Dynamix, a division of Sierra, has released their
latest chapter in their ongoing mecha saga based on
the Starsiege Universe, Cyberstorm2:Corporate Wars.
Being a big fan of the genre, most notably Battletech
and having played and enjoyed the original Mission
Force Cyberstorm I've been wondering if C2 would
outdo the original.
My first impressions were based on what I saw at E3,
and I was impressed with the game interface, and
still am. It's deep and covers pretty much all angles
of asset management and research. In this the game is
flawless. Once you get into gameplay, however, you
may be disappointed.
Having several modes of play is a huge bullet to bite
and Dynamix seems to have done their best trying to
satisfy all aspects of a strat game by having
real-time, turn-based and simultaneous turn-based.
But in this game their best just doesn't seem to cut
it, as real-time is a real letdown and can make even
the most savvy gamer frustrated with the computer
controlled corporations complete upper hand.
Turn based is fraught with the same problems as is
real-time, your being outnumbered and facing much
stronger opposition than you can possibly field in
the first few missions. You must attempt to mine as
much as possible and hope you are not faced with
opposition.
Corporate Wars
As the title states you are in charge of a
Corporation in the 31st century in the Typhoeus
System. Each Corporation is battling for supremecy in
the system and control of the "jumpgae" that controls
travel to the other side of the galaxy. There are a
total of eight Corporations to choose from, each
having its distinct advantages and disadvantages,
such as better starting tech levels, better intel,
more cash. It's up to you to decide which Corp to
represent. This way Dynamix/Sierra have given gamers
a improved replayability. The missions are both
scripted and random and you will see similar missions
occurring over time.
The command interface is excellent giving you
complete control over everything in your inventory.
You create Bioderms, DNA clones who will fight your
battles for you. You can either manufacture ones from
prototypes already created or engineer your own, you
may even receive some for successful missions
accomplished.
The vehicle facility is where you build and customize
your HERCs and you are limited by your Tech level as
to what you may build and how you outfit them.
Research is essential to gaining higher Tech levels,
from which you can build the bigger and meaner
vehicles and HERCs. You can also customize your base
defenses, link and unlink derms to your HERCs and
other vehicles, and choose missions all from one
simple interface. Here the game has been rather well
thought out and designed.
You even receive e-mail notifications from your Corp
HQ and from within your facility about new
discoveries and news events as well as being warned
of probing attacks and the like. One thing I enjoyed
with the e-mail system is that they've even included
SPAM in your e-mails to keep things humorous. (yes,
you CAN turn off the SPAM in Preferences if you don't
want any).
Vehicle manufacturing is something that will take new
players to the Cyberstorm Universe a little time to
pick up, and you will have to pay close attention to
where your mission is taking you. As some vehicles
and HERCs will be great for only certain terrains and
worlds. Those who played the original CS1 will enjoy
much of the same in terms of HERCs and even more new
variants as well including some Cybrid vehicles, the
enemies you faced in CS1. All areas of design of
these vehicles is included so as to allow the player
maximum flexibility in creating the HERC or vehicle
of his desire.
We've covered the interface, now let's examine
gameplay. While the first CS game was completely
turn-based, Dynamix decided at the players behest
after CS1 to add real-time play as well as
turn-based. While noble and proper in its reasoning
(it's a good show when a company listens to player
feedback) it's seriously lacking in employment. It's
almost as if the real-time and turn based modes
fought for control through the entire design process.
A game developed to be as in depth as this one is in
the prep and management phases should not be
overshadowed with poor gameplay, whether RT or TB.
But I think the reason behind this is that Dynamix
was trying to please both groups and in doing so, did
a halfway job of each. From poor pathfinding to HERC
pilots that won't follow your orders to having to
manage the entire battle at times, to the actual
individual fire orders, this one can be downright
frustrating.
How Does It Play?
Upon choosing a mission I am sent out into the
mission area I chose and the first thing I notice is
the very sparse graphics. This is unfortunately the
one area where Dynamix pretty much stayed the course
of CS1, no real change in graphics.
In todays gaming environment where players have come
to expect top notch graphics, CS2 falls short. Not to
be kept down by lack of eye candy, I went about my
mission to see how well it played. I ordered my team
of 3 HERCs (I was playing as CUC the most
economically bountiful Corp to start with) to move
out and attempt to patrol for a Mining area. About a
minute or two into the mission I received a message
that enemy contact was made. I then ordered my 3
HERCs to engage the anti-grav vehicle only to find
them not so willing to follow orders.
One HERC moved ahead of the contact until he just sat
there and I had to manually point and click on the
enemy until he engaged. I had my preferences set to
auto-fire at best target and he STILL needed me to
fire for him. The other two seemed a bit more
obedient and fired on the enemy only to miss a
majority of their shots. After I had him down to
about 75% strength I was fired upon by the rest of
the advancing HERC patrol, 5 in all! Needless to say
it was only a matter of another minute or two before
I was seeing my 3 HERC squad reduced to scrap.
Ok, I guess I have to try this one again. Again I
tried and again and again only to see similar results
each time. I've found that you are continually facing
a superior enemy force whose tonnage and firepower is
far more greater than your own. I like a challenge
but this is a serious play balance issue when after
2, 3 or even 4 missions you are getting wiped out.
Even CUC's starting funds of 300k will dwindle
quickly from building new vehicles, derms and keeping
base defenses up.
What Does It All Mean?
After trying numerous times in RT mode I decided to
move over to TB and see what the game held there.
Again I was treated to similar results, much to my
dismay. After spending time building HERCs, defenses
and derms you can lose interest quickly through sheer
frustration. Meeting a superior force on the
battlefield is one thing if you didn't bring along
enough firepower of your own. But being limited to 2
or 3 HERCs of your own and having to face not only a
numerically superior enemy but a far higher tonnage
than your own is too much.
This game should have followed the route of CS1 and
been TB only. Adding to the frustration, the manual
is packed with armor and weapons tables but severely
lacking in gameplay tactics and tips. At a mere 70
pages this manual is missing a lot of important
information. For example, there is no mention
anywhere of a way to check what your movement points
would be to move from one point to another. (I've
checked into it and found you can find this out by
pressing the F4 key and clicking on the point you
wish to travel to).
Neither is shield facing covered in the manual, but
again I've found that it's accomplished by pressing
F8 and then the area of the HERC you wish to boost
shields up. Pathfinding, as I've mentioned before, is
poor, as is firing as a team where you'll see slow
response and mostly inaccurate firing.
One way around being outnumbered is to turn off the
Forced Combat option in preferences, where you
shouldn't be attacked right off the get-go.
Unfortunately as good as this idea is it is not
implemented properly and even with enemy
aggressiveness turned all the way down you will find
yourself decimated rather quickly. While some people
may find this a complete and utter challenge I find
it a grand annoyance. I love a challenge as does
everyone else, but I feel the gamer should be brought
into the game a bit more slowly so he can acclimate
himself to the combat style and be able to build
resources.
For the more hard-core grognards this may be a game
to beat around until you get it right, but for your
average gamer as well as the hard core crowd its
dissatisfying. Couple the poor play balancing with
the fact that this game is going head to head with
Microprose's newest mecha release Mech Commander and
I think fear this game won't fare so well.
