Uprising Preview

Gamers have hungered for new and inventive twists on the real-time strategy genre ever since the debut of Dune II way back in 1992. Cyclone Studios is out to satisfy this craving with Uprising - a game that not only brings back the much-needed freshness, but also has strategy gamers coming back for seconds.

Helmut Kobler, the president of Cyclone Studios and one of the game's designers, describes Uprising as primarily an action wargame. "When we started creating this game, we wanted to create a wonderful wargame where you would be on the battlefield feeling the heart-pounding action," he said. "We didn't want a game where you just drove around in your tank and took on the entire world. We wanted to involve all of these various units on the battlefield at once - with you commanding their every move."

Uprising brings together many of the elements that made real-time strategy classics such as Command & Conquer and Warcraft so popular: resource management, real-time combat, and cool explosions. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. However, Uprising is not strictly a real-time strategy game. Rather, says Kobler, it is a "first-person action game which requires some dexterity to control. Unlike Command & Conquer, you don't use an overhead God view. You are placed in the action. We wanted to get your adrenaline pumping by putting you in the battle, face-to-face with the enemy."

You control a Wraith super tank - a mobile command center with enough firepower to make the Montana militia jealous. Once you have set up a command Citadel, you can build factories to produce units, gun turrets, and SAM sites to protect your base, plus energy generators that increase your unit's power reserves. Nearly every action in Uprising requires some energy, so maintaining a high power supply is a top priority. The first-person perspective distinguishes the game, as does the way in which you deploy allied units onto the battlefield: Instead of building troops and tanks at a base and directing them to hot spots on the battlefield, you drive your Wraith into the heart of the battle and teleport your troops directly into combat areas.

Even at this early date (the game is set for an October release), Uprising's AI is challenging enough to make battles exciting and a bit frustrating. The AI adapts to your strategy, forcing you to constantly change your tactics. For example, the Imperium (read: big meanies) may notice that you keep attacking its bases with your troops, so it might bomb your factories, or it might notice that you have no ground defenses around one of your Citadels and send in a battalion of tanks.

Uprising's multiplayer mode may prove its strongest selling point - every strategy gamer likes to go mano-a-mano against his friends. Cyclone Studios promises support for up to four players over a local network or the Internet, with two-player battles available over a full modem connection. And single players need not face boredom after finishing the pre-built scenarios. According to Cyclone Studios, "In the final version, you'll be able to play the game on a map-by-map basis, or you can play a randomly generated campaign that includes dozens of worlds to conquer and requires you to develop new technologies for your Wraith and your units over time."

The Uprising development team is also focusing on 3-D accelerators, with 3DFX, Direct 3D, and the Verite chip set supported in the final version. The folks at Cyclone Studios expect these high-end boards will allow Uprising to be played in high-resolution at a solid frame rate. This will be quite an accomplishment, as battles quickly escalate into hairy situations with several forces fighting simultaneously. Uprising promises to include most of the elements that made games such as Command & Conquer and Warcraft so popular, plus a few new twists to keep things interesting. The title's mix of real-time gameplay and tactical troop deployment should satisfy action and strategy gamers alike. Be on the lookout for Uprising when it hits the shelves this October.