Results tagged “Fleet Command”

So, we have an RTS set in space, with some nice graphics (although the ships look a bit too flat) with the classical system conquering mechanic. You arrive, you kill, you claim. What makes it different? The incredibly complex Artificial Intelligence.

We will be always aware of the status of our enemy, and will even know how many ships will be attacking us (and where, most times). Still, we will fail miserably defending ourselves in the medium difficulty levels, at least after the campaign has advanced a tad. Why? Because the AI is goddamn amazing. In the classical RTS approach, the computer will send us waves of enemies, bigger each time, trying to destroy us, but the enemy units will basically run towards our base, destroying our stuff in their way, and then collide against our defenses as a rock thrown against a wall. Sometimes the rock will be big enough, the wall will break, and we will lose, but in the end, most times, it's all about having the correct units (or even, just having more of them than your enemy).

AI War just takes a totally different approach. The computer has resources, and doesn't like to lose them. You will be surrounded by enemy vessels, breaking your different lines of combat, or move your ships towards some tasty looking bait (a small attack force) that will flee as soon as you reach them, just to find that the main enemy attack force is coming from another system from which you're almost not defending the wormhole now. The AI is unpredictable, even if you know what, when and where will it play. Considering this is an indie game, I would say that the work is more than correct. In fact, it's probably the best RTS Artificial Intelligence I've ever met. And that's the best part, you can actually feel there's a mind behind it.

The game features a cooperative multiplayer mode, where up to 8 players can compete against the computer. There's not a player-only mode, so, the AI must be good. The more players, the harder it gets (at the same difficulty level). The more aggressive the players behave towards the AI, the harder it fights back. This is important, as an irate computer might be impossible to hold back if you didn't prepare yourself properly.

Every conquest must be made with caution. Is it better to get that planet there with so many resources, or that one, with almost no crystal (one of the resources ingame) but only two wormholes you can easily defend (because you already have one, or both, of the planets they're linked to).

And, I cannot close this article without mentioning the music. If you liked the 16 bit era of videogames (SNES, Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, etc), you will probably fall in love with it.

Now, considering the price, if you're into this kind of games, I can only tell you, check it out.