Original War Preview
We take a look at this real-time strategy game from recently resurrected publisher, Virgin Interactive.
Virgin Interactive, defunct for years now in the United States, is attempting a comeback this winter. One of the first games leading its charge back into the gaming world is Original War, a game developed by Czech Republic developer Altar Interactive and published by Virgin. Original War is a real-time strategy game, but it has a unique position in the genre, with a setting and gameplay style that should set it apart from other games of its ilk when it releases here in the coming months.
The story of Original War is a slight variation from other sci-fi RTS games. There is time travel, a world war, and an energy crisis, but the game manages to add enough of a twist to each element that the story is different enough to be interesting. In the near future, the United States and Russia are locked in world war. To make matters worse, an energy shortage threatens the future, and the United States is on the brink of destruction, owing to its lack of viable energy to power its infrastructure and military. Around this time, scientists discover a strange object buried in the earth's crust. It is a black pod with an archway for an entrance. After much poking and prodding, they discover that it is a time machine, and they christen it EON. This black, smooth stone object will be one half of the key to humanity's survival. The other half is a newly discovered mineral called siberite. Scientists researching EON also pull from the earth glowing green crystals that are warm to the touch. Although they aren't radioactive, they are volatile and packed with energy; even a sliver brings water to a violent boil. These crystals could solve all of America's energy needs. Unfortunately, the only place where siberite deposits exist is in Siberia, deep in the heart of Russia. The government, with time machine in hand, and eyeing the potential in siberite, devises a plan. It decides to send a team of special forces back to prehistoric Siberia, to a time before there was a Russia, or even humans. The place in time to which they jump is 2,000,000 BC, before the dawn of mankind. Without any opposition in this time period, the special forces are to then find and excavate the siberite and move it to Alaska, where they will bury it again, so that 2,000,000 years later, when siberite is discovered, it will be found in Alaska and not deep in the heart of Russia. Of course, when you jump back into time, you find that the Russians have already beaten you there, and a battle ensues in the Pliocene era to see who controls the siberite and the time machine.
As game stories go, it certainly is different. And it provides for a unique setting in the Pliocene era. You'll occasionally see woolly mammoths and Cro-Magnons skittering across the screen and will sometimes guard against saber-toothed tigers stalking your troops. The story also drives the gameplay, more so than in other games. In fact, Altar is promising to truly integrate story into gameplay like no other game has done before. Will it succeed? Read on to find out.
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- GameSpot Score5.0mediocre
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Original War v1.10b Patch
This patch includes gameplay additions, bug fixes, and more. Read the readme for details.
- Jun 19, 2009
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