Stop me if you've heard this one before: there's an upcoming real-time strategy game built specifically for video game consoles and... hey! Watch where you're throwing those bottles!
Okay, so you have heard that one before. Fine. Keep your expectations low then. But know that this particular RTS comes from the exceptional pedigree of Creative Assembly, the studio behind the Total War series. And that the controls really do threaten to innovate in the seeming dead-end arena of console-based RTS games. The game in question, by the way, is Stormrise.
Stormrise is set on a ravaged future Earth. At some point in history, scientists failed miserably in their attempt to save the planet by creating an artificial ozone layer. The result was a half-century of "environmental disasters" which rendered everything outside of the North and South Poles completely uninhabitable.
Before the storms descended, the planet's elite buttoned down in underground shelters: scientists, politicians, military forces... people deemed essential to the continued survival of the human race. With them went all of Earth's technology, which saw continued development during the 50 years spent underground. This group came to be known as the Echelon.
They emerged from their shelters to find that others had survived as well, though with significant side effects. Stormrise's Sai faction underwent a wide range of changes as their planet was torn apart. Deprived of human technology and its architects, these people formed new bonds with nature even as unknown forces mutated them all into something decidedly Other. Where the Echelon bring mechs and other high-tech instruments of war to battle, the Sai bring psychics, animal handlers and the like.
Although the demo was eyes-on only, it is immediately clear that Stormrise is meant for console play. The camera is always tethered to a single unit, meaning there's no overhead tactical view of the battles. Units (both single and grouped) all have icons attached to them which are visible on the screen at all times, even if line of sight is obstructed.
One of the big innovations in Stormrise is a whip-select feature, designed for jumping easily between units. Pushing in any direction on the right analog stick calls up a selection cone which emanates from the currently selected unit or group. The cone can be rotated around to highlight any individual unit/group icon and then released to snap to that selection. The analog stick can also be flicked in the direction of an icon to automatically select and snap to it.
The game follows a linear path through a series of missions which give players the opportunity to sample both factions. Any given battle will typically involve establishing a network of captured "nodes" – build points upon which anything can be constructed, from turrets to reinforcement summoning warp gates – into and throughout formerly enemy territory.
The big concern I have at this point is that, with all of this action occurring in real time, troop management may quickly grow to be too cumbersome. The Creative Assembly rep who showed off the game didn't give a clear answer when asked about the maximum number of units one might expect to control during a given mission. It's going to take extensive hands-on time with Stormrise to really determine how functional it is as an RTS.
The combination of a full-blown story-based campaign and multiplayer matches supporting up to 8 players in mixed faction teams are certainly tempting, so long as everything works right. Our eyes-on look at the basic controls is proof Sega was smart to let Creative Assembly pursue the golden goose that is a competent console-based RTS. We'll have to wait until March to see how it all works out in practice, but I find myself feeling surprisingly hopeful after glimpsing Stormrise in action.
