WorldShift
Preview
A recovering humanity will fight to the death to live on Earth
by Marko Susimetsä
previewed on PC
Real time strategy in the dark future
Sometimes one is tempted to think that the whole universe would be better off without us humans spreading ourselves to every corner and creating havoc wherever we go. Playing some of the modern games where humans seem to wage bigger and bigger wars against each other as well as every other species out there, it is all too easy to picture mankind as an evil scourge that can't be stopped. Black Sea Studios (best known for their Knights of Honor historic real time strategy) has announced a new Real Time Strategy game that solves at least one part of that problem. It is not that humans aren't waging war anymore (what sort of an RTS would that be, eh?), but at least they are confined to Planet Earth.
So, what happened to us?
Humans started to colonize the solar system in the 21st Century and were on the verge of finding ways to spread even further when a huge dark object appeared just beyond Pluto. The object was quickly nick-named 'Shard Zero' by the scientists that made the discovery. They found that the shard spread a mysterious cosmic plague wherever it went, twisting the very nature of space and life. Unfortunately, there were no elderly astronauts willing to go in and plant the Shard with nuclear explosives, so the Shard hit our home planet and obliterated all of civilization.
A thousand years later, all tales of our times are but a myth and mankind have recovered enough to build a new kind of civilization. Shard Zero is still plaguing life on Earth, changing it beyond recognition, but there are five mega-cities that defy its effects and fight over the precious remaining resources that they need for survival. The land outside these high-tech mega-cities is populated by the Tribes ? primitive humans who have been affected by the Plague.
As the player takes charge of one of the three possible races to play, he will engage in hectic and fierce encounters between armies all around Earth and slowly uncover ancient secrets about the true nature of the Shard and the Plague that it spreads. In addition, the factions in the game are modifiable and the maps random ? resulting in a game that has more longevity than many of its competitors.
Cooperative RTS, what's that about?
I think we all agree that RTS genre is in a need of something new. The endless games of merely building structures and armies and then sending them against each other in a more or less tactical and strategic fashion has been getting old for several years now. What we know of WorldShift shows real promise of bringing something new to the concept.
Instead of the technology trees, WorldShift is centered around the idea of thousands of items and powerful relics that the players can acquire and then use to change their gameplay and tactics in order to surprise their foes. The items are gained in battles against opponents or as rewards for special missions. But in order to get their hands on the ancient relics, the player will need to ally with their most trusted friends and embark on missions that challenge them to the very edge of their abilities.
Black Sea Studios claims to be building the best cooperative, player versus environment, gameplay that has ever been seen in an RTS game. What this means precisely, we don't know yet, but the idea of having to ally with fellow players or other factions in order to gain the biggest rewards sounds appealing to me ? at least it will divert the gameplay away from the simplicity of earlier games where you just build a mighty army and take down your enemies before they have a chance to say Gulp.
Easy gameplay
Because of the lack of a conventional tech tree, WorldShift will employ fast and easy to learn gameplay that will probably attract many a gamer who normally get frustrated at the mere challenge of trying to learn yet another tech tree. In many games, once you have mastered the tactics and most efficient tech-path, there is nothing really to keep you playing ? the challenge is over. What a wide variety of items and relics will do to a game is offer a chance of more variety ? you cannot guarantee that you and your enemies will have access to same items and relics in every game and thus you have to keep adjusting to new tactical situations from game to game.
Innovative gameplay is by no means a guarantee for success but it sure is appreciated. Whenever a developer tries to do something new and different, they deserve our attention -just- for their courage to think out of the box. With WorldShift, Black Sea has our attention.
