ECTS Roundup

By Tim Chown

CDV

CDV is one of those European outfits that has risen in profile in the last 12 months with the releases of Cossacks and Sudden Strike. They had plenty to show off at ECTS. Perhaps of least interest was the add-on pack for Cossacks, Age of Enlightenment, which featured a little more of everything but nothing new. The adjacent stand did draw me in though - it featured a striking 3D space action that was quite 'Homeworlds' in quality. It took me a little while to realise the game was Imperium Galactica III. I enjoyed IG1 for its novelty value, but I felt IG2 was rather poor. Now, IG3 had me sucked in on looks alone. The developers are Philos, who you may remember as makers of the distinctly ordinary but well-intendedancient fantasy RTS, Theocracy.

IG3 has been heavily reworked. It's still driven by storyline, with 10 main missions and up to 25 random ones. But the style has changed. You don't built planet settlements any more, nor are there any ground battles. Instead you fight for control of 20 star systems and exploit their planets for resources. There are six races, though you can only play as the humans. It certainly looks superb. While the NPC commanders, research system, and shipbuilding aspects are interesting, the fact that the design allows you only one fleet is a bit worrying. In most space strategy games you want to avoid the single killer-stack syndrome. In IG3 it's apparently the only way to play. We'll see just how this affects gameplay come Christmas when it releases.

Also at the CDV stand was Project Nomads. This is a 3D action-RTS that's evolved from the Battlezone and Sacrifice styles. High in the sky, islands float between the clouds.You play the role of a hero able to fly from island to island, with the power to create new structures, build new weapons, and cast spectacular spells. The atmosphere is curious, with the mixture of windmills, zeppelins, and high-power cannon defences. You can control your hero from an over-the-shoulder perspective, or jump into some of the structures; for example you can control a gun turret yourself. Shades of Arcanum as technology meets magic. The visuals are good, and there's a fair amount of promise in what I saw. The release is a few months off.

CDV's collection also included War Commander, a WWII RTS that didn't look too different from Sudden Strike. With fewer units in play, there's more focus on tactics. Escape from Alcatraz sees you controling a squad of characters, Commandos style, as you travel between a series of prison scenarios. And there's Divine Divinity, which looked like something of a Diablo clone, though that needn't be a bad thing.

JoWood

Another company with a deep lineup was JoWood. Like CDV, they had half a dozen games on show, and as many again in development. The one that sucked me into the stand was Code Zero, which looks to be something of a Matrix-style third-person shooter/RPG. The game's still a way off yet, so there wasn't a great deal to see. The developer was promising more gameplay hours than Max Payne. Another stylish 3D RPG by the name of Gothic is in the works. This looks set to finally put the dated Might and Magic RPG format to rest, offering a full 3D perspective on the RPG action. There ares also over 250 NPCs and a wide range of monsters, each with their own daily routines and lives to follow.

The wide array of games wouldn't be complete without a couple of 3D RTS games. WorldWar III is a modern RTS that looks a little Earth 2150-like in appearance. It's due out very soon and a public demo is available. However, it doesn't seem to be overly innovative. Even JoWood admits that "an RTS is an RTS." That said, Natural Resistance was possibly the best-looking game at ECTS. The detail in the 3D models of this modern RTS was very impressive. Jeeps wobble as men climb onboard, the barrels of self-propelled guns rise, fall, and recoil very convincingly. Perhaps most impressive were the physics in the building models, with individual girders of cranes buckling as they collapsed under gunfire. The 3D engine was also able to maintain a large number of objects over a deep field ofview. The game's not due until at least Christmas 2002, so while the early 3D engine is there, there's no real gameplay on offer yet. But it looks to be one to watch out for.

JoWood's Frontierland, which looked intruiging at ECTS last year, has been shelved, with the more action-oriented Pioneers taking it's place. There's also an Old West strategic game in the pipeline. Industry Giant -- or Industry Tycoon if you're in the US -- is perhaps JoWood's best-known and most successful game, having sold 1,600,000 units. It's thus no surprise that it's getting a sequel, due this year.There's also a Hotel Giant in the works, which we can only hope fares better than the woeful SimTower. The final JoWood title worth mentioning isPanzer Elite, a WWII tank sim due for release in a couple of months. This wasn't on show, but given the dearth of good tank sims it may be worth checking out.

JoWood intends to release more of their games simultaneously to US and European audiences. One reason being that they feel they'll lose less to piracy by doing so.

Microids

Microids' big game from ECTS 2000 was Far Gate. But this year they had a rather different title up their sleeve: Warrior Kings. Set in the Middle Ages, the flavour of the game is similar to Shogun, at least in the battle element. In the demo on show, a number of formations were lined up in opposition on some impressive3D terrain, with units varying from standard pike and archer fare to some fantastic behemoth seige engines. The formations, each of which can holdup to 64 units, seemed easy to command, but you have to be aware that units will react to events. For example, in the demo a group of archers ran to a nearby hill when charged by cavalry. The fantasy theme is continued with the ability for armies to tempoarily summon angels or demons via prayer at their churches. There's a resource wrapper present in each scenario, with cities to be built and food to be harvested to keep troops in supply. The 300-unita-per-side limit, with up to 8 sides in a battle, makes this a possible Shogun contender. But one has to wonder if the resource element will make the game play more like Age of Empires, with fewer set-piece battles than implied by the demo. Still, it looks very promising and developers at Black Cactus Games hope to release Warrior Kings in time for Christmas.

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