By Adam Smith on January 27th, 2012 at 10:06 am.
Naval strategy game Oil Rush is now available direct from developers Unigine, and on Steam and Desura. Rather than being powered by burning up the planet’s lifeblood, it runs on the studio’s own Unigine Engine, which seems capable of producing some attractive visuals. It’s a fast-paced take on strategy, focusing around the capture of platforms, nodes scattered around each map that produce either units or oil. Unit-producing nodes can be defended with various sorts of turret while oil platforms have no such protection and must be defended by the various warcrafts churned out. Observe.
That’s a multiplayer scenario. There is a single player campaign and the option to indulge in skirmishes against the computer as well. Beyond the surprising beauty of the game, the thing to keep an eye on is that minimap at the bottom right corner. Add a little more information to that and you’d probably be able to track everything of importance without being distracted by the sun glinting off the crest of a wave, or a man on a jetski exploding. Take away the theme and it’s a game about control of supply points, with units navigating from node to node at your command rather than undertaking more complex maneuvers.
Theme matters to many people though, me included, and beyond the abstractions of play there is that sometimes spectacular aesthetic and a narrative of greed, warfare and petty squabbling in the aftermath of terrible events. Here’s a video of a character talking plot-type happenings.
As for those abstractions, it reminds me a little of Z. I’ll always remember being drawn in by the lovable junkyard robots and then realising it was all too frantic for me compared to the slower pace I was used to in my warmongering. Company of Heroes is more my pace and Oil Rush doesn’t look quite as hectic as the former, although I’d imagine it can be perilous against a focused opponent. That’s provided it builds up enough of an online community for people to find opponents. I’m tempted to check out the multiplayer community in a couple of weeks after launch to see how things are ticking over.
Available now for $19.95. Comes with Steam and Desura keys, and runs on Windows, Mac and Linux.
27/01/2012 at 10:07 povu says:
The pun! It buuuurns!
27/01/2012 at 10:10 Demon Beaver says:
You don’t have to be so stiff about it
27/01/2012 at 10:12 rustybroomhandle says:
Cock! Sorry, that was my turrets acting up.
27/01/2012 at 10:18 Text_Fish says:
How crude.
27/01/2012 at 10:18 AmateurScience says:
It made me oil my pants.
27/01/2012 at 11:20 Suits says:
Your pun material is a bit raw.
27/01/2012 at 11:36 JiminyJickers says:
You guys definitely have some slick puns going on here.
27/01/2012 at 11:54 Optimaximal says:
These puns fuel my hatred…
27/01/2012 at 12:12 Bluerps says:
You burned the midnight oil to come up with that, didn’t you?
27/01/2012 at 13:08 tungstenHead says:
Very refined puns, gentlemen.
27/01/2012 at 13:31 julianbenson says:
Oil have to think hard to come up with a good ‘un
27/01/2012 at 14:39 firetail says:
If I “laugh” any more from these puns I think Oi’ll spill my drink
27/01/2012 at 15:39 Craig Stern says:
This thread is a gas.
27/01/2012 at 17:34 Droopy The Dog says:
So many people petroling RPS looking for a chance to pun…
27/01/2012 at 20:10 Tommo says:
Y’all just a bunch of Beverly Hillbillies!
27/01/2012 at 10:15 The Tupper says:
Pun fail: ignore.
27/01/2012 at 15:00 Man Raised by Puffins says:
Yes, young Adam needs to refine his puncraft a tad, once distilled a fraction more it’ll be cracking.
27/01/2012 at 17:37 Droopy The Dog says:
Now if he follows man raised by puffins’ example, his puncraft will soon octane perfection.
27/01/2012 at 22:54 The Tupper says:
I should explain – I intended to add to the initial thread but missed the ‘reply’ button through my own inadequacies and started a new one accidentally and then edited it out. My comment had no bearing whatsoever on Mr Smith’s punnery,
Indeed, as regular contributor of what I can only describe as industrial-grade puns it horrifies me that my comment could be taken as a criticism of someone else’s.
Now I’m flailing around to make up for what was, initially, only a reply flail.
You see? You see just HOW bad I can get? I hope you’re satisfied.
27/01/2012 at 10:38 Elltot says:
I must say I’m intrigued by this. Is there a demo available?
27/01/2012 at 10:51 Adam Smith says:
Nope. Shame.
27/01/2012 at 13:03 johnpeat says:
They claim there will be one ‘soon’ – I’m happy to wait for that as I’m not sold on the videos but the overall idea has some promise…
27/01/2012 at 11:02 sgnl05 says:
Any chance we could get a Wot I Think for this?
27/01/2012 at 11:37 Diogo Ribeiro says:
Well, for what it’s worth, this sounded like a Wot I’m Thinking.
27/01/2012 at 13:22 Fierce says:
Personally, I’d much rather see a Wot I Think about SOL: Exodus.
It’s summarized description of…
“The game is set in the solar system, and will feature both dogfighting and battles with capital ships. The game is described by the designers as being in the spirit of older space combat simulators such as Wing Commander, FreeSpace, and Star Wars: X-Wing.”
…has my wallet warming up to temperatures uncomfortable to my pockets.
27/01/2012 at 14:00 Adam Smith says:
I’ll know wot I think about Exodus by Monday I reckon.
27/01/2012 at 14:56 Fierce says:
Sweet, looking forward to it. Cheers.
27/01/2012 at 11:30 MrNice says:
That gameplay video got me interested, seem to be quite nervous, I may buy this game.
27/01/2012 at 11:35 rustybroomhandle says:
Been playing this on and off for the past few weeks and it’s fun. My only gripe is that you could play an entire match without taking your eyes off the minimap for the most part.
I have yet to play the campaign though as that only became available with the release yesterday.
27/01/2012 at 12:18 Caleb367 says:
I’ve been playing the campaign and as of now I’m quite satisfied. Slick gameplay, often gets into a tense, WW1 style trench warfare – as in, both sides matching each other in strength but a single platform conquered may well mean the start of an avalanche.
Excellent graphics and great performance for the visual quality, also – and decent hard-rock-y soundtrack. I also love how you progress from a rag-tag post-apocalyptic scavenger look (waterbikes with SMG’s, cargo trawlers with mortars welded on the decks, zeppelins made from sewn-up cloth, several boat parts, a lot of spit and fervent prayers) to a more “civilized” one (helicopters, ’nuff said).
My only complain so far rests on voice acting in the campaing, which is pretty much awful, but it’s a very very very minor one.
27/01/2012 at 14:01 TLGAthena says:
Currently ludicrously buggy, at least one confirmed memory leak in the campaign, if not more, CTD’s are a nightly occurence. The game is brilliant when it works, but right now it mostly doesn’t, patch due, once it stops falling over, this will be worth picking up.
27/01/2012 at 16:27 rustybroomhandle says:
I have not had any problems with it, but have been running the Linux version, so it might be version-specific buggery. I also have a ludicrous amount of RAM, so might not notice the memleak so much.
27/01/2012 at 20:17 Caleb367 says:
Never had a single problem with it and I’m playing on Windows XP, so you may need to check your config, mate.
27/01/2012 at 14:12 Porkolt says:
Seeing this doesn’t get me nearly as excited as seeing Naval Warfare did (you know, the game about concluding matings). NW looks a lot more appealing for one (even though Oil Rush’s water looks better), though I gather the gameplay is completely different for both games.