games Workshop is hard at work licensing a number of their table-top games and miniatures into video games. In addition to the upcoming Warhammer Online MMORPG game, Namco and Black Hole Entertainment are working on a Real-Time Strategy version of the Warhammer universe of dwarves, elves, orcs, goblins, and a few more – all in all 7 races playable. Reminiscent of the fantasy Warcraft universe, Mark of Chaos looks to be a considerably vivid RTS with very detailed graphics and immersive environments. Namco has never really been a big publisher in the RTS world, but it may be a time for a change given the current screenshots released.
Civilization 4: Warlords
Firaxis / 2K Games
www.civiv.com
This fully-loaded expansion pack is bringing a whole set of new devastating units, scenarios, and wonders to the Civilization 4 game. Civilization 4 has become a quite well received game in the turn-based strategy genre. For the past few years the Civilization series was quite dormant and quiet, but it arose from the depths in 2005 with a fabulous revival in the fourth edition of the game. Firaxis has already put together this expansion pack and it should be an exciting addition to an already exciting game.
Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends
Big Huge Games / Microsoft
www.riseoflegends.com
Although this expansion pack for the award-winning and highly-acclaimed Rise of Nations will be released during the week of E3, it doesn’t mean that Microsoft and Big Huge Games will be showing off this visually impressive expansion. Instead of continuing on with the wars across Earth, they have expanded the universe into fantasy locations bringing about another interesting twist in the highly successful Rise of Nations world.
Battle for Middle Earth 2 on Xbox 360
EA LA / EA
lotr.ea.com
Battle for Middle Earth 2 has been out for a few months now—however only on the PC. The Xbox 360 version is still in the works and expected to come out within a few months. EA is looking to break some bounds by developing this Xbox 360 version that actually implements a control type for the RTS that works smoothly and inherently on the Xbox 360 controller. From what other people have said testing it so far, it is does actually have a very solid control system and may be one of the first RTS games to sell well on a console and receive high reviews. I am personally looking forward to testing this out on the Xbox 360, as I not only own and play the PC version but also own (and love my) Xbox 360.
Starcraft 2 / Warcraft 4 ??
Blizzard
Well we’re still not entirely sure whether any of these will be announced. It may be a huge announcement next week, but until then, we won’t know. Given that there is some speculation that Blizzard’s next game, besides the expansion to World of Warcraft, may be Diablo 3, I am not sure whether we will see another fabulous Blizzard RTS in the making this year. If there is any info on Starcraft 2 or Warcraft 4, we will certainly cover it all.
Part 2 – The Others
The Real-Time Strategy genre features hundreds of other lesser-known and minimally-featured games that cater sometimes more to single-player focused gamers or just don’t have the budgets and resources of the huge developer studios. However, their impact on the RTS genre should not be overlooked and there could even be a few gems. As a final preview of the RTS games coming up at E3, I’ve hand-picked a few that I see as possibly standing out as a lesser-known-but-definitely-worth-it RTS game.Company of Heroes
Relic / THQ
www.companyofheroesgame.com
Company of Heroes is one of the few games really looking to make a strong push in the RTT, Real-Time Tactical, “sub-genre” that has been forming over the past few years. The gameplay that Relic has been developing is considerably unique in the RTS world and could become a new uprising in terms of RTS gameplay. Including a real-time physics engine and destructible environments, this World War II themed RTS may stand out from the crowd and work its way up the ladder from just a small-time RTS to a big-time up-and-comer at E3. It has already won quite a few awards at last year’s E3 and should be a prospective underdog to definitely keep an eye on.
Sword of the Stars
Kerberos Productions / Lighthouse Interactive
www.kerberos-productions.com/
Sword of the Stars isn’t exactly the typical RTS and doesn’t really fall in line with any of the other RTS games mentioned so far. It’s a turn-based space strategy game being built by a small development studio striving on as much fan-based support as it can. I personally don’t know all too much about it and have only seen a few screenshots, but its fan following and space-themed RTS environment has captured my attention enough to bring it up as an interest at this upcoming E3. Hopefully either the developer or publisher will even have a booth at E3 and I’ll try and seek them out to get some hands-on action with Sword of the Stars.
Ancient Wars: Sparta
World Forge / Playlogic
www.playlogicinternational.com
Although the ancient history and massive war themed RTS games have never picked up speed in the race for high reviews and top sales, their development is still an integral part in progressing the RTS genre to even new heights. Ancient Wars: Sparta is being developed by World Forge is a unique addition to the ancient history themed RTS game collection and could possibly gain some much-needed interest. From the initial looks it is another incredibly detailed world with huge battles and a complicated strategic control system all in the time of the ancient Spartans. As typical with these themed games, it will probably be much more single-player and skirmish focused than other RTS games offering online multiplayer capabilities.
Society
Stardock
www.societygame.com
The MMORTS (Massive Multiplayer Online Real-Time Strategy) genre has only really been scratched on the surface and far under-tested. The reasoning for this has been because of the cost scale and general difficulties that come with developing a real-time strategy game that seamlessly connects MMO elements. The idea of an MMORTS is generally something that isn’t possible, however only a few developers have attempted to innovate and produce something that falls within this genre. Society is Stardock’s attempt at an MMORTS and looks to possibly be a big hit. Stardock is the development studio that put out the recently-released space RTS Galactic Civilizations II and could have the right mix of ingredients needed to create a successful MMORTS.
Just A Few More Days
Stay tuned and stick around. Check out a few of our past event reviews and subscribe to one of our feeds. Check back starting next Tuesday for all of our E3 coverage.30 Comments
“We will be with the euro-publishers in Kentia Hall. Lighthouse is publishing through Frogster in Germany and we will be showing on the floor in their booth. Rumor has it there will be an official, public “meet the devs” moment there sometime friday if anyone is around who cares;) The lighthouse foyer is for reporters only sadly but myself, castewar or auximines will try to be at the Frogster booth as well at any given moment.”
“Publisher Lighthouse Interactive today announced that it has entered into a co-publishing/distribution agreement with U.S. Publisher, Destineer.” “Sword of the Stars will be shown at the upcoming E3 Expo in Los Angeles. The game will be presented at the Destineer booth, West Hall, Upper Mezzanine Level, Booth 515B.”
Why is Age of Empires 3 isn’t here??? They will make a demo for E3 i think