The future of the RTS (real-time strategy) game is still very much up in the air. Many consider it to be a dead genre, yet blockbuster hits like StarCraft II prove there's still plenty of life left in it. In fact, there is a thriving RTS community, and several new games will be adding their own unique spins on the genre in the near future. One of these is End of Nations, a title I got to spend a bit of time with at E3.
End of Nations takes place approximately 50 years in the future. The economy has collapsed, and a totalitarian government, the Order of Nations, has become the supreme world power. Two factions have emerged to bring down the Order of Nations: the Liberation Front and the Shadow Revolution. The Liberation Front seeks to restore order and freedom to the world. The Shadow Revolution is comprised of people who were once a part of the Order of Nations, but felt it had gone too far. This faction shares many ideals with this world power, yet seeks to bring it down and replace it with a government of its own design. Both the Liberation Front and the Shadow Revolution are playable factions in the game, but the Order of Nations will exclusively be an A.I. faction.
There is a 24-hour-a-day persistent world map for players to fight over. Selecting a location on the world map will bring you to the battle for this particular location, and winning the battle results in capturing this particular location. Players will be tasked with both conquering new locations and defending the ones they already own, thus the balance of power will constantly be shifting.
End of Nations supports up to 26 versus 26 PvP. This is an impressive feat for a RTS game, since every player will be commanding a small army rather than a single character. I didn't get to see the full 26v26 in action, but I did get to participate in an 8v8 match.
The first thing I was asked to do was select a location from the world map. This was selected for me in the E3 demo, but I was first shown the world map with its insane amount of battle locations players will be able to select in the full version.
Once the location was chosen, I was asked to select the troops I would bring into battle. Varying troop types have differing strengths and weaknesses, so you'll be able to pick a good strategic mix that suits your own personal preferences. Aside from troop types, I was able to select two colors to distinguish my troops and vehicles from those of the other players. I ended up with a fashionable orange-and-blue combination, which was applied to the defensive army build I had created.
Many common RTS elements are present—"fog of war" and right-clicking to command troops, for example—so it should be comfortable to jump right in if you've ever played a RTS game before. If one of your soldiers is killed or a vehicle is destroyed, you are able to parachute in a replacement back at your base. However, in order to bring in troops, you'll have to spend some of the money you've earned. While some strategies will require you to sacrifice some of your troops, keeping your casualties to a minimum will ensure that you'll reap larger rewards for your efforts.
I hopped into the middle of a match that was already going on, but I had the advantage of having Petroglyph's president, Michael Legg, feeding me detailed instructions. Even though my personal army was designed for defense, I was able to sneak into enemy territory while another player was busy engaging the opponents' defensive forces. Before anyone realized I had weaseled my way past, I destroyed the enemy base and won the match for my team (to exuberant shouts of joy from Legg.)
The brief time I spent with the game was incredibly entertaining. I saw firsthand how quickly the tide of a battle can change, and how even a defensive troop build can score an offensive victory with the right strategy. From the onset, there's an incredibly vast amount of directions any battle can head, keeping the combat quick, lively, and intense. I was told End of Nations will have clan support, and I can barely begin to imagine the types of metagame strategies that will emerge when two opposing clans each bring 26 players into combat against each other.
Even if PvP isn't your thing, there is a full campaign to take part in, either completely solo or with up to 50 players cooperatively. This campaign pits you (and your friends) directly against the Order of Nations. I wasn't given a whole lot of details on the campaign, but Petroglyph promises it will be "extensive and highly detailed."
End of Nations makes an excellent case that the RTS is still alive and well, and, more importantly, that it's incredibly exciting. My hands-on time was ridiculously fun, and winning the battle for my team was quite a thrill. Fans of strategy games should definitely keep their eyes on this one, and I think there's still plenty to enjoy for those less experienced in the world of RTS games.
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