Strategy Informer's Best of GamesCom 2010 gets its first look in
25 August 2010 | By Joe Robinson
Walking up to the Trion Worlds booth in the middle of Hall 4 (level 1, location H32), I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I had the vaguest recollection of End of Nations being an MMORTS, but due to a rare instance of poor preparation (thank you, dead laptop), I really had no background knowledge to rely on. The only thing that sprang to mind was one of the first games I'd ever reviewed - a browser based MMORTS called Dreamlords: The Reawakening - which was ok, but nothing special. So, having met the (rather lovely) PR lady and then ushered into the demonstration room, I was cautious but intrigued as things got under way.
End of Nations is being brought to you by Petroglyph, a company that arose out of the acquisition of Westwood by EA. People like Michael Legg and Joe Bostic, who worked with the company from the classics up to Command and Conquer 3, helped build this new studio and produced the likes of Empire at War (which was great) and Universe at War (which wasn't perfect, but still quite fun). With their next game, Petroglyph are still sticking with the genre they know and love, but they're trying to take to places few others have ventured.
Now, there's a reason this made it into our Best in Show article. As a journalist, I try to avoid getting too emotionally invested in... well... anything (although that might be just as much down to me being a serial fence-sitter than my training), so you know shit's just got real when I say that this is shaping up to be one of the most interesting and fun online RTS experiences to date. It's taken all the fun and action and strategy from the RTS genre, and merged it with all of the best bits from the MMO genre that would compliment such a game, and created something that I think will be a silent stunner, if not a major hit. Now, that's what you would normally refer to as hype, but sue me - I was impressed.
The premise is simple - exacerbate the global economic crises we've been seeing over the past couple of years, throw in food riots, anarchy etc... and you see a breakdown of national identity, of society, a literal 'end' of nations. Out of that chaos arose a totalitarian regime called the Order of Nations, which apparently used to be part of the UN. You, as the player, take control of one of the many resistance fighters who's trying to rebel against their tyrannical rule.
Being an MMO, you naturally need an 'avatar', something to represent you to the world. Now, for some reason I had some preconceived notion that your base is your avatar (which maybe it is, I guess) but you actually do create a 'character' who is the commander of your army, even if he/she is not really 'seen'. Again, like MMO's you have classes, and each class in End of Nations grants special units, bonuses and abilities. At the moment, Petroglyph have revealed the Strike, the Assault and the Artillery class. These are all armour based classes, and indeed the current unit roster is looking like it's filled mainly with tanks, jeeps and other assorted mechanized entities. When asked about the possibility of infantry units, Michael Legg did say they were looking at possibly creating a new class for infantry, as well as exploring Naval and Air classes and/or units.
The centre of the player experience in End of Nations is the headquarters. Every person has a persistent base that's separate from the world map (and so can't be attacked) that can be expanded upon and improved over time. Whenever you're not fighting, you're most likely to be here, as headquarters acts as a hub for all of the typical MMO activities that don't revolve around combat. You can manufacture new vehicles, items, upgrades and ammo using your factories, you can research new technology, build super-weapons for use in matches, customize your armies, and even raise statues to your achievements. Other players can even be invited to your base to have a look around and establish trade, and since they can see most things you can see, you have to be careful of espionage.
From the base, you then have your army. Every player has potential access to every unit available in the game, and probably even multiple copies of that unit, the exception being class unique units. You can customize the look of your army and units how you want, fiddle with loads out - for instance equipment or special types of ammo, and generally upgrade and improve your army though items and experience. The only limits imposed on your army are the ones the map you're playing on imposes, typically in terms of the amount of 'points' you can use. Any 40K fans out there will be familiar with this concept - basically every unit has a fixed point value attached to it, and adding it to your combat roster for a mission will use up your pool of points. This requires a lot of thought as to what tactics and strategy you will be using in this map, as you can either go for many low point units, or a few high point units. The point pool will differ from map to map as well, so each battle will require a brand new roster.
You could argue that most of the hard work is done before you even enter a mission. Gathering as much Intel on your opponents as possible, equipping your army, choosing a roster and the tactics to match, abilities, consumables etc... all that planning and thought - all you have to do when you get into the match is execute it all. We know - easier said than done, but we were just being glib. Actually, we consider combat to be the area that has the most potential weak-points in the game, and the combat is pretty good as it is.
End of Nations uses a drop-in/drop out system that in theory will be completely painless and effort free. This could lead to the problem of rage quitting, especially if people realise they have the wrong load out for this mission or something equally as pointless, so Petroglyph will have to be very careful with how they manage this. Apart from that though, it's hard to pass judgement until we actually get our hands on a playable build, really get a feel for combat and the environments.
As I often find, there's too much information to convey all in one article (well, I could try... but it would be a really long article, and I really don't want to). Take it from us though, there is plenty of reasons to get excited about this game. We haven't even talked about the Guild functionalities or other social networking mini-features they've added, and Petroglyph certainly haven't revealed all their cards yet. Sadly, we haven't had a chance to get some hands on time with the game, but we really can't wait. Strategy fans rejoice, your King has arrived.
Most Anticipated Feature: We honestly can't pin down one feature. The whole project is highly anticipated. Check out our Interview for more information.
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| Since you're essentially a guerrilla movement, a lot of units have an almost retro look to them |
Now, there's a reason this made it into our Best in Show article. As a journalist, I try to avoid getting too emotionally invested in... well... anything (although that might be just as much down to me being a serial fence-sitter than my training), so you know shit's just got real when I say that this is shaping up to be one of the most interesting and fun online RTS experiences to date. It's taken all the fun and action and strategy from the RTS genre, and merged it with all of the best bits from the MMO genre that would compliment such a game, and created something that I think will be a silent stunner, if not a major hit. Now, that's what you would normally refer to as hype, but sue me - I was impressed.
The premise is simple - exacerbate the global economic crises we've been seeing over the past couple of years, throw in food riots, anarchy etc... and you see a breakdown of national identity, of society, a literal 'end' of nations. Out of that chaos arose a totalitarian regime called the Order of Nations, which apparently used to be part of the UN. You, as the player, take control of one of the many resistance fighters who's trying to rebel against their tyrannical rule.
Being an MMO, you naturally need an 'avatar', something to represent you to the world. Now, for some reason I had some preconceived notion that your base is your avatar (which maybe it is, I guess) but you actually do create a 'character' who is the commander of your army, even if he/she is not really 'seen'. Again, like MMO's you have classes, and each class in End of Nations grants special units, bonuses and abilities. At the moment, Petroglyph have revealed the Strike, the Assault and the Artillery class. These are all armour based classes, and indeed the current unit roster is looking like it's filled mainly with tanks, jeeps and other assorted mechanized entities. When asked about the possibility of infantry units, Michael Legg did say they were looking at possibly creating a new class for infantry, as well as exploring Naval and Air classes and/or units.
 |
| Battles can get hectic as more players pile in |
The centre of the player experience in End of Nations is the headquarters. Every person has a persistent base that's separate from the world map (and so can't be attacked) that can be expanded upon and improved over time. Whenever you're not fighting, you're most likely to be here, as headquarters acts as a hub for all of the typical MMO activities that don't revolve around combat. You can manufacture new vehicles, items, upgrades and ammo using your factories, you can research new technology, build super-weapons for use in matches, customize your armies, and even raise statues to your achievements. Other players can even be invited to your base to have a look around and establish trade, and since they can see most things you can see, you have to be careful of espionage.
From the base, you then have your army. Every player has potential access to every unit available in the game, and probably even multiple copies of that unit, the exception being class unique units. You can customize the look of your army and units how you want, fiddle with loads out - for instance equipment or special types of ammo, and generally upgrade and improve your army though items and experience. The only limits imposed on your army are the ones the map you're playing on imposes, typically in terms of the amount of 'points' you can use. Any 40K fans out there will be familiar with this concept - basically every unit has a fixed point value attached to it, and adding it to your combat roster for a mission will use up your pool of points. This requires a lot of thought as to what tactics and strategy you will be using in this map, as you can either go for many low point units, or a few high point units. The point pool will differ from map to map as well, so each battle will require a brand new roster.
You could argue that most of the hard work is done before you even enter a mission. Gathering as much Intel on your opponents as possible, equipping your army, choosing a roster and the tactics to match, abilities, consumables etc... all that planning and thought - all you have to do when you get into the match is execute it all. We know - easier said than done, but we were just being glib. Actually, we consider combat to be the area that has the most potential weak-points in the game, and the combat is pretty good as it is.
End of Nations uses a drop-in/drop out system that in theory will be completely painless and effort free. This could lead to the problem of rage quitting, especially if people realise they have the wrong load out for this mission or something equally as pointless, so Petroglyph will have to be very careful with how they manage this. Apart from that though, it's hard to pass judgement until we actually get our hands on a playable build, really get a feel for combat and the environments.
 |
| The bigger units cost more to deploy |
As I often find, there's too much information to convey all in one article (well, I could try... but it would be a really long article, and I really don't want to). Take it from us though, there is plenty of reasons to get excited about this game. We haven't even talked about the Guild functionalities or other social networking mini-features they've added, and Petroglyph certainly haven't revealed all their cards yet. Sadly, we haven't had a chance to get some hands on time with the game, but we really can't wait. Strategy fans rejoice, your King has arrived.
Most Anticipated Feature: We honestly can't pin down one feature. The whole project is highly anticipated. Check out our Interview for more information.
