In Depth: Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War
We take a good look at the RTS that gets you in the battle on the ground
Tags: Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War Categories: PC Previews, Previews
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Jun 23rd, 2005
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Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War is being billed as an Epic Historical Real Time Strategy game – EHRTS. Players will take on the role of leaders from various civilizations of the time period, Rome, Egypt, Persia, and Greece. The goal was to create. a gameplay experience similar to what could be found in theaters, so expect to see hundreds of soldiers on the screen at once. Massive formations of troops will collide to do battle, with up to a few thousand individuals that can be controlled individually or banded together.
There are 4 separate elements to the game: city building, empire building, exploration and conquest. In the city building portion, troops are trained, the naval forces are mustered, and without a set pattern or script, the player is able to control how the civilizations are expanded with the exploration portion of the game. Battles will only start when coming across an enemy either by exploring the world map or when one of those forces find you on the world stage.
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Throughout the game players will come across superweapons of the ancient world, each based on historical fact. One is the Archimedes Claw, defending against attacking siege weapons. Think of it like a giant catapult with a grappling hook. A lot of research has been conducted to actually find these items in historical records. While no specimens remain, great time and effort was put into creating as accurate as possible a recreation of each of these devices as possible. The Archimedes Claw, for instance was created by Archimedes to aid in the defense of Syracuse against the Romans.
Another superweapon that the Persians have is a siege tower, but naturally one that is designed to be a bit more… imposing. The Griffin Tower not only comes up to the siege stricken wall of a city, it has archers who can use it as an attack platform. Rather than a series of ladders, there is a Griffin head at the top through which the forces emerge, creating an effect that is sure to stop more than a few soldiers in their tracks.
Also important to the land battles and siege warfare will be the naval warfare. The game takes place around the Mediterranean Sea, so there’s plenty of opportunity to get wet. Naval warfare can consist of ship to ship battles or ship to shore. Ramming is one of the superweapons of the sea. It can take out an entire enemy vessel in one move, it tosses the crew to the water, though it will be possible for the crew to swim to shore. Of course, it will be possible to pick them off (say, with archers) before they reach land.
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Grappling hooks can be used to grab onto an enemy ship, pulling two vessels next to each other, allowing the player to board – with the advantage going to whichever side has the better swordsmen. It will be possible to capture and use an enemy ship this way.
Another superweapon of the sea is the Persian Flagship. It looks like a gigantic barge with towers on either end, upon which are placed catapults, 4 altogether. There is a crew of 50. This is an absolute terror in the water.
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There are 8 heroes featured in the game. Achilles, Julius Caesar, Cleopatra and Alexander. Players will have the opportunity to don the armor of one of the various heroes and battle alongside the troops. While in this mode, the player becomes a superweapon themselves on the field of battle cutting a swath of destruction the likes of which legends are made of. There are special abilities inherent to each hero. Julius Caesar can coordinate the firing of siege weapons to make them more effective. One example of this would be having the catapults all fire on one enemy formation to eliminate it entirely.
Another is Sargon, who can fire multiple arrows with one bow. As he moves up in level, he adds another arrow – eventually getting up to level 10, with 10 arrows being able to fire at once. Alexander the Great and rally his troops to reinvigorate them with a Victory Cry, bringing them up to full strength no matter what damage has been suffered to that point.
Not only does the hero create a massive weapon on the field of battle, there are tactical advantages as well. Alexander for instance is the most powerful archer in the world, and can pick off guards on top of a wall from a distance allowing a siege tower to get up close. He also has access to the Bow of Hercules which can skewer several troops at once, which is a handy thing to have when going up against a formation.
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Naturally, this isn’t something that will come with an unlimited supply. There is a stamina bar that will measure how long the hero can stay on the field. Play in this mode will be limited to somewhere between 1 – 3 minutes at a time, but by strategically choosing when to use this mode, a certain defeat can be swiftly turned around into a victory.
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If the hero dies on the field of battle, the game doesn’t end and defeat is not necessarily assured. Instead the hero is revived at the nearest town center. Naturally, it will be a while before that hero can be used again. Stamina build up over time, that being the measure of when the hero can be used in battle. Alexander can come across wine that has been blessed to replenish his stamina, so there will be ways to bring it up quicker.
The cities are fully interactive in the game – battles can be fought in courtyards, on rooftops, even inside every building. This is a pretty cool feature that helps to make the city building phase more strategic allowing the player to build for defensive purposes.
Right now there are no plans to allow players to capture enemy superweapons, only ships. Hopefully this will change, because if it’s possible to board and take over an enemy ship, it should be possible to take over any large weapon from an enemy that hadn’t been destroyed on the field of battle.
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There are three modes of play currently planned. Naturally there is a single player campaign, with approximately 25 hours of gameplay. There is also a multiplayer game as well as skirmish for quick fixes of player versus player.
As it is, the game looks decent, but in an early stage of development. The graphics are a bit on the “blocky” side though the sheer number of units on the screen can help explain some of that, as well as the fact that each soldier moves indipendantly, eliminationg the “synchronized swim team” look of most formations. With a ways to go before release, we’re sure that a visual upgrade will be in store prior to the game’s release.
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Tags: Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Jun 23rd, 2005 and is filed under PC Previews, Previews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
