Posts Tagged ‘Ironclad’

RPS Feature Sins Of A Stagnant Empire

Ironclad On Why RTS Is Dying, MOBA Needs To Evolve

In the grand scheme of MOBAs, Ironclad’s Sins of a Dark Age is quite the bold thing. AI directors, random rule-rewriting quests, and other RPG-influenced, flow-shattering shenanigans? This certainly isn’t DOTA 2.5 or Assortment of Apologues, and it’s not trying to be. But at one point, it was doing its damndest to be so much more. Unfortunately, the RTS-style base-building and commanding didn’t pan out, and Ironclad scratched them almost entirely. But according to studio director and co-owner Blair Fraser, his MOBA’s retching rejection of all things RTS is indicative of much larger problems for both genres. One, he argues, is on its death bed, and the other could be following suit if it doesn’t start blazing new trails.

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RPS Feature Hello, Space

Wot I Think: Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion

sssssssspppppppppaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCEEE
The boys at RPS needed somebody who knew about rebellions for this review, so they called me in because I am Northern Irish and I once shot a gun. I thought, “This will be easy because it is a game about rebellion. There is even ‘rebellion’ in the title.” And then I discovered it was a game about SPACE rebellion, which is completely outside of my knowledge because I have not been into space even once. I thought, “I am in trouble now because I am not good at being in space.” I am currently playing a pen and paper role-playing campaign set in space. The character I rolled is so traumatised by life in space that every time there is a “stressful situation” he has to roll to see how he reacts. If I roll a one, I have to go through a psychotic breakdown.

I am not good at being in space. And here’s wot i think of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion.
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Spacebiff! Sins Of A Solar Empire: Rebellion Launches

Pewzap!
And it launches a volley of nuclear laser bombs, if the trailer below is anything to go by. I haven’t had time to get my hands on Rebellion yet, but I certainly have the intention to play it right up. I was one of the many who chewed through hours of Sins of a Solar Empire, and this expandalone has just about enough gravity to bring me back into orbit around its real-time space-conflict happenings. Anyone else on course for a rendezvous with this one?

Fancy lookin’ launch trailer below.
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RPS Feature Sins Of A Fantasy Empire

First Look: Sins Of A Dark Age

Wait, this isn't shopping in space!

It was with profuse apologies that I entered the demo room for Sins Of A Dark Age. “No, I haven’t, I’m sorry,” I said meekly when asked if I’ve played Sins Of A Solar Empire. Am I familiar with RTS games then? “Er, sorry, no,” with more looking at my shoes. DOTA? “Barely… Look, I’m the wrong person for this, okay. But see: I’m good at taking information and writing it in an entertaining fashion.” But here’s the thing – by the end of my time watching the game being played, I rather wanted a go.

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Repentance: Sins of a Solar Empire Returns

This isn't a Rebellion screenshot. But let's all pretend it is, so I don't look so bad

Stardock might have broken a few hearts with the whole Elemental launch fiasco (for which they recently offered a remarkably earnest mea culpa), but it’s clear they’re still well aware what’s important. Specifically, an epic comeback for Sins of a Solar Empire, the space strategy game that got RPS’s hive-heart all a-flutter back in 2007. It is to return, in the form of standalone expansion pack Rebellion. Immediately standing out in the list of planned features is “New Titan-class ships: Massive warships for each race that dwarf capital ships, these deadly new monsters are capable of wiping out entire enemy fleets single-handedly.”

Massive. Dwarf. Deadly. Monsters. Single-handedly. These are all mighty promising words. These, truly, are words of space war.
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Sins of a Solar Empire Demo

Green space... of DEATH

Just in time for the weekend, Stardock have released a Sins of a Solar Empire demo. Just over 38-Peggles in size, it includes the tutorials, a couple of pre-generated small maps and a randomly-generated medium one (Allowing up to two and three AI opponents respectively). Its’ limited to ninety minutes of play. Get it from here, and read my review and our interview with Ironclad to remind yourselves why you should give it a shot.

No jokes in an RPS post? I must be ill.

Eurogamer: Sins of a Solar Empire Review

LASER! LASER!

Eurogamer’s put up my review of Ironclad’s Space-epic RTS up on their fine organ. I start like this…

“The bits where you order a fleet of a hundred or so cruisers, frigates and capital ships to line up in an epic formation at the edge of a solar system, and jump simultaneously to a neighbouring solar system? Where dozens of portals open up, and your vessels accelerate through them trailing hyperbright lights? Wicked. When you get a mob of Siege Frigates in orbit above a populated world and giggle as the planet’s surface blossoms in what you have to presume to be nuclear detonations? Awesome. And when an enemy fleet appears in your solar system, and a dozen fighter and bomber wings take off, closing the distance to the incoming ships while your big boys ponderously manouevre to join in? Hell yeah!

It’s worthwhile to take a little time out to be shallow, because there’s going to be precious little opportunity for that as we go on.”

And then ramble on insensibly, as is my idiom. Our interview with Ironclad’s Blair Fraser and Stardock’s Brad Wardell can be still read over here. Oh – and expect a Sins Verdict at some point in the next few weeks.

Sins of a Solar Empire Interview

LASER! LASER!

Yesterday, the first big strategy game of the year slid out of its space-dock. Sins of a Solar Empire, which we’ve talked about previously (In short: Space Woo!) and will be reviewing shortly. But we need more! Born Journalistic Pirates, we boarded the celebratory cruise-vessel of Stardock and cornered Ironclad’s Producer and Lead Designer, Blair Fraser, and Stardock’s CEO and President Brad Wardell to prise away our desired booty. That is, talk about the game, their future plans and the surprising and somewhat disappointing reason why it doesn’t have a UK distributor yet…

That, and absolutely no more over-elaborate analogies beyond the cut.
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Games For 2008: Sins of a Solar Empire

Stars!

As always, we are two nations divided by a common language. Despite being online and PC gaming for a clear decade, my first reaction to hearing anyone say 4X is to think of cheap Australian Lager rather than the ol’ explore, expand, exploit, exterminate of strategy games. Doesn’t make me love them any less, of course. This is one. But it’s different. How to describe it? Oh, let’s be cheap and nasty. Since Sins of a Solar Empire is being published by Stardock, even though it’s being developed by the Sierra/Take2/Rockstar alumni at Ironclad, let’s imagine the stunning Galactic Civilization 2, but in real time.

Before you play it, you may think that a little overwhelming. And, from my experiences in the Beta, you’ll be right. Just that it’s in an “overwhelmingly exciting” sort of way.
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