Revolutionizing - RTS

I’m a big fan of the RTS genre of games. There are some great titles out there, both new and old. A few classics is the good old Command and Conquer series that helped build the genre, and we cant talk RTS without mentioning Star Craft and War Craft. But there have been a few great new RTS released as well, my personal favourite being Dawn of War, set in the Warhammer universe that I previously had little knowledge about, in its tabletop game form. ===

Now, some time after I saw the Revolution controller, I began to think of what games we could do now. FPS games was claimed to never be the same by those that played the modified Metroid Prime 2 demo, and FPS games could absolutely be interesting with the controller mainly because other, regular console controllers, have not come even close to a mouse and keyboard setup on a PC FPS game. We also have RPGs, where menu using how will be easier and so on. But what really came to mind for me, was the idea of how RTS games would play. Up until now, no RTS game on a console had a good controller setup that worked well. The buttons and analog stick just don’t cut it in terms of precise and fast decision making. The Revolution controller might change all that. Here are a few ideas I had on how a RTS game could look on the Nintendo Revolution console, not only taking the new controller into consideration, but everything else we currently know about the system.

First of, the game I'm thinking of is a sci-fi themed RTS game, but a fantasy setting would probably work well to. OK, so for starters, the controller is the only thing you need to play. No add-ons is required and you can play the entire game with your single revolution controller. It will function similar to a mouse in functions and you move a cursor around the map by pointing the controller in different directions, use the (A) button to select units and issue orders, as well as use buttons on the interface. To make things easier, using the [B] button allow the player to open up a smaller menu, lets say if he has a few units selected and use the [B] button on open terrain, you get a few options on how you want the troops to move to this position, or if there is something, like a particular object on the location, how they should interact with it. the [B] button acts like a right click on a computer mouse basically, and have different options depending on where the cursor is placed at the moment. In the meantime, the (A) button is you standard left click on a mouse and give you those features.

There are a few other buttons on the revolution controller as well. The most useful is probably the D-pad. It could allow you to scroll through ten different slots with the right and left buttons, slots you can place certain troops in, just like you would form a group on a regular RTS, for easy access. Pressing up on the D-pad could make you move to the group, or other bookmarked objects, like a building or special object. The down arrow on the D-pad could make a special menu appear that allows you to easy and fast give direct orders and issue command s to the active bookmark, similar to a [B] button menu, but with special commands for the current selection only, regardless of cursor location. Aside form that we have a few other buttons on the controller, but we don’t know to much about them. The start button obviously could give you a game menu for saving the game and changing certain options.

As for direct gameplay features, you will have a standard campaign to play through, one for each availably civilisation or race in the game, lets say there are five of them, each with a different story to follow and they all have their own struggle and reason to go to war. The missions are composed of a certain number of missions you play through, some with special mission objectives you must achieve, like always protecting a certain unit and get it to safety, or to finish the map under a set time. Aside form this you have the more free form gameplay in a skirmish match, a single match against the computer where you go all out against one or more computer opponents. Aside from that we have online multiplayer, and possibly a few other gameplay modes.

One additional mode that I would find interesting, is this variation of what I would like to call Tournament Mode. Basically, you start out with a two player mode that you play together with a friend. But the catch is that you wont be using a Rev controller each. Instead, one of you will use a Revolution controller, and the other person will use his NDS machine. Either the game has a sibling game on the NDS already with a option for this mode, or with can get the software you need on the NDS via Download play. Here is how everything works. Player 1 has the Revolution controller, and he or she is in charge of the combat. Moving the troops around, deciding on what strategy to use and where to attack, as well as building new units. At the same time, Player 2 uses the NDS to take care of the financial parts of bas building, research and sending support to player one by sending reinforcements, activating super weapons or using other support features.

You now have to play together, where Player 1 moves out, tries to capture resources that Player 2 need for the research, and of course Player 1 will have to request what research that is needed the most, and also what buildings they need in the base. Player 2 will have to try to build those buildings, and also established a base defence and send reinforcements when needed. Communication between the two players is key. And as both players share the same resources, they will have to debate over how much to put into new units and whet to put into constructing new buildings and what to use for research, and as both these tasks are split between them you cant just go ahead and build things without consulting your partner first. What could make things even more exciting is if Player 1 only se the game on the TV, and player 2 only se the game on his NDS for more limitation and making communicating even more critical.

To fill this idea out with more things, you could have a team of 4 people playing the same team. Two players each control a separate branch of the army, so they get a base each, and can’t control the others units, although they fight as the same army. And at the same time, two additional players use their NDS, one to build buildings and taking care of both bases and anything building and base features related. The other focuses on research and use of super weapons and support attacks. Communication is now even more critical for success, as you have four players using the same resources, relying on each other to advance and ultimately, perform well as a team, capable of swift decision making, acting and adapting to what’s up ahead.

Now, add the fact that each of the five playable armies all plays quite different, both in how units are constructed, how you gather research, and how the research aspects function. You have a complex, yet fun game, all meant to be played against other teams as the name “Tournament Mode” would imply. Teamwork is key, and what if you team up one four player team with another team of four players, against two teams with four players each. All this is setup and played online, possibly even in official tournaments. I don’t know if it’s just me, but this game would really revolutionize RTS games for me, in more then one way.

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I will continue to put up more articles like this if I think of another way a game could be played on the Revolution or on the NDS... and like here, especially if I can think of a way to unite the two. That as well as other articles that is.