• 18Nov 07

  RTS: Real Time Scrunch

  Since the beginning of the RTS genre there have beenhumongous innovations. Things like unit selection, number of units, number of factions, global game play, multiplayer, and of course, graphics have all been expanded on and the best elements incorporated into the next generation. One needs only to play the original Warcraft and then Company of Hereos to see how far the genre has come along. However until earlier this year, they all shared a common feature, a camera that showed at best 1/10th of the map and was pulled in so you often lost parts of the ensuing battle. Sure many had the mini-map, but that wouldn't tell you if the dots approaching your base werepeasants or seige weapons, and you would have to pull away from what you were doing to check on that. and in a genre where victory can be decided on a few crucial seconds of managing the right part of your base or army this interruption could mean the difference between victory and defeat.

  Then earlier this year the genre saw its first true camera innovation with the release of Supreme Commander. Sure the gameplay was fairly generic(just a rush to tier3 and experimental units) the units nondescript(in fact all 3 factions were basically identical)and the graphical requirements for the maps was absolutely huge, but the camera was simply a work of art. Not only could you zoom in like in previous games to get a "cool" view of the battlefield, but you could zoom all the way out, allowing you to view everything that was going on at once, and have a fairly good idea of what was what on the map. To be honest the only other game I can think of with this feature is Homeworld, but Supreme Commander took it to the next level.

  Now this is all well and good, after all innovation is the driving force behind improvement and change. But then I noticed something curious. I downloaded the demo of Universe at War(which I enjoyed) and expected to find a great game(which I did). But after about 10 minutes I found myself constantly trying to scroll further out and get a better idea of what was happening. Often times this urge would hit me when one of my units came under fire, I would try to scroll out to see where it was, what was being attacked and what was attacking, andsoon I would realize that I couldn't. This, though frustrating, did not discourage me, as I like most of us, am used to switching between control schemes for different games.

  And then I came upon the walkers. Truly the most unique part of the game, the walkers tower over just about anything and are so massive its hard to image even trying to fight one. The problem? They also tower over the camera, and with the wrong angle can take up the entire screen. This is great for setting up the sheer majesty of the unit, but horrible when I'm trying to target those Ohm bots wreaking havoc on my collectors. Needless to say, I slogged through it(because the rest was fun), but that bad camera nearly did it in for me. The truly aggravating part? the developers had also included the ridiculous ability to zoom in. Because in a game where 20-30 weak units can cover the screen, I'm really going to want to get closer.

  So what I'm asking is PLEASE developers, either back that camera up just a little bit, or give us the ability to. Because frankly it just feels better to be able to see the whole battlefield, than to be stuck on one little spot.

  • Posted Nov 18, 2007 8:29 pm PT
  • Category: Editorial
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