Force 21 - Redstorm
Release Date: Mid August Pc Specs: P2-300 64Mb Ram 4Mb-3dcard
Loading Times: Quick Playtesting Time: 1 Hrs
This real time strategy game looks like it promises a lot. The basic idea is that you're either the Americans or the Chinese, fighting it out in a grassy wasteland, your campaign starting somewhere around Kazakhstan. You're given a mission briefing, then plunged straight into control of the units you start the game with. The interface is mouse based, though you can control the camera with the arrow keys. However, you can not zoom in or out, which was annoying after I'd been playing Darkstone for so long. Your view is of the 3d map and you click where you want your tanks to go. They're organized into squadrons, so you can't control individual vehicles but you can control the formation of each individual squadron. Running your vehicles - mainly tanks - over the well designed and realistic landscapes, you do battle with the enemy. This game is all about combat, there's no building or anything.
Graphics: Nice, but nothing special. Everything runs perfectly smoothly, your units are big and well rendered, and explosions and missile effects are realistic. The animation of the units is also very realistic, they accelerate and decelerate, leave tracks and bump into each other. Everything they would do in real life. See for yourself in screenshots.
Sound: Again, nice but nothing special. The rumble of your tanks is well done.. the unit chatter isn't that annoying either, like in most RTS type games. The music goes well with the game.
Plot: I liked the mission briefings quite a bit for this game. They're all done with speech, you get shown a rough map of the level with all the various locations, and told what you need to do clearly and concisely. You can look at all the units you get before you start the map, and you're given a bit of advice on what to do if you need it. The campaign is structured nicely, with each mission consisting of around three separate phases.
Action: There's quite a lot of action in this game, but unfortunately it consists of brief exchanges of fire in between large gaps in which you wander around looking for the enemy and organizing your tanks. You need patience to play this game. You don't have that much control over your units either, they fight pretty much automatically, all you have to do is move them around and choose what formation they're in. It's quite easy to get into, but there's not a lot there to keep you interested.
Rating: 5/10 - A nice gaming engine and campaign mode, let down by lack of control of your units and too much messing around. If you're into simulations you'll probably like this, but otherwise stay clear.
