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Note: this review is of version 1.0 Beta of Empires Mod.
 Nearly a year and four months has passed since we were reunited with the crowbar on that chilly November winter's day. Since the release of Half-Life 2, we've been treated to modifications a plenty to keep us happy, with Plan of Attack and Dystopia to name two. But I've often cried with despair and wondered why there has been no "First Person Shooter/Real Time Strategy Hybrid set in the future on some distant planet!"... well actually that may be slightly exaggerated.
And so it was that the Empires Mod inspired untold delight as we heard the announcement that such a mod was to be released in its beta stages this March. But with a four-hundred plus megabyte file size, is it worth the download? Or is such an amalgamation of two gaming genres just a mess?
The events that lead up to the conflict in this mod are, as always, the typical story of blood and war. Two empires control a planet and its population in what seems to be a more or less equal share. One half is controlled by the Brenodi Empire, whose population relies on Nanotechnology in their daily lives. The other is controlled by the Jekotian Empire who rely on the apparent wonders of genetic manipulation.
Empires: A story of war and oppression. |
The peace is broken when an ancient city of a previous united empire is found. Battle lines are drawn under the hysteria of a brand new united empire under the control of one of the two empires. The Jekotians strike first but are pushed back to their capital which is brutally sacked and annexed.
Typical oppression by the victorious Brenodi Empire leads to remnants of the Jekotian's military to form a resistance movement called the "Northern Faction". The players' choice is between these two enemies. The strong military of the Brenodi Empire (with a symbol looking suspiciously like a WWI-style German Empire Iron Cross), or the resourceful underground movement of the Northern Faction.
An engineer hard at work for fear of getting shot by his comrades! |
The two different sides to this game make the FPS and RTS aspects almost completely different experiences. Natural Selection players will know this dichotomy well. The RTS side is controlled by the "Commander" residing in the command vehicle spawned at the start of the game. As Commander, it's your task to formulate cunning plans for where the mod's impressive buildings are to be located so engineers can set your genius ideas into stone.
This could be compared with similar systems in any Age of Empires game where you zone out what needs to be built, and underpaid citizens come and do the hard yards.
Tanks can be ordered forward in a brutal assault by the Commander. |
Other tasks include researching the technology tree, ordering units to attack enemy locations and units, and overseeing vehicle production. Although the developers are keen to promote the idea that you should only be the Commander if you know the tech tree like the back of your hand, anyone who's played any normal RTS game, especially Command and Conquer: Generals will be reasonably comfortable in the role after a few minutes getting to grips with the tidy and easy-to-use interface. Just don't expect to be able to build a Nuclear Missile Silo or a Tesla Coil. | |
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