The Three Rs N3twork is a primarily British viral entertainment network, with standings in many niche interests involved in a variety of different groups. Ranging from gaming to adulthood to video creation.
1/10 - "Just, No." 2/10 - "Avoid." 3/10 - "Gamebreakingly flawed" 4/10 - "Not so great" 5/10 - "Pretty Average." 6/10 - "A few nice touches, nothing amazing" 7/10 - "Not brilliant, fun anyway" 8/10 - "A decent enough game, Well worth a look." 9/10 - "A really good game. Highly Recommended." 10/10 - "An absolute must buy, a defining game for the genre."
well, i applied for the beta maybe a week ago, i figured it was a long shot that i'd get in.
Hello, Jake Tucker
We're pleased to inform you that you have been selected to participate in the Tom Clancy's EndWar Private Beta. You now have access to the full EndWar Beta website at www.endwarbeta.com and can begin posting on the forums.
Unfortunatly, i just had to agree to a lengthy NDA before it would let me on the site, so all i'll be able to tell you is if its any good or not.
I thought, maybe, for my second article whilst the boss is away, I should actually make a critical analysis of an upcoming game, rather than ranting about ones already released. Further to this, I'm taking a look at EAs RTS monster, Red Alert 3. This has been announced for release in 'red October' of this year (I know that doesn't mean anything, but it might give you a slight idea of how long it'll be delayed). Now, I have to say I love the Command and Conquer series, and with it, the Red Alert series (not so much Generals). I've been a fan of the franchise since the original Red Alert, and I'm probably going to buy this one too. And given the game's track record, I'll have to buy another new computer to play it. However, looking at various previews of the game, I'm slightly dubious as to some of the little details in the game. Are EA losing their strategic nerve?
It's a pretty straightforward trailer really (from Gamespot). It's good to see they haven't decimated the traditional industrial metal soundtrack that fits in with Red Alert games so well. Then, there are a few things that aren't quite so obvious, but are still shown in the trailer. Firstly, there appears to be a lot more focus on sea-combat. This is good, it takes me back to the days of battleships and subs on the original Red Alert. But, more than just this, water bases as well, so, I believe, power plants and construction yards built on the water. I think, the more options you have in an RTS, the better quality the gameplay is. And water is just another of those options. The lack of water combat in C&C3 was always a big problem for me. It didn't make it a bad game, and maybe water units would have cluttered it too much, but it just bottlenecked your strategies just that little bit more.
Next point, is the new physics engine that EA have brought in. The only real example of this in the trailer is of how the bullfrog units jump down on those soldiers and devour them. It's a pretty cool little scene, but it shows that, at last, you can really take advantage of the terrain (incidentally, those soldiers, using this new engine, wouldn't be able to see the bullfrogs, even if they had been looking directly at the cliff; another interesting feature). However, in missions, cliffs have always been a really useful way for the designer to block parts off, or to force you to take a certain path through the map, it'll be interesting to see how EA compensate that, now that some units can jump off cliffs.
Now, the graphics on that trailer aren't particularly impressive, a bit grainy. But I think you can see from the screenshots, that that won't be true of the game itself. The graphics look typically computer and soul destroying. And that's what we hope for in a Red Alert game. I mean, atom bomb graphics that didn't set your computer on fire? Who would go for that?
Another important addition to the gameplay is a third faction. This third faction is an attempt at not changing the Allies and Soviets too much, but still mix the gaming up a little. I'm not sure how original this is with Tiberium Wars just introducing a third faction. But, change is good, right? The third faction is set to be Japan, so we can expect Ninjas, Samurai, crazy robots and Hentai. I've got reserved judgement on a third faction. The idea worked on Tiberium Wars, but didn't on Generals. But then, for me, nothing worked on Generals.
Also, there is an increased area of strategy. That is what RTS was meant to be, but sort of turned into a couple of dozen simultaneous Shoot-em-ups going on. For instance, there will be less of an emphasis on building up, building up, building up, SUPERWEAPON, as there has been in the last few games. Instead, the emphasis is set to be a lot more on scouting the enemy's base, checking them out, and seeing what their weaknesses are. If that's done well, it will be great, if it's not, it will be boring. That's something we'll just have to wait for more details on. But certainly, as far as combat strategy is concerned, we can certainly be expecting a lot more of the 'bite and hold' tactics that won the Allies WWI. We have artillery that can shoot so far that your enemy can't see you and the base you're destroying in the same camera. This will certainly give you a chance to use a more strategic approach to the game.
All good so far: a nice mix of new innovation and die hard classicism. However, I haven't got to what bothers me yet. Chris Corry (executive producer of the EA branch responsible for developing RA3) has said that Red Alert is very much their 'fun' project, whilst C&C remains their 'dark' serious series. At first, this didn't really make much sense to me: I know the C&C maps tend to be dark, but I just thought they were fighting at night. But then, I read about some of the new units they are bringing in, and this brought back memories from previous RAs of 'fun' innovations. To go back to the original Red Alert, the Chronosphere, Tanya and Burglars. Red Alert 2: Weather Machines, cloning facilities and Zephyrs with heads painted on them. Of course, these were just things that made you sigh in pity slightly at the inability to think up genuine hardcore units. I didn't realise they had done this on purpose, in the name of 'fun'. But these innovations are nothing compared to a select few of the new units in RA3. Intelligent dolphins will roam the seas, presumably strapping C4 to aircraft carriers and then swimming like hell. I mean, what can they possibly do next? I guess they could stick bears into cannons and parachute them into the enemy base... Yes, they've done that too.
This game looks set to be just another great one in the long list of C&C and RA RTSs. It also looks set to be the first RTS that fully integrates water combat and bases into the game. With RA games it's important to keep a certain amount of tradition, whilst still making the gameplay fresh and invigorating. It's a tricky task, but the developers are up to it. I just hope they don't make it fresh to the point of slapstick comedy: Kane getting hit with a custard pie, that kinda thing.
Once upon a time, back in 1998 i was round a friends house. This friend of mine was playing Starcraft: Brood War, after the both of us spending about 6 hours doing LAN matches against each other i went out and purchased the game, at least once a year since i have busted out the game and kicked some Zerg in the head.
The announcement of Starcraft 2 you can imagine lit up my seemingly otherwise dreary life. That being said the wait is proving to be an arduous one and the infrequent updates by Blizzard are really starting to irritate me, i do not see why Blizzard feel the need to announce an eagerly awaited game such as: Starcraft: Ghost (which they then axed), Wrath of the Lich King and Starcraft 2 when they are not planning on releasing them in the next millennium, all it does is increase the hype and make the game a possible letdown, let us not forget Halo 3 (congratulations Bungie).
While I'm ranting about this i would like to pick up on a couple of things i have noticed about Starcraft in that it's 3 playable races the Terran, Zerg and Protoss draw unnatural similarities with the Aliens, Predators and Marines, in that the Protoss are a highly developed warrior race who are well up themselves (Predators), the Zerg are a parasitic alien life form that need a host in order to evolve (Aliens). Finally the Terran who are the human marines though i suppose i cant really rant about that, because a futuristic RTS just wouldn't be right if the humans and their clearly inferior technology didn't hand in which side gains victory.
Anyway enough of how massive games companys make me want to do nasty things to them with desert Forks. Starcraft 2 does as all sequels so often do by taking up the story where its predecessor left off, in this case the aftermath of the War with the Zerg, my guess is that they are all going to come back even worse with the harbinger of death Sarah Kerrigan (see left), and cause the Terran and Protoss a whole lot of trouble.
I have been looking at the Website and watching videos and i must say i am very impressed with what Blizzard have done with the game, the graphical improvements are. So far as i can tell they have made the races a lot more balanced and fair unlike the last game where anyone playing as the protoss could just spam Zealots in an anal raping tactic, or the Terran with their ghosts and the seemingly unstoppable nuclear bombs.
I am also happy to see the return of Jim Raynor after helping the Protoss at the end of the last game he seems to have butched up a bit taken up smoking cigars and now he looks completely different.
Well as a final couple of present i leave you the overly lengthy and not really that interesting opening trailer which blizzard released just before Blizzcon last year, also the Protoss in game introduction giving you a quick look at in game action
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