Games for Lunch: Universe at War: Earth Assault
In a nutshell: Oh man, we're all screwed.
5/22/2008 4:31 PM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 3
Developer: Petroglyph
Publisher: Sega
Release Date: March 25, 2008
System: Xbox 360 (reviewed), PC
ESRB Rating: T
Official Web site
0:00 I'm not very good at or interested in real-time strategy games, but good reviews, the Sega name and an Xbox 360 version convinced me to try this one out.
0:01 A starry sky... oh, no, it's actually the electric lights of a planet, with the sun rising in a thin corona. Some military guys shoot through the dust then get attacked by alien walker thingies right out of "War of the Worlds." Driving rock music accompanies the carnage. Suddenly, some bright white mechs straight out of "Gundam" show up, along with sleek metal robots straight out of the Star Wars prequels. The music turns all techno as they fire missiles at the big walker, bringing him down. Fade to title.
0:03 I'm afraid I'll have to go through the video tutorial. Sorry if this turns out to be boring. I learn that Resources have to be collected. "Without adequate raw materials on hand, your army is doomed to failure." Good advice for real life, too.
0:06 The research tree is apparently "a rich feature of
Universe at War," if the game does say so itself -- and it does.
0:07 These tutorial videos seem to skip over the basics like, er, controls and basic goals, and go straight to the higher level stuff like building power stations. Part of me likes this approach, but another part of me is afraid I'm going to be overwhelmed when I actually start the game proper.
0:10 Patches can improve buildings, blah blah blah.
0:11 I can play as the walkers and I can upgrade their abilities using hardpoints! Sa-weet!
0:12 This tutorial is going way too fast. I'm never going to remember all this stuff. It already feels like there's going to be a lot of micromanagement, which I hate. I hope they ease into it in the actual gameplay.
0:15 Done watching the tutorial videos. On to the Campaign mode (and not a moment too soon). I really hope they're gentle. I choose "easy" difficulty just in case.
0:16 "On the distant world of Lieta Novus, events are in motion that will profoundly alter Earth's future forever." Cut to a robotic showroom floor. "Wormhole tunneling has commenced." The Novus forces (the "Gundam" robots) have just heard that the Hierarchy (the walkers) have invaded Earth (our planet).
0:18 Seem this first mission is also a tutorial that goes over the basic controls that were skipped in the videos, thank god. Left stick moves the camera, right stick rotates and zooms. It's surprisingly simple.
0:19 I'm told to make a robot move from one position to another. "But my purpose is pain! Please provide more aggressive input!" he says plaintively. HA!
0:21 This robot has a duplicate function. "More of me means less of you." Heh. Quick buttons for selecting multiple units and embiggening the radar. I'm liking the controls so far.
0:24 Building stuff, hum dee dum.
0:26 Mirabel is my Hero. Really, she is: a human in a robotic suit that has special abilities that the other robots don't.
0:29 Selecting groups and moving them is apparently so important that I have to learn how to do it three times in a row.
