Ground Control II is the best strategy game so far this year, despite some interesting quirks.
User Rating: 8.4 | Ground Control II: Operation Exodus PC
Massive Entertainment's 2000 strategy game Ground Control was an impressive but problematic title, featuring satisfying gameplay but a myriad of control issues, AI annoyances, and other tiny frustrations that often got in the way of its nail-biting battles. In a dazzling display of design efficiency, all of the frustrating elements of the original, such as unusual unit selection and friendly fire, have been removed from the sequel - while the high production values and satisfying tactical combat are still intact. While the new game does possess some of its own quirks, the result is a fast and furious good time, and Ground Control II is the best strategy game so far this year. Ground Control II's story is standard sci-fi fare. Imperator Vlaana of the Terran Empire has attacked the capital planet of the Northern Star Alliance, Morningstar Prime. The player assumes the role of Captain Jacob Angelus, the young leader of the planet's defense. Unsurprisingly, it turns out that Vlaana is after more than just Morningstar, and the NSA must enlist the help of the mysterious Viron race to defeat the Terran forces. The story is told through beautiful cutscenes between missions, and mid-mission scenes within the game engine. While there is nothing particularly special about the story, or the way in which it is told, it does provide the necessary backdrop for GCII's frantic gameplay. The story missions themselves are varied: rather than asking you to simply attack a building or win a battle, you will have to pick up barrels of gas and return them to base, or place sensors in specific locations. The single-player game lets you play the campaigns of the NSA and the Virons, on any of three levels of difficulty. You can play them in either order, although it is best to play as the NSA first to preserve the story. NSA units include standard assault infantry, tanks (“terradynes”), helicopters (“helidynes”), and combat engineers, which heal wounded units. Viron units are less familiar but function in similar roles. The Terrans are your primary enemy in the campaign, and they feature some pretty nifty units as well. Alas, you will never be able to play as a Terran, since the Virons and the NSA are the only playable factions. There are also support attacks available, such as the NSA air strike or the Viron spore cloud, and all units include a “secondary mode.” For example, NSA assault infantry use a rifle in primary mode, but a missile launcher in secondary mode, which is effective against vehicles. Unfortunately, you can't really tell from the interface what the secondary mode actually does. It's too bad that the tooltip for the secondary weapons does not give any indication. There is no resource gathering in Ground Control II - and there aren't any tech trees. In fact, you do not even have a traditional base for unit production. Instead, you possess a single dropship, from which you order new units. You can only have one dropship landing zone at a time, although that landing zone can be moved to another location when available. You buy units with acquisition points, which you earn with victories in battle and the capture of victory locations. Thus, success in combat is literally its own reward, as it's the main way in which you earn the ability to produce more units. This means that strategic combat is your singular focus, and knowing your units and the environment are important factors. In fact, using the terrain successfully is a key way to triumph. Not only will your surroundings affect your units' line of sight, but using higher ground is key, as is utilizing the cover of buildings, rainy weather or dense forests. Unfortunately, the reliance on combat strategy, and the need to capture victory locations as quickly as possible, means that rushing is the most effective tactic. Sending your units into battle as quickly as possible is not just the easiest way of winning a skirmish – it is virtually the only way, particularly since the computer AI is quite aggressive. Thankfully, the AI of your own units is also top-notch, and they will battle the units they are most likely to defeat when you are not there to give direct orders. Issuing move orders does not keep your units from fighting: in a long-overdue feature, they will fire at enemies automatically as they move to the ordered location. While some may miss the strategic layers of resource collection and technology trees, there are original additions to the combat-oriented gameplay that should keep veterans satisfied. While at first we worried that battles could become quickly one-sided, it's notable that as you create more and more units – and capture more and more victory locations – you receive acquisition points at a slower pace, helping to ensure that a slight advantage doesn't have to turn into a runaway victory. The dropship itself is a major component, and upgrades can be made to its cargo space, armor, firepower, and more. It is not just a vehicle for delivering reinforcements, but is also a powerful unit on its own, and can be called to your landing zone to assist in battle, although it will only stay as long as it has fuel; when it runs out, it will return to base. It is destructible, however, and should you lose your dropship, you will be unable to call for further units. Another significant addition that keeps Ground Control II feeling fresh is that of Viron unit melding. While units cannot be upgraded, per se, two Viron units can be “melded” to create a more powerful single unit. For example, Engineer Centruoids can be melded to create a Mortar Centruoid, which fires a seed pod into the air from which sharp spikes rain onto your enemies. Multiplayer options are familiar, and you can play with up to 7 others in skirmish games on Massgate, Ground Control II's multiplayer portal. You can play ladder matches that rank you within a league, such as with Blizzard's Battle.Net, or refreshingly, you can join up to two other players in cooperative games, which allow you and your friends to tackle the single-player missions together. Both types of game are available via LAN, and skirmish games can be played against AI opponents. Currently, there are 10 maps available for skirmishes, and GCII also ships with its own map editor, XEd. Controls are mostly fluid, and the fully 3D engine gives the camera a great deal of flexibility. Skirmishes can be controlled from far overhead, or you can zoom in to a single unit to experience the action from the midst of battle. You have two main types of camera control: Standard RTS controls, in which moving the cursor to the sides of the screen scrolls the map; and the original Ground Control's “free camera,” in which moving the cursor to the edges of the screen will rotate the camera, and the arrow keys are utilized for map scrolling. We preferred the standard RTS camera to the “recommended” free camera, as it is more familiar to genre fans. The camera does feature some annoying behavior, however: should you scroll across the map to a ravine or canyon, it swoops down uncontrollably, making for some frantic camera positioning when you would rather be issuing orders to your units. Also, double-pressing a group shortcut key, which moves the camera directly to that group, zooms in to a close angle automatically, regardless of where the camera was positioned previously. The interface itself is unobtrusive and familiar to any RTS player. As with many other strategy games, Ground Control II will only let you select a certain number of units at a time, and groupings are limited to that same number. However, a single kind of unit within that group is easily selected by clicking one of that type in the selection bar of the interface. Inexplicably, while the health of your units is displayed for those selected in the status bar of the interface, it is not viewable on the battlefield unless you press the “alt” key, meaning the status of your units, or that of your enemies, is not immediately clear while in the thick of combat. This is a real detractor, considering both races require management of repair units. We did not encounter many obvious bugs or stability issues. It is worth noting, however, that Massive released a mandatory patch necessary for multiplay while we were evaluating Ground Control II that overwrites all progress and saved games in the single-player campaign. The game's auto-updater does not provide patch notes before installing, and it was necessary for us to review the patch notes afterwards. While the notes outline a variety of improvements and small bug fixes, the fact that campaign progress is rendered obsolete is nowhere to be found. We urge players and potential buyers to exercise caution before patching, or attempting to connect to Massgate. Ground Control II looks absolutely incredible. Not since Homeworld 2 has an RTS featured such detail in its unit models, animations, and environments. The units themselves are attractive from every angle, at any distance, and their animations are fluid and realistic. NSA Siege Soldiers wear detailed metallic exoskeletons, melded Viron units produce impressive pods from which burst forth their spawned creations, and Terran mechs strut about confidently. Even when zoomed in, you will notice that vehicles are meticulously crafted and original, and their cannons and turrets rotate and recoil realistically. The maps themselves are brimming with structures and foliage, and birds will occasionally fly overhead, adding to the organic feel of the environments. The sky itself is beautiful to look at, with starry twilights, murky rainstorms, and glowing planetary rings. The water deserves special attention, as it reflects almost everything. It ripples and flows as units move through it, and reflections are as detailed as the actual objects, making these planets seem as vital and natural as our own. Cutscenes are cinematic and exciting to watch, although facial animations are not as high in quality as other recent efforts. In a game this beautiful and richly detailed, however, a small quibble like this is barely worth mentioning. Amazingly, Ground Control II performs smoothly and without hiccups, even at higher settings. Sound effects are impressive too, and when zoomed into individual units, you can hear the noises of their footsteps and weapons. The game music features cinematic orchestrations and appropriately noisy rock tracks, although it sometimes plays during the in-engine story exposition, making it difficult to hear the characters speak. Voice acting is strong, although you may find yourself tiring of Angelus's affected British accent, and the limited reactions of your units as you order them about. The Viron voice-overs are also annoyingly difficult to understand, which made us thankful for the subtitles. We also wonder why it was necessary for Massive to feature the occasional use of profanity; rather than add to the game's immersion, it seems forced and out of place, even coming from the grizzled general that uses it most often. Ground Control II delivers a solid and fulfilling tactical experience. While veterans may long for the missing tech trees and unit upgrades, and the slower pace that resource management provides, most players will find GCII's pure reliance on combat strategy to be a breath of fresh air – albeit a tad too dependent on rush tactics. While it is challenging, new strategists will be well-served by the detailed tutorials and exciting gameplay. These features, combined with breathtaking visuals and strong attention to detail, add up to make Ground Control II a great strategy title, worthy of any pc gamer's shelf.
