Stardrive 2 early game3/6/2023 ![]() Balance is another area of concern, as Petroglyph lack the deep pockets to commit to long term balancing efforts if the game doesn’t sell well. Eschewing activated abilities is a risky move, one that could potentially see the game’s multiplayer stalling out if players don’t feel intellectually satisfied. The biggest potential issues for Grey Goo are its depth and whether its gameplay is strong enough to sustain a community. Grey Goo may be of particular interest to gamers who like the idea of StarCraft, but are intimidated by the demands of its gameplay and those who fondly remember traditional Command and Conquer games. The story is well composed and well presented, and seems like a solid science fiction narrative, much stronger than the average in the genre. Anyone interested in RTS stories should stay abreast of the game’s development, as well. Grey Goo looks to be an excellent launch point into the RTS genre for those uninitiated, uneasy about the challenges of competitive play, or returning after years away in MMO or FPS land. Grey Goo moves at a more sedate pace for the most part, though area damage is surprisingly intense with some units able to wipe out armies with astounding speed. Who would be interested?Īs mentioned in the previous paragraph, Grey Goo is focused almost entirely on base management, unit maneuvering and unit production, with little emphasis on high speed action or eSports-style game speeds. ![]() I’ll cover that assertion in detail in the the next 2 sections. ![]() The game’s stated mission is to get the tedious parts of an RTS out of the player’s way to free them up to think about strategic level decisions. Petroglyph has also gone to great lengths to streamline unit production with a global menu reminiscent of the classic C&C context menu and semi-automated resource gathering via a Red Alert 3-eque refinery system. This game goes back to the olden days of RTS, with a heavy “rock paper scissors” damage system on the game’s units and a complete absence of unit abilities. Grey Goo marks the first truly traditional RTS the studio has made. The studio has had limited critical success with their titles after their first title, Empire at War, which is held to be the best Star Wars RTS ever made. Petroglyph is known for experimenting with the fabric of the RTS genre, drawing upon classic physical conventions like card drawing in many of their experiments. Grey Goo is Petroglyh’s latest RTS title, and is slated for launch on January 23rd, the first day of PAX South. This studio is comprised in part of members of the old Westwood team, and leverages that heavily in their messaging. I thought it might interest my readers to get a little look into some of the strategy (mostly RTS) games slated for launch in the next year or so, as well as a brief overview of why I’m following the development of these games. My unique brand of insanity has me interested in the genre as a whole rather than devoted to a single title (though Relic’s games and Company of Heroes 2 hold a special place in my odd little heart). Those of us raised on WarCraft tend to identify with systems common to Blizzard’s titles, and those of us whose first RTS might have been Supreme Commander (way to make me feel old, by the way – I remember the original Total Annihilation) cannot imagine playing an RTS game with a (gasp!) fixed camera. Those of us who were raised on Command and Conquer crave the Westwood feel. RTS gamers are intensely tribal in some cases. Historical wargamers will happily stick with Matrix Games’ constant stream of these titles, 4X gamers have trusted names like Sid Meier, or developers like Paradox, to keep them in their bread and butter (also 4X tend to have years and years worth of replayability). Everyone, it seems, is interested in the Call of Duty of the week, or the next potential “World of WarCraft killer” or “DOTA Killer.” RTS games have major visibility problems.Īlso, it’s often not clear why someone might be interested in any given RTS game. Unless the game has been picked up by a major publisher, or has caused a wave in the games press (like Planetary Annihilation’s Kickstarter campaign) it is quite common for a large percentage of gamers to completely miss out on the announcement, betas and launch of RTS games. Even more frustrating to me as a real-time strategy gamer, the vast majority of RTS games suffer from very low visibility in the marketplace. Sadly, this means that it’s quite easy for games to slip between the cracks. The games industry moves at a frenetic pace. Even keeping abreast of the AAA shooter and MMO market can be hectic at times, to say nothing of the hordes of B list and indie titles that bombard gamers constantly.
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