Real time strategy
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Joose
- Turret
- Posts: 8090
- Joined: October 13th, 2004, 14:13
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I would say more on this than what you have said, but most of it would be a grounding on the way of playing the game, as bits of it are totally different to standard RTS's. The most important points are:Grimmie wrote:Battleforge
There's very little base building. If you like building big bases, don't bother. If you like fighting and actual tactics, rather than just "build a squillion doods, rush enemy", then its ace.
It is totally free. You can buy booster packs, but you get enough for free that you could easily play this for ever quite successfully. If you do get into it, you will want to buy cards, but then you can just spend as much as you feel like.
It is bastard hard, but there is a lot of co-op stuff in it too. Some of the co-op is 4 players too. I've managed some of the maps with less than a full compliment of players, so even if you were utter shite at RTS's, you could be carried a bit by the other players. And anyway, it being so rock hard makes it damn exhilarating!
If people are interested (and did I mention that its free?) I would be happy to show them the ropes.
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Imperatore
- Shark
- Posts: 253
- Joined: February 25th, 2008, 19:36
Grimmie covered DoW II pretty neatly earlier, but one new DLC mode he missed out was Last Stand, and to be fair to the game I think it deserves its own review.
DoW II left me feeling pretty underwhelmed, levels were good looking but unvaried, objectives repetitive and combat monotonous. However, DoW has been pulled back from the brink with the latest co-op mode available to play.
Last stand is co-op survivor mode, yes, I know there are lots of games doing this at the moment - consider it L4Ds legacy - but this one is really worth a look in. The best way to describe it is mmo-rts-top down shooter, because that is what it plays like.
Starting up LS mode you get to choose between three "heroes" Eldar, Orc and Space Marine. Each have their own starter set of wargear that grants certain abilites and bonuses, new wargear is gained by levelling up your hero, which you do by gaining XP which you accumulate through kills etc during a round. Once you have set your loadout you can select two other friends to play with or let the computer match you up with two other randoms - these can be any level, I have played alongside a level 19 and a level 3 in the same round. The rounds themselves take place in a small circular arena with four entrances through which the waves of enemies pour, each wave getting bigger and badder until wave 20 which is the limit - or you all die.
As I said earlier, each hero has its own set of wargear which grants distinct abilities, these drastically affect your style of play and each plays differently:
Eldar
Initial loadout for your eldar includes a pistol and a sword with extra equipment granting shields and a groovy confuse ability that if used correctly will turn an enemy units on its allies. Play style for eldar seems to be lots of damage and then running away when you start to get hit coupled with bubbling your teamates when they get into situations a bit too hairy. Later abilities include mass teleport which is handy for getting the whole squad out of trouble.
Orc
The first of the heros that I played the orc is the healer and ranged attack of the group. Initial loadout includes a choice between a flamethrower and a heavy bolter, teleportation, heals and mines that slow the advancing enemy. Initially I forgot to even loadout my orc, so my first round was spent in utter confusion, however things did improve when I worked out how they play, shooting and teleporting to another location whilst throwing out heals where required. Not seen any high levels of these to say what skills are available later on but I suspect powerful group heals and aoe.
Space Marine
Last and certainly not the least are the religious nutjobs with a gun fetish - no not mormons, its eveyones favourite power armoured evangelical - the space marine.
The space marine is your upfront damage dealer, I only played this one for a few short rounds due to the sheer amount of space marines out there. Initial loadout is the least varied of the lot, choice between a 2 handed plasma gun or a pistol and sword. Abilities are charge and attack and charge - so initially you are pretty much a traditional mmo tank. later abilities and armours allow the summoning of a dreadnought, jump packs and some heavier guns or melee weapons
The only thing letting this mode down is the variety, not of the enemies - there are plenty of them - but of the maps, or map, there is only one. More variety in maps and more intricate scenary to hide around and fight between would make this mode a lot more enjoyable and extend play time by a considerable amount but as it stands it is a welcome diversion and will provide a fair few hours of extra gameplay and perhaps a look in at how a 40k mmo would work.
DoW II left me feeling pretty underwhelmed, levels were good looking but unvaried, objectives repetitive and combat monotonous. However, DoW has been pulled back from the brink with the latest co-op mode available to play.
Last stand is co-op survivor mode, yes, I know there are lots of games doing this at the moment - consider it L4Ds legacy - but this one is really worth a look in. The best way to describe it is mmo-rts-top down shooter, because that is what it plays like.
Starting up LS mode you get to choose between three "heroes" Eldar, Orc and Space Marine. Each have their own starter set of wargear that grants certain abilites and bonuses, new wargear is gained by levelling up your hero, which you do by gaining XP which you accumulate through kills etc during a round. Once you have set your loadout you can select two other friends to play with or let the computer match you up with two other randoms - these can be any level, I have played alongside a level 19 and a level 3 in the same round. The rounds themselves take place in a small circular arena with four entrances through which the waves of enemies pour, each wave getting bigger and badder until wave 20 which is the limit - or you all die.
As I said earlier, each hero has its own set of wargear which grants distinct abilities, these drastically affect your style of play and each plays differently:
Eldar
Initial loadout for your eldar includes a pistol and a sword with extra equipment granting shields and a groovy confuse ability that if used correctly will turn an enemy units on its allies. Play style for eldar seems to be lots of damage and then running away when you start to get hit coupled with bubbling your teamates when they get into situations a bit too hairy. Later abilities include mass teleport which is handy for getting the whole squad out of trouble.
Orc
The first of the heros that I played the orc is the healer and ranged attack of the group. Initial loadout includes a choice between a flamethrower and a heavy bolter, teleportation, heals and mines that slow the advancing enemy. Initially I forgot to even loadout my orc, so my first round was spent in utter confusion, however things did improve when I worked out how they play, shooting and teleporting to another location whilst throwing out heals where required. Not seen any high levels of these to say what skills are available later on but I suspect powerful group heals and aoe.
Space Marine
Last and certainly not the least are the religious nutjobs with a gun fetish - no not mormons, its eveyones favourite power armoured evangelical - the space marine.
The space marine is your upfront damage dealer, I only played this one for a few short rounds due to the sheer amount of space marines out there. Initial loadout is the least varied of the lot, choice between a 2 handed plasma gun or a pistol and sword. Abilities are charge and attack and charge - so initially you are pretty much a traditional mmo tank. later abilities and armours allow the summoning of a dreadnought, jump packs and some heavier guns or melee weapons
The only thing letting this mode down is the variety, not of the enemies - there are plenty of them - but of the maps, or map, there is only one. More variety in maps and more intricate scenary to hide around and fight between would make this mode a lot more enjoyable and extend play time by a considerable amount but as it stands it is a welcome diversion and will provide a fair few hours of extra gameplay and perhaps a look in at how a 40k mmo would work.
After a quick game I can confirm that DoW2's survivor mode is quite fun. I also fucked up kitting out my bloke, and even ended up with the wrong one. But now I have a fully equipped pink Orc. Unfortunately I can't create a custom logo for it;
" Microsoft is afraid Space Marines with pictures of dicks on their shoulders might sully the otherwise perfectly acceptable experience of skewering your enemies"
Damn, they saw me coming...
" Microsoft is afraid Space Marines with pictures of dicks on their shoulders might sully the otherwise perfectly acceptable experience of skewering your enemies"
Damn, they saw me coming...
I'm going to reiterate how enjoyable Last Stand in in Dawn of War II. Played probably 5 rounds last night and the teamwork aspect between the three characters really works well. We've been discussing tactics for beating those difficult rounds today in work, such is the effect it's had. If the WH40k MMONG is similar then it might be worth getting.
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bomberesque
- Optimus Prime
- Posts: 1100
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Grim, have you managed to run this on Fista? I had problems, especially with camera control. the interwebs were full of 2 year old talk about a fix, but I never found it.........Grimmie wrote:Homeworld 2.
great post btw, you got me playing C&C Tib wars again ... sadly it just served to remind me what I didn't like about it the first time; unit selection was difficult enough that I ended up just blobbing the enemy all the time which, ofc, isn't very effective. Actually I paid some attention to the command keys this time and perhaps I'll have another go. But it should be visually intuitive for a 40 year old DAMMIT
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Grimmie
- Master of Soviet Propaganda
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- Joined: February 5th, 2005, 19:00
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Yeah, C&C3 did sort of suffer from that. It didn't help that there wasn't much difference between the tanks other than the anti-personnel ones (like the NOD Flame tank), so you often did just push them all forward at once. Shame that.
As for HW2 on Fista, the last time I played it was on XP, so I've no idea.
As for HW2 on Fista, the last time I played it was on XP, so I've no idea.
I enjoyed the single player campaign immensely and the multiplayer requires tight teamwork to succeed.