E3 2001 Hands-OnReal War

Rival Interactive's Real War is a real-time strategy game that's actually based on a simulation program that the company developed for military use. This consumer version obviously has changed dramatically, but nonetheless, Rival Interactive is trying to keep it as realistic as the original.

Despite its military roots, Real War will be instantly familiar to fans of popular real-time strategy games. The developers looked at current real-time strategy titles and decided to implement resource management, but rather than having players mine for Tiberium or some other substance that would take away from the realism, they will have to build and maintain supply depots. Helicopters deliver supplies from offscreen, and it's necessary to protect these as you would the resource collectors in any other strategy game.

All the air, land, and sea units in Real War are based on real military vehicles, so strategy fans will no doubt recognize the F16 fighter planes, M1 tanks, and other units. The game's 24 missions (12 for each faction) take place in jungle, desert, and arctic environments. The backgrounds in each of these environments are 2D, but the vehicles move over the landscape in full 3D, and different terrains will require different strategies. Typical mission objectives will include rescuing hostages, escorting planes to their destinations, and other objectives related to the campaign. One mission has a time limit in which you must stop the enemy from launching a huge missile across the map.

Simon & Schuster Interactive recently announced that it has signed actor R. Lee Ermey, best known for his role as the drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket, although it hasn't actually decided how he will be used in the game yet. There are two different tutorials--one for beginners and one that's more advanced--and we were told that Ermey may be helping train players, although Simon & Schuster wasn't sure just how harsh his drill sergeant character will be on new players. The game is nearly complete, and we were told that Rival is currently fine-tuning the gameplay and that the game should make its mid-August release date.