Ground Control II: Operation Exodus E3 2004 Preshow Hands-On Impressions

Ground Control II: Operation Exodus is nearly finished, and Vivendi Universal recently gave us a chance to check out the game shortly before E3. The sequel to 2000's hit real-time strategy game, Ground Control II will let you command powerful, futuristic military units on the battlefield. The Ground Control games are all about tactics, so you won't build units on the battlefield. There will be resource management, though, and you can earn acquisition points to request new units to be delivered by dropship during battle.

We were able to play a couple of the early missions in the game. Ground Control II uses the familiar real-time strategy controls, but you'll need to use the arrow keys to scroll around the map. The game looks a lot more polished than the last time we saw it--the textures and models looked very good, even up close. The weather effects in the game also work, and as we played, a heavy rainstorm rolled in, affecting our line of sight and weapon range.

The combat looks spectacular. In one mission, we sent infantry and scout rovers into a gutted city to recover a crashed probe. At several locations we came under intense fire, and some enemy infantry were seen shooting from the windows of a building. After clearing them out, our infantry garrisoned the building and ambushed passing enemy units.

All units have a secondary mode that will lend you a bit more flexibility during battle. For example, the infantry have a missile launcher that allows them to deal with vehicles and gun emplacements more effectively. All you have to do is lasso a bunch of infantry, click on the secondary mode button, and then they'll switch weapons. However, the soldiers kneel down to use the missile, so they can't move when in secondary mode, and they won't be able to deal with enemy infantry. Meanwhile, the rocket terradyne has an energy shield for the secondary mode; a large sphere of blue energy encapsulates the terradyne, and this protects both the vehicle and any surrounding units from incoming artillery.

Swedish developer Massive Entertainment has spent the past few months tweaking unit pathfinding and artificial intelligence. The game's producers tout that Ground Control II will feature true artificial intelligence rather than scripted artificial intelligence, and you'll see the computer opponents adapt to your tactics.

Ground Control II will have two single-player campaigns of 12 missions each, as well as a skirmish mode with up to 10 maps. You'll play against up to seven artificially intelligent opponents or against fellow humans in multiplay. And all the single-player missions will support cooperative play, so you can play with a friend. Massive Entertainment has also had success in getting multiplayer to work well using a dial-up modem, which is a big issue in Europe where broadband has yet to penetrate much of the market. The game will ship with a level editor so you can create your own maps. The game looks like it's almost complete, and it should ship sometime in June.