Posted March 15, 2012
high rated
Nearly no one knows of this marvelous RTT, which is a shame (and no surprise, it was a Czech game with little marketing beyond boundaries of our little nation. And the game got really small review scores across the globe, mainly because it was 2d game in 3d age and because it's not what you would expect of RTT. User scores are actually very favourable, everywhere.) So I am here to fix that.
So, what is this Original War I speak of? It is a slowpaced 2D real-time tactical game with unique gampelay mechanics and engaging story with multiple endings.
What is it about? Story-wise, the game is about an artifact called EON uncovered during world war I, which is capable of time-travel. It's fueld by an unique substance, called siberite, which has been later discovered by US in Siberia - substance so potent that it would mean technical dominantion if it were to fall into US hands in sufficient ammounts. And so, US have decided to send a small militaty force 2 million years into the past to find and mine the substance in Siberia, and then transport it to future American territory, so it can be easily reached and mined. You are John McMillan, one of the soldiers sent with the expedition, on a one-way trip to the past. But the moment you arrive, something seems to have gone bad - Russian presence 2 000 000 years in the past doesn't really sound right...
So, why am I telling you all this? Because many of the gameplay mechanics revolve around this. First thing that you will probably notice is that you cannot build new soldiers. You can build bases, vehicles (which need to be manned, but you do get access to remote control technology and AI later on - both much less efficient than those with human driver), research and such as in any other RTS - however you have to distribute availible workforce between soldiers, technicians(drivers as well,) scientists(who double as medics,) and builders.
The more you focus on one field, the more will the other fields suffer - and the game also contains simple "learn by doing" RPG mechanic, so each and every member of your group is good and bad at something. Also, every time someone dies, he doesn't miraculously get ressurrected next missin. He stays dead. This builds an incredible bond with your soldiers, and you will soon learn to value them for their abilities and sometimes even for their characters.
That is not the only original aspect of the game, thou. For instance, your base resource - crates - spawn randomly around map as they are sent from the future by unpredictable EON. This creates additional challenge to get to them before the enemy does and cut him from this resource. So it's not just a personnel management RTT, logistics are also very important, as well as general resource management. There are 4 resources in the game: Crates that you have hunt for, solar power that is very weak, but omnipresent, oil that has to be aquired trough finding deposits and building drills at them, but is limited, and siberit, which is THE ultimate resource.
And is that all? Well of course not. Game has real line of sight - if there's a tree in the way, you will not see past it. Yes, a soldier can hide behind a tree in MP! Every vehicle and soldier leaves tracks in the grass, and if the path is traveled often enough, grass disappears entirely - this way, you can track your opponent and presume his trafic. Every soldier falls uncounscious when his helath bar reaches red and has to be aided by medic or he bleeds out. You can design your own vehicles by selecting engine, hull, and weapon, even combining technologies of multiple nations. And there's more to find out!
Do you think that's all? Nope. Another thing that the game has is it's story. Since you actually play as a single person that has multiple soldiers under his command, it allows for the scipt to give you actual decisions, even branching the campaign into two different set of missions at one point. There's a lot of dialogue, most of soldiers have their own lines when they are bored, scared, or annoyed (another advantage of limited numbers,) and the only thing to complain about is voice acting, which is also probably the worst part of the game. It's also really slow-paced, but speed can be changed by a slider.
td;dr: Get the fucking game. It is worth it.
So, what is this Original War I speak of? It is a slowpaced 2D real-time tactical game with unique gampelay mechanics and engaging story with multiple endings.
What is it about? Story-wise, the game is about an artifact called EON uncovered during world war I, which is capable of time-travel. It's fueld by an unique substance, called siberite, which has been later discovered by US in Siberia - substance so potent that it would mean technical dominantion if it were to fall into US hands in sufficient ammounts. And so, US have decided to send a small militaty force 2 million years into the past to find and mine the substance in Siberia, and then transport it to future American territory, so it can be easily reached and mined. You are John McMillan, one of the soldiers sent with the expedition, on a one-way trip to the past. But the moment you arrive, something seems to have gone bad - Russian presence 2 000 000 years in the past doesn't really sound right...
So, why am I telling you all this? Because many of the gameplay mechanics revolve around this. First thing that you will probably notice is that you cannot build new soldiers. You can build bases, vehicles (which need to be manned, but you do get access to remote control technology and AI later on - both much less efficient than those with human driver), research and such as in any other RTS - however you have to distribute availible workforce between soldiers, technicians(drivers as well,) scientists(who double as medics,) and builders.
The more you focus on one field, the more will the other fields suffer - and the game also contains simple "learn by doing" RPG mechanic, so each and every member of your group is good and bad at something. Also, every time someone dies, he doesn't miraculously get ressurrected next missin. He stays dead. This builds an incredible bond with your soldiers, and you will soon learn to value them for their abilities and sometimes even for their characters.
That is not the only original aspect of the game, thou. For instance, your base resource - crates - spawn randomly around map as they are sent from the future by unpredictable EON. This creates additional challenge to get to them before the enemy does and cut him from this resource. So it's not just a personnel management RTT, logistics are also very important, as well as general resource management. There are 4 resources in the game: Crates that you have hunt for, solar power that is very weak, but omnipresent, oil that has to be aquired trough finding deposits and building drills at them, but is limited, and siberit, which is THE ultimate resource.
And is that all? Well of course not. Game has real line of sight - if there's a tree in the way, you will not see past it. Yes, a soldier can hide behind a tree in MP! Every vehicle and soldier leaves tracks in the grass, and if the path is traveled often enough, grass disappears entirely - this way, you can track your opponent and presume his trafic. Every soldier falls uncounscious when his helath bar reaches red and has to be aided by medic or he bleeds out. You can design your own vehicles by selecting engine, hull, and weapon, even combining technologies of multiple nations. And there's more to find out!
Do you think that's all? Nope. Another thing that the game has is it's story. Since you actually play as a single person that has multiple soldiers under his command, it allows for the scipt to give you actual decisions, even branching the campaign into two different set of missions at one point. There's a lot of dialogue, most of soldiers have their own lines when they are bored, scared, or annoyed (another advantage of limited numbers,) and the only thing to complain about is voice acting, which is also probably the worst part of the game. It's also really slow-paced, but speed can be changed by a slider.
td;dr: Get the fucking game. It is worth it.
Post edited March 15, 2012 by Fenixp
