However, the appearance of the Virons is central to the story, as they are keen to exact revenge for some past transgression. Rather than having to rely on off-field support, the Virons are able to adapt from their stock of four basic units by melding units together on the battlefield. An engineer and a tank will produce a repair vehicle, whilst a stock grunt mated with an alien hover unit they're still arguing over what to call these things will produce a kind of sniping hovercraft thing that fires gas bombs, the lethal clouds of which will drift across the battlefield with the wind.
It looks more impressive than it sounds and some of the visual effects that complement the alien weapons are cool as hell. One artillery unit sends out a kind of tectonic shockwave that ripples along the ground, flooring infantry and rattling vehicles beyond repair. Of course, the aliens aren't the only ones able to field interesting machines, and while the NSA favours traditional projectile weapons and tracked vehicles and the Empire enjoys lasers and antigrav hoverdynes, there are a number of unique and interesting units to look forward to.
Not least of these is the otherwise innocuous-looking minesweeper, a vehicle that flails the ground, churning up clods of earth as it ceaselessly searches for hidden mines, while at the rear it lays explosive traps for enemy infantry. Because of their lumbering speed, an alternative function is to extend protective wings that shield infantry advancing from behind.
It isn't just the units themselves that we're looking forward to though -it's the added functionality of these units as well. Snipers, for instance, can be posted secretly on high ground to act as spotters for distant artillery guns, while the engineer can not only mend damaged vehicles and buildings, but erect small fortifications and static gun turrets to aid in a hasty defence.
Tanks, when asked to retreat, will do so in reverse, making sure their strongest side is always facing the enemy. It's simple yet obvious features like this that make GC2 such a constant joy. One aspect that hasn't changed is the attention to detail in the graphics and the simplicity of the user interface.
The developers are once again making use of a free-floating camera that will allow for an almost unlimited scope to view the battlefield.
You can zoom in close enough to each soldier to make out nasal hairs, or pull back to view entire battalions going hammer and tongs from above.
Similarly, units will gain experience points as they progress, which will not only make them better fighters, but more specialised depending on their combat familiarity. Line of sight and elevation will be central to success, although it won't be enough to be within a certain radius of the enemy to unveil them - your leading unit must be able to actually see them before they're revealed. Admittedly, aside from the visual makeover, new vehicles and added functionality, there isn't much that's fundamentally new in GC2.
However, as was the case with Homeworld 2, the countless subtle differences look set to make a huge impact on the way the game plays. Those who know the original and believe they can imagine what the sequel is going to be like may be in for quite a shock, as for pure tactical sophistication Ground Control 2 may well end up being the strategy game of the year.
Absent completely from the original game, the element of weather will now play a crucial role in how you plan and co-ordinate your attacks. A heavy downpour will slow down your entire army, especially vehicles, while various types of stormy conditions may short out electronic systems, reduce visibility or even damage certain units. Snow, while a bugger for your tanks and troop carriers, will actually speed up your ground troops, while high winds will affect the movement of the game's hover vehicles.
Weather patterns can also change in seconds, not from tropical sun to arctic blizzards perhaps, but the changes will be random - meaning commanders need to be prepared to change strategy if the skies darken.
This should be. Yet somehow Ground Control II has managed to fall well short of expectations due to the fact that there only seem to be two outcomes to any battle. The first outcome is prevalent when you first dip a tentative green-skinned toe into the piranha-filled cauldron that houses the Ground Control II community - also known as Massgate, developer Massive Entertainment's very own hosting server. In these situations, more experienced opponents generally tend to rush all of the map's Landing Zones LZs and Victory Locations VLs within the first two minutes of a game.
By minute three it's all over and you find yourself back at the menu screen wondering what happened. Even semiexperienced players can overrun a map in less than five minutes by calling down scores of fast units to the battlefield and sending them to every corner of the map, leaving newcomers surrounded, defeated, and ultimately disillusioned. Scenario two is actually great fun for the first 30 minutes, as you charge around the map, fortify your strongholds and engage the enemy in tense, pyrotechnic-packed encounters where superior tactics really do count.
Then, with each side having secured half of the map, you build up an assault force and charge the enemy, confident your massed ranks can puncture a hole in their defences. Problem is, you usually make no impact whatsoever, because like you, the enemy has packed its strategic locations with every type of unit. What this means is no matter what you throw at them, they've always got the advantage, especially if they've worked out the importance of using each vehicle's secondary function which generally furbishes units with massive defence bonuses.
And so, hour after tedious hour, you and the enemy launch daring yet futile attacks on each other, until someone gets bored and quits. Finding available servers isn't the easiest thing to do either, as most players tend to loiter around Massgate's menu screen like pus-faced teenagers outside McDonald's on a Friday night, full of pubescent bluster, but utterly incapable of organising a game.
What's more, there's no option to play as the Imperial Empire, meaning you only have two sides to choose from, NSA or Viron. It's such a shame, as multiplayer GCII should have been so much better. Sadly though, it all becomes too predictable too soon, and it's rare but not impossible to find an exciting skirmish.
The potential for greatness is clearly there, but until Massive rethinks GCII's multiplayer options, it'll remain little more than an occasionally entertaining, but often frustrating pastime. Three years ago, the RTS was beached on the sandbanks of its own success, a once-proud beast fading away after a golden era of prosperity. But then something changed. In the space of four revolutionary months, the world of RTS gaming was given a new infusion of life, morphing almost beyond recognition.
After a tentative start, the 3D RTS finally raised its head and began its journey to prominence with three titanic titles appearing in as many months: Shogun: Total War, Earth and the sensational futuristic war-sim Ground Control. But while the first two of these 3D behemoths have received makeovers in the forms of sequels and stand-alone expansion packs, the second instalment of Ground Control has been conspicuous by its absence. Until now. On a not-so-sunny day in Sweden, I visited developers Massive Entertainment, the collective brain behind the multi-award winning first game.
Clearly, they're quite chuffed with what they've managed to achieve with their new project, and it's not hard to see why. The game is powered by a sublime new engine, capable of rendering visuals detailed enough to grace an FPS, and it's being pushed right to its limits in Ground Control 2. Set years after the cessation of the hostilities of the first game, Ground Control 2 is set to offer even larger and more diverse missions than its predecessor, without losing the sense of immediacy that furnished GC with such a unique character.
He was commanding a crescent of tanks, brimming with infantry units as they advanced on an enemy Ion cannon. They were meeting stiff resistance from a squad of enemy foot soldiers, who were utilising their elevated vantage point to great effect.
Clearly, he'd played this one before. CEO and founder of the company Martin Walfisz, keen to point out some of the game's new features, saw his chance as Henrik lost himself in the game. While he was finding his way back, Martin proceeded to talk us through some of GC2's nuances. First off, resource management. Once again there isn't any, with the emphasis purely on the action, strategy and conquest.
However, whereas you had to make do with the units you began each mission with in Ground Control, Operation Exodus boasts a rather different approach when it comes to unit selection.
When you capture these you acquire more Acquisition Points. These APs are used to call down more troops," explained Martin. Showing us how this works, he stormed a hill, capturing it with ease with some highly effective pincer tactics. The APs started wracking up. The dropships are like a player's base.
You can configure your dropship to be a monster support weapon, or maybe a stealth ship too. But what about the Al? It concentrates on using the battlefield to its advantage and setting up ambushes," beamed Martin. Fair enough, but in order for an RTS to recreate the visceral feel of a real battlefield, the Al also needs to react realistically to your attacks. Martin feels confident Massive has that cracked too. They will have to hunch down, so they can't return fire so easily.
After the presentation we were ushered into a room to have a go ourselves, while the whole development team gathered round to watch. Despite the similarities, GC2 feels very different from the original, with sprawling maps giving rise to isolated battles all around the level rather than in just one place. There are many more vehicles this time around too, with an array of buggies, APCs, tanks, helicopter and futuristic giant robots all at your disposal.
In fact, it's all looking very impressive, and the only major concerns at this stage are a clumsy camera control interface and a preoccupation by some of your soldiers to get lost behind trees, making them hard to see or command in the heat of a firefight. Fear not though, as Massive still has plenty of development time in hand. So, should you be getting excited then? A quick squint at the sci-fi 3D RTS horizon shows little else apart from Homeworid 2 to get the heart-rate going, proving just how far ahead of the field Massive Entertainment is with Operation Exodus.
And having done the RTS genre such a favour a few years back, and by building on rather than replicating its winning formula, it deserves to have another hit game. And from the looks of things, Ground Control 2 could well be it. If you're a strategy game fan, then surely you've felt it by now. That niggling itch in the back of your brain telling you that something's fundamentally lacking from many of the RTS games you play.
Just something small, mind you. Damn, now if only I could think what it was. Just give me a minute here Yes, that's it: it's definitely graphics. Silly Martin. Just look at them, all pretty and 3Dish, bump-mapped, mip-mapped, zip-zapped, tri-textural super-google shaded with a cherry on top. They've certainly come far of late, haven't they?
So what is it then? Ah, I've got it. Actually, now that I think of it I can hardly believe I brought it up. I know - it's hardly as though it's in the title of the genre or anything. R real. T time , S Oh, hold on a second. But there are. It's a 3D RTS that's bereft of resource management and all about battlefield tactics. It's about outwitting your enemy through intelligent strategic decisions, not mining ore and massing troops for one flash offensive. Of course you do.
Lead your squad of infantry, tanks, artillery and aircraft to freedom. Command the alien Viron army and meld your troops into more powerful units. Enjoy a fascinating, futuristic story with thrilling plot twists. Playing through a LAN is still available.
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Read more about it in the blog post. Excluding Off-topic Review Activity. Loading reviews They were first discovered by Sarah Parker in the fictional 25th century, in the interregnum period between the two games. The clan-based Virons resisted all efforts at diplomacy. The Empire of Terra however, invaded Ragnorak Nebula and rendered Virons' planet uninhabitable, forcing Virons to live aboard seven clan ships. The Empire succeeds in coercing one of the Viron clans to fight for the Empire in exchange for amnesty and zethane.
Other Viron clans however, did not comply in spite of the threat. Halfway through the game, one of the Viron clans is convinced to take NSA for an ally. Virons vastly employ biotechnology. Their armed combat hovercrafts, called centruroids bear an organic design. The Virons possess the unique ability of melding, which allows two basic units to combine into a single, more advanced unit.
The process is reversible; the new unit can be unmelded into the original constituent units. Damaged Viron units slowly regain lost health. In Viron language, name precedes military rank; they always call the game's protagonist "Angelus Captain".
Ground Control Wiki Explore. Forum Discord. Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account? History Talk 0. Universal Conquest Wiki. North American cover art. Developer s.
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