Stormrise Preview

E3 2008 Preview

Stormrise is an upcoming game that is being developed by Creative Assembly with the ambition to make the real-time strategy genre accessible to console gamers. Rather than catering to PC gamers, Creative Assembly is optioning to make Stormrise as simple as possible along with attempt to keep the entertainment value high.

Stormrise’s basic plot is centered in a post-apocalyptic world that has two warring factions out to eliminate the other. Taking control of either the Echelon, a technology advanced race that comes well-equipped with mechs, or the Sai, a tribal group that has evolved with the environment, players will have tons of units to use throughout their campaigns to dominate the opposition.

For demonstration purposes, Creative Assembly showed off the Sai who have Specters, Rage units, infantry units and humongous Brood Queens readily at hand to battle. The Specters can cloak themselves to be stealthy and scout out the landscape. The Rage units are huge brutes who are handy in melee combat that breeze through infantry enemies. As for the Brood Queens, they’re giant looking spiders that spit out acid and toxins towards the enemies and are very effective at doing their job.

Stormrise essentially is controlled with four buttons: the left thumbstick, right thumbstick, A Button and X Button. The left thumbstick moves around the targeting reticule to show where the units will go. Wherever you place the reticule will result in the location of the unit’s destination. Using the right thumbstick will allow you to switch to other units and take control of them by selecting a general direction of where they are located. By highlighting any of the icons, you can move straight over to the selected units. There’s also a quick whip option by generally clicking the right thumbstick to select the closest unit in that direction. For the first face button, the A Button allows for players to execute actions on the battlefield. Lastly, players can also use the X button to indirectly order the units to go to specific spots on the map.

The objective for players is to capture energy nodes to gain more resources within the game which ultimately provide players the chance to call in more reinforcements.

If forced, the enemies will retreat when they start to get outnumbered. The game has true line of sight so enemies won’t be shooting players from behind buildings. In addition, Stormrise allows for verticality which is essentially providing gamers the chance to battle on several different areas that could potentially be underground or high above ground.

Multiplayer fans will be glad to know that they can join in on their friend’s games at anytime. This feature was recently featured in World in Conflict and has been a staple within first-person shooters for a long time. Multiplayer combat can be played by two teams of four and the players can mix up their teams between Sai and Echelon units.

This being Creative Assembly’s first attempt at creating a RTS title for the consoles, Stormrise is definitely looking like an interesting title. Resembling many features that Full Spectrum Warrior had, Stormrise should take the RTS genre in a new direction on the consoles with simplicity in controls. With an expected release in 2009, Stormrise is set for release on the Xbox 360 and PS3.

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