GC '07: WorldShift First Look
LEIPZIG, Germany--A huge ominous object hangs over the earth of the 21st century, emitting a strange cosmic plague into space. Without warning, the massive asteroid, known simply as "Shard Zero" crash lands into the planet, effectively ending human civilization. Thousands of years later, humans have split into two distinct faction, one who live in huge futuristic cities and the tribal remnants of civilization's past. In addition, a third faction enters the fray, an alien race for whom Shard Zero could potentially be the savior of their civilization. Such is the backdrop for Black Sea Sudios' upcoming sci-fi fantasy real-time-strategy game, WorldShift, a sneak peek of which we got today in a behind-closed-doors meeting with the game's developers.
The game's producers use the descriptor "sci-fi fantasy RTS" carefully; because WorldShift's three distinct races will feature powers and abilities drawn both from futuristic high tech, as well as magic. During today's demo, we saw two of the available races in the game--the humans and the tribe. Typical human units include brawny looking soldiers decked out in huge armor and automated rifles. In addition, we also saw a nasty looking unit known as the ripper, which looked like a hulking robot warrior complete with long, lethal razors for fingers. Tribue units will be adept at magic; one of the factions most powerful units is the high priest, which can attack its enemies with powerful bolts of energy.
While there's much work yet to be done on WorldShift, what we saw today has us excited about the future of the game's look and feel. The demo level featured a thick jungle environment, presumably home to the Tribe faction. A brief skirmish between a squad of humans and tribe warriors showed off the fast-paced action that will characterize the action in the game.
In addition to creating a satisfying RTS experience, developers behind the game are also striving to ensure that WorldShift is approachable for those new to the series or the RTS genre in general. Part of this approach comes in the form of a simplified HUD and easy-to-use controls. When it comes to controlling individual units, you'll typically only need to use the mouse to either move them, or choose from a handful of special abilities for units by clicking on a small menu in the lower left hand corner of the screen. To shadow a boss unit with some underlings, you just choose the group you wish to order, then click on the unit you wish them to protect. In addition, unit path-finding looks to be slick as well--with large groups of units moving smoothly across one another's paths without nary a slowdown as individual units trying to find their way.
Another nod towards the refined take on the RTS strategy in WorldShift is the ability grid featured int eh game. There's no technology trees in the game. Instead, players can acquire powerful items and relics they can then attach to various units in order to gain more impressive ablities. These relics can be collected in some of the cooperative PVE missions that the developers refer to as "dungeons." Here, you goal will be to take individual boss units (such as the Humans' commander, or the Tribe's high priest) and navigate them through treacherous courses lined with enemies. These co-op missions are far removed from your typical RTS conventions--there's no buildings to construct or resources to gather; instead, they seem to play more like missions from games like Diablo, where you and your friends work together to defeat the various enemies (as well as some tough boss battles) and, eventually, reap the rewards in the form of increasingly powerful relics.
Though WorldShift's approach seems to be friendly for RTS beginners, the game looks like it's well on its way to becoming a deep and immersive strategy game. We'll be keeping up with the game's progress over the coming months and will be reporting back with the latest information on the game as it becomes available.
