A universe of possibilities exists Sega's ambitious new strategy game.
These techs also unlock a variety of customization options for each faction that can further differentiate how you play. For instance, the Hierarchy is an alien race with powerful walkers inspired by The War of the Worlds. These walkers aren't just combat units. They're also the factories that build Hierarchy armies. Each walker has a variety of hardpoints that can be upgraded with new components. You can add nodes to build special units, additional weapons, improved armor, or movement speed booters, for instance. The available upgrades are determined by what techs you've researched. Will you play the Hierarchy as a heavy assault force, as an economic powerhouse producing swarms of cheaper units, or from a formidable defensive position? It all comes down to how you customize your walkers, which is determined by which techs you choose.
Similarly, the Novus are allowed up to two "patches", which is the term for global boosts they unlock with their tech tree. These can be freely swapped after a cooldown period to allow the Novus flexibility for how they play. And, of course, the Masari can toggle between Light and Dark as the situation demands. And as if you don't have enough choices, you can freely swap out the technologies you've researched, opting for new ones to adapt as the game progresses.
If you don't like having to choose what to research, you can play a Defcon game. In this mode, one level of all three branches is unlocked at regular intervals as the game progresses. The stages from Defcon 4 to Defcon 1 are announced by an ominous voice as each faction's new powers are folded into the game automatically.
During our multiplayer matches, one player tried to sum up the different races: "The iPods, the tripods, and the...uh..." His voice trailed off looking for a pat description of the Masari. Suffice to say, this isn't a universe that fits neatly into any categories. Like Rise of Legends, this is a game in which universes collide and have to be carefully balanced. "We expect this will be like Starcraft and that we'll be balancing it for eight years," says lead designer Chris Rubyor, only half joking. Given our experience so far with the multiplayer game, we figure that should be barely enough time for us to learn all the nuances of Universe at War.
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Posted: 26 Nov 2007