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By Al Giovetti
Price:TBA
Genre:action strategy
Release:October 1997
Developer: Cyclone Studios
Lead Artist:
Programmer:
Producer:Helmut Kobler
Publisher: Studio 3DO
Phone: 800-336-3506
Website: www.3do.com/studio3do
Requirements:TBA

Uprising

History

Both Activision's Mechwarrior 2 and Westwood's Command and Conquer were extremely successful game titles. What if someone could combine the features of both of them into one game. Would they have a game that was twice as exciting or a game that was an awkward hybrid of two separate genres that did not work well as either one?

Cyclone did Battlesport and Captain Quazar for the 3DO console. Cyclone has done mostly console games. Now 3DO wants them to develop games for the PC.

Company Line

Uprising will be demonstrated this week at the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) in Atlanta. Uprising delivers war strategy from a new perspective with an intense blend of heart-pounding action and real-time strategy in a full-blown 3-D world. Gamers command an entire army of futuristic tanks, bombers, jet fighters and infantry while fighting right alongside them on the battlefield of the future. No game before has blended an immersive 3-D action world with the strategic elements of base building, resource management, and unit deployment.

"Uprising gets your adrenaline pumping with the intense action of an all-out war, while keeping you thinking at the same time," said Helmut Kobler, President, Cyclone Studios. "The development team is a group of die-hard gamers who play action shooters and real-time strategy games religiously, and we wanted to combine both genres in a way that's never been done before."

Uprising's sci-fi story chronicles a lone world's rebellion against an oppressive imperial power. Gameplay takes place on a variety of planets where players control a high-tech assault tank known as a Wraith, which acts as a mobile command center on the battlefield. The Wraith is loaded with an arsenal of powerful weapons including smart mines, tremor torpedoes, multi-stage missiles, a spline gun, and flame-thrower. But winning the game requires the player to deploy a variety of allied units which must be created by establishing bases called Citadels, building production factories, and securing enough energy resource to keep the war effort going. As the game progresses, players can upgrade their forces by researching and developing new technologies.

Built in-house, Uprising's TerraTech engine powers more than 30 amazing missions and pumps out groundbreaking levels of speed and 3-D graphic realism. Also built in-house, the SLICK 3-D level editor allows for unparalleled real-time control over designing levels with diverse terrain types. A consumer version of the level editor is expected to be available shortly after Uprising hits the shelves, adding to the replay value of an already robust gameplay experience.

Uprising boasts an incredible single player game in addition to a multi-player network for up to four players for both campaign and instant action modes. In the campaign mode, a unique random campaign generator ensures no mission is ever the same twice. Uprising will support a variety of peripherals including joysticks, 3-D eyewear and several 3-D graphics accelerators. Screen shots, information, preview movies, and a soon to be released downloadable demo are available at www.3do.com/uprising . A PlayStation version of the game is planned to be released in the first half of 1998.

Are you ready for total war immersion? The Uprising begins this fall. Join or Die. *

Game Play

The strategy game uses primarily the first person perspective but has an overhead map which does not stop the real time action from running when accessing. The game starts with you commanding a tank which you take immediately to one of many abandoned citadel postitions on the map where you can build defensive turrets and production facilities. Each production facility has a separate and specific item it produces such as infantry, bombers, fighters, battleshops, submarines., etc. Each turret is either anti-ship, anti-aircraft, or anti-tank.

Once the base is established you can defend it with your tank or the units you produce. The tank is exceptionally sturdy, but even it can succumb to continuous hits. You will need to use the units and turrets to defend and attack and keep the tank in reserve. If the tank is destroyed you will start over and have to rebuild your base and units. Once you establish one base you can move on to establish another and have two bases operating

Resource gathering plays no role in Uprising. There is no Tiberium to harvest or Gold to mine. Instead of resources you get reinforcements. The interval between reinforcements shortens the more bases you have developed. On the other hand you must manage money and research to develop new weaponry. You do have to manage resources, upgrade technology and manage money, however.

The variety of troop types gives you freedom to find out which ones are the best for certain jobs, such as bombing a target to surgically remove a strategic site like a powerplant or the massive assaults necessary to destroy troops and war machines.

Missions randomize terrain features, type and number abandoned citadels, and geography. Missions will get more difficult all the time and will be strung together with a campaign mode. The replayability will result from the randomization factor. Scripted missions are more fun and have a better plot but random missions are more replayable. Even missions that are randomized begin to look the same unless sufficient parameters are used to make them unique each time. Randomized missions lack the advantage of repeating a mission until you get it right which is what the military simulators do.

Uprising has 20 scenarios on six different planets.

Plot

You begin the game as a tank commander and must prevail against the opposition. Right now that is the extent of the plot.

Graphics

Graphics look superficially like Terra Nova with the rolling hills and infantry units running willy nilly everywhere. The graphics will show terrain scorching , scarring, tread marks, and explosion craters all in three dimensions. There is further support from the Z-buffering for translucent polygons, gauraud shading and perspective correction.

Animation

Voice Actors

Music Score

Sound Effects

Utilities

Multi-player Features

Cheats, Hints, Walkthrough

Journalists

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References