Comments on: Whip It: Stormrise

By: MrFake

MrFake — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:58:54 +0000

Or, y’know, they could just integrate mouse support into the consoles. Why is that still not an option? Considering they’ve had USB, keyboard, and even bluetooth support, we’re living in a time when people hook their PCs to their giganto-TVs to play, and even doll up their OS’s to look and feel like consoles; this is just silly.

Innovation like this is nice to see, but it always feels like the cool new control gimmick that we all wish would catch on ends up drying out the game proper (Endwar). And, of course, there’s the threat of dumbing down the PC version for the consoles (lots of examples).

By: amishmonster

amishmonster — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 04:51:33 +0000

@Doc MacRae: Oh, fully agreed. Still, post-apocalyptic monks made it leap to mind immediately. I long for the day when we start getting some decent game adaptations of good books, though.

By: jackflash

jackflash — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 01:06:38 +0000

Bleh, console trash. I’ll stick with Empire.

By: Erlam

Erlam — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:44:23 +0000

“Huh. Are we watching the same footage, Erlam? I didn’t catch any of that. (I ask not to be sarcastic, but because both of the dev videos seem to be the same thing? Something might be twitchy on my end.)”

I was looking at the website unit descriptions, sorry for being unclear.

I’m not saying Blizzard didn’t rip off units, I’m saying that most of the ones stolen aren’t even rip-offs, and are not just the same in looks, but ABILITIES and WEAPONS.

I just figured there’d be more creativity involved, as you only have two sides, and there’s a focus on ‘vertical action’ or whatever, that new types of units would come out. There’s no dedicated mortar unit, or whatever. There’s just every RTS cliche ever made.

By: Tei

Tei — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:41:00 +0000

Sins released also on this months, I remenber it as a good thing, as there was *nothing* playable back then… after the XMax period, ther whas “The Nothing”. I suppose (crazy theory follows) the beancounters detected this, so all future RTS games where re-schedule to release this month, just to repeat the sucess of Sins.

By: Doc MacRae

Doc MacRae — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:30:53 +0000

@ drewski:
I guess, but I can’t imagine CA made a lot of money on the Total Warrior games, and Stormrise is likely to be outgunned by Halo Wars’ massive premade fanbase. Just seems like an odd move for them timing-wise, especially since Empire is probably going to be a blockbuster.

I’m happy at least that they keep their console team and their Total War team separate, which CA reps are quick to point out when us PC fanatics start getting antsy. So a failure on the consoles is unlikely to bring down their whole studio.

@ amishmonster
I dunno man, I don’t know if I could get behind such a trivialization of the whole story unless it was really well made and still supported the themes of the book.

Heretic. :P

By: CZx2

CZx2 — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:09:45 +0000

“To play on a truly 3D map that incorporates ‘verticality’ (i.e. multiple terrain levels, such as subterranean tunnels and building rooftops)”

Check out Metal Fatigue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Fatigue). It released back in 2000 and allowed you to build structures and control your units on land, underground and up in the sky on mountain tops.

It’s a great a RTS that isn’t too well known.

By: amishmonster

amishmonster — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:02:51 +0000

Gap Gen: “Yes, I can’t see the resemblance to Medieval. But then it doesn’t have people with foreign accents shouting “Mounted archers!” and it isn’t introduced by monks. But it would be awesome if it did.”

A Canticle For Leibowitz RTS, anyone? I’m in.

By: SwiftRanger

SwiftRanger — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:02:10 +0000

This seriously needs some live action FMVs, KKnD1 style (that other post-apocalyptic Australian RTS). Even Stormrise's setting seems very KKnD-like, bring back the mutes!

By: Turin Turambar

Turin Turambar — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:30:50 +0000

It seems so, so generic. Both the visuals and the little gameplay you can see.

By: Gap Gen

Gap Gen — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:01:19 +0000

Yeah, it’s mainly innovative for consoles, it looks like. Halo Wars also claims to have the most intuitive interface. I guess we’ll see which is better.

Actually, I don’t like the look of Halo Wars. All the screenshots I’ve seen just have soldiers lining up in the open, firing at each other at ridiculously close range. No cover dynamic, no squad tactics.

By: Nelson

Nelson — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 13:46:10 +0000

I don’t see how the whip controls are all that inventive: when you double click on any unit in Total War you “whip” right to it. So, basically CA just made an analog stick do this. Big whoop! That said, I think all RTS games should feature this whipping ability. It is better than using a mouse or arrow keys to find units on a large map.