Universe at War

Review from Starks - Saturday, 12 July 2008 @ 5:48pm

I’m a pretty big sci-fi fan, and own 8 of the 10 Stargate: SG-1 seasons. Outside of the fact that seasons 1 – 5 inclusive are the best thing since sliced bread, it’s got some pretty distinctive sayings that only a Stargate fan would recognise. For instance – ‘See you on the other side’ is a pretty distinctive Stargate saying made often by Colonel Samantha Carter, and when one of the opening cut scenes has a female voice repeat the line, my ears pricked quite distinctively.

That essentially set the entire tone for me with Universe at War. The game seems to me to be a series of clichés. Which, at first, is puzzling, and although it is not altogether off putting, it does smack of a lack of imagination. For example:

• The game itself seems very much like Starcraft; Three distinct and different races, yet at the same time they seem almost copies of the Starcraft races. The Humans are the Terrans, the Novus are the Protoss, and the Hierarchy are the Zurg. Not only this, but the ancient race of the Masari play a very similar role to the Xel’ Naga. Combined with each races very distinct playing style, and after a few hours of the game I honestly was confusing the two franchises.
• The game holds some very distinct and similar characteristics to Blizzards other successful RTS, Warcraft – Namely the third instalment. It was a bit hard to not recognise the employment of heroes with special abilities and associate it with Warcraft III.
• The staple of the lack of imagination of developers these days was also used; The world is under attack, and of course the only force holding out against the evil aliens are the Yanks. For crying out loud, will SOMEONE, ANYONE!! PLEASE come up with a storyline that’s got some imagination here! I mean, seriously, the first mission you’re on is one to save the freaking President!!
• Mirabel, a Novus hero, looks oddly familiar to the Gundam Wing Mechs.
• The ‘Walkers’ in the Hierarchy look like the Martian walkers from the War of the Worlds. In fact, they’re very, very similar.
• The Hierarchy weapons (Lasers, phasers, whatever they’re called) turn their opponents into skeletons like Mars Attacks!

Suffice to say that playing the game brings with it a lot of other elements from past titles, to the point where I would go so far as to argue that Universe at War is not really a new release; Simply a montage of game and pop culture aspects from multiple sources thrown together and wrapped in today’s newspaper in an effort to make it look new.

I suppose that’s a fairly harsh way of exclaiming the point I’d like to generally make to game developers out there:
“Please make something new and original!”

However!! Universe at War does have some redeeming features that make the game attractive. For one, it’s fun. Yes, fun. Believe it or not, I found a game I actually had fun playing. Remarkable, eh?

Suffice to say I rather enjoyed the game itself. From start to finish, I kept playing and didn’t feel bored. Now, I wasn’t entirely excited either (Due mainly to the previously mentioned points) but the fact I played through it without feeling like I wanted to slit my wrists and lie on a bed of hot coals like some games have made me feel lately *cough* Turning Point *cough* is something that I rather like.

Frankly, the fact that the game has drawn from so many elements made it feel familiar and friendly, not to mention that as you kept playing you keep looking for where the developers have placed either other game influences in the title or other world-based influences. For instance, I did a fair bit of research on the Vientam War at school, and when playing the game thought that Colonel (Later General) Randall Moore was a familiar name. A couple of Wiki-searches later and I found out that the developers apparently modelled Moore on real life Colonel Hal Moore, who fought in Vietnam and was played by Mel Gibson in We Were Soldiers. Sergeant Willard, another character in the story, was taken by name and mocked up in character to resemble the Apocalypse Now character, played by Martin Sheen.



From this point of view, and as much as I dislike the fact that developers these days have little in the way of imagination, I couldn’t help but smile as these tid bits, which aren’t really easter eggs but garner the same amusement value.

From a game play point of view, I’ve always been fearful of how the RTS experience would translate to a controller. Having been a massive RTS fan for years, I was very cautious, and dare I say it pessimistic, that the concept could be successfully ported from PC to console without the aid of peripherals.

I’m happy to report that Westwood have managed to make the controls easy to use, and whilst not entirely intuitive, become second nature very quickly. They have managed to give the player free movement and the ability to quickly navigate the map without compromising the experience with a clunky control setting. Which is probably more important than anything considering navigation and interface is the most crucial element of an RTS. Graphically, the game didn’t seem that great. I mean, I do play my 360 on a crappy 51cm CRT that has a slight green tinge at the top due to that time I dropped it, but even so transferring it to my dad’s Plasma TV didn’t see a major visual improvement.

Multiplayer, however, is fairly good. Not as good as PC RTS, nor as intense in my opinion (Which is a result of the restrictions that controllers give - Even as good as Westwoods settings are, they still pale in comparison to using a mouse and keyboard in my opinion) but is quite enjoyable. Except for the time I played a PC dude and he kicked my ass in a 1v1. Oh, did I mention that? Yeah, you can play PC players. I don’t recommend it though, as I was thoroughly smashed.

Other than that there isn’t a whole lot more to the game. Which disappoints me in some ways, as I feel that had they brought some new and better idea’s to the table to incorporate to the game, it could have been a big hit.

Summary

Overall, the game isn’t too bad. It’s enjoyable, if really just a rehash of previously successful RTS elements and science fiction references thrown into a workable gaming model. Would I buy it? Probably not at the current RRP, but if it got down to say 50 or 60 bucks, then it’s definitely a good investment.

Pros

Controller settings are great, amusing dialogue did have me smiling, doesn’t do anything ‘badly’

Cons

Rehash of other games in essence, some poor frame rates on occasion, 360 v PC is only 1v1 - You can’t play with more people