Competitive Combat in End of Nations

Trion and Petroglyph's persistent online real-time strategy game seems like it’s a melting pot of RTS gameplay styles. You’ll create armies to fight cooperatively against computer controlled enemies, drop into competitive battles that range from 2v2 fights to sprawling 28v28 battles, and between all the matches level up a persistent profile, unlock new units and abilities and customize their appearance. You can skin your tanks with bacon, if you really want to.

Units excel against different types of enemies, so if you roll anti-air units into a fight against tanks, don’t expect any kind of victory. Before a battle you’ll need to pick which types of units to bring in, and the small army size prevents you from being able to really build an effective all-purpose army. Maybe your army will be strong against structures, a good counter for air units, or best against infantry. Usually the weaknesses of your army should be compensated for by your partners in PvP or PvE matches, and if you find your tanks are getting demolished by the enemy’s air units, you can also switch army types on the fly.

If you made a poor decision and fielded a less than ideal army, your destroyed units can be replenished back at your initial spawn zone. End of Nations doesn’t feature traditional base building with unit-producing structures, though you can drop down small structures for a resource fee on the field of play that can repair nearby units or provide other bonuses. Even so, the focus is on controlling your small assortment of units and using their basic and special abilities, as well as mixing in commander abilities like airstrikes and other area-of-effect bonuses, as effectively as possible in a way that’s somewhat similar to World in Conflict.

When you aren't fighting you’ll be able to modify individual units with statistic-altering items, as well as customize your army presets so you can load in the appropriate units depending on the flow of battle. This is a free to play game, and it’s likely you’ll be able to pay for cosmetic upgrades to vehicles and commander portraits, but Trion will not sell abilities, maps or content that could give one player an advantage over another. All units will need to be unlocked by progressing through the tech tree – there’s no way to simply outright purchase the best stuff.

Each map presents a unique set of objectives, so the gameplay style will change depending on which area you load into. On a 2v2 map shown off to IGN, teams spawned on opposite sides of a small map at shielded bases. In order to drop the enemy’s shields and blow up their base, specific zones on the map had to be captured and held, forcing all players to balance how much of their army they wanted to send out on offense and how much to hold back to protect territory.

In a DotA-style twist, AI-controlled units also emerged from structures that flanked each base, and with a resource investment could be upgraded into more powerful versions. Other capture points on the map could also be secured to boost the rate of resource accumulation, meaning there’s a lot more to think about than simply trading tank shells. Map knowledge and control becomes just as important as working with a teammate to pulverize enemy units and force them to spend resources on replenishing their armies instead of triggering commander powers or setting up tactical structures.

From what’s been shown, End of Nations is impressive in its scope and sheer amount of content and options for customization. The gameplay appears to be of a slower nature, favoring proper army composition over lightning-fast twitch skills. For chance at getting into the beta, you can head over to the sign up page.



Source : http://www.ign.com