Posted June 02, 2009
Several years ago I mostly stopped paying attention to the RTS genre as my attention shifted to RPG games instead. So granted, I might not be able to compare to all of the latest RTS games, but I still know my basics of the genre.
First off, graphics. Personally I love them. IMO good sprites are still able to kick the behind of mediocre polygons anytime, anywhere. And good sprites this game has for sure. The art is among my favourites of all RTS games I played.
But what really matters is the gameplay. I have some mixed feelings overall. I played the tutorial and the first few levels of the adventure mode so far, so keep that in mind. It's possible that things change later on.
The basic gameplay is quite good IMO. I like the concept of the heroes and how they interact with the regular troops. I also think they did a very good job at mixing RPG and RTS elements into one playable game.
What I do think is a bit of a failure, is the actual battle tactics. As a player you have access to three different formations. No matter how much I try though, they don't seem to make any difference. In fact, my units don't even change where they stand when I change the formations. Did someone forgot to link these buttons so they actually work?
The AI seems to be ill in the same bed. Apparently it's never heard of tactics or formations either. Instead, most combats come down to the same technique, namely endless waves of enemies crashing onto your troops. Like the Russian armies in the 20th century, it seems the AI just throws as many troops as it can against you, without bothering to use them properly. This makes the combat get dull quite fast, at least for me.
Overall I'm still enjoying the game so far, or at least the adventure mode. But I have my doubts whether it can keep my attention until the end of the game.
First off, graphics. Personally I love them. IMO good sprites are still able to kick the behind of mediocre polygons anytime, anywhere. And good sprites this game has for sure. The art is among my favourites of all RTS games I played.
But what really matters is the gameplay. I have some mixed feelings overall. I played the tutorial and the first few levels of the adventure mode so far, so keep that in mind. It's possible that things change later on.
The basic gameplay is quite good IMO. I like the concept of the heroes and how they interact with the regular troops. I also think they did a very good job at mixing RPG and RTS elements into one playable game.
What I do think is a bit of a failure, is the actual battle tactics. As a player you have access to three different formations. No matter how much I try though, they don't seem to make any difference. In fact, my units don't even change where they stand when I change the formations. Did someone forgot to link these buttons so they actually work?
The AI seems to be ill in the same bed. Apparently it's never heard of tactics or formations either. Instead, most combats come down to the same technique, namely endless waves of enemies crashing onto your troops. Like the Russian armies in the 20th century, it seems the AI just throws as many troops as it can against you, without bothering to use them properly. This makes the combat get dull quite fast, at least for me.
Overall I'm still enjoying the game so far, or at least the adventure mode. But I have my doubts whether it can keep my attention until the end of the game.
