Now they’ve set their sights on a future apocalyptic Earth, if things were bad enough already some pesky alien species has decided to give us a beating. Carrying on with the unique and weird angle this game is no simple three faction bust up that’s usually offered.
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| The aliens cannot build without water | A very extra-terrestrial UI too |
Working with Hollywood screenwriter James Swallow, whom has such credentials as Star Trek: Voyager and Doctor Who, Maelstrom plays out an epic sci-fi story that has one faction literally drowning the battlefield.
Basically us humans as entertainingly violent as we are have split in two, with the Remnants and the Ascension. The first are urban freedom fighters and the second a technologically advanced organisation. Yes okay those two traits sound awfully familiar, but since when did a third faction have a desire to flood the battlefield? The Hai-Genti, an aquatic species, are the invasion force who want to terraform the Earth into a new watery world for themselves.
Just reading through the additional notes and history of the three sides I can’t help but feel this is a great game just ready to burst onto the shelves. Lore isn’t everything but from what I’ve seen in this preview release, KDV has been working just as hard on the gameplay.
You have both an RTS and a small amount of RPG to mess with; many more strategy games now are blending a level of customisation to the battlefield in form of heroes. Maelstrom has big parts for these characters to play; they gain experience and level up as to be expected. Where KDV is trying to push the game into a unique direction is player control.
Spell force blatantly mixed both RTS and RPG, and while running about as your avatar you still needed to keep a watchful eye over your strongholds and army. Maelstrom offers the player a chance to actually concentrate almost solely on the avatar, letting players push a simple option to have their base automated. The AI will automatically build up and expand the base, defending it too.
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| Sleek Ascension faction | The warm fuzzy feeling you get |
That doesn’t mean you can’t have exceedingly good explosive fun with base building, the more traditional route. Each faction plays out very differently from the next so they offer varied experiences. The Ascension is sleek with their high technology and that is reflected in their units and structures. For the evil minded gamer the corporate allure of this faction is all too pleasing, to claim resources the Ascension literally harvests DNA from human settlements to fuel their engineered clone army.
For the rebel freedom loving alpha male (or women) the Remnant are your calling, they engage in trade for their stuff and naturally have a more rag-tag feel. They are a formidable force so do knock em’, they rely more on stealth and guerrilla tactics …plus they got nukes!
The Hai-Genti operates with the same callous nature of the Ascension, except they rely more on biotechnology. They can only construct within altered terrain, much like the Zerg of Starcraft back in the day. Their array of vicious units and ability to swamp the entire map with water makes them a dangerous enemy if left to their own devices.
The grandest and certainly the most impressive element to Maelstrom is the engine itself, the terrain can be blown to pieces and sculpted practically in anyway. Blasts really alter the physical shape of earth, this opens up huge new levels of strategy. The Hai-Genti’s flood ability can be confined if a player manipulates trenches into the ground to shield their base.
With such an impressive games engine it’s no wonder KDV have created a whole host of terrain modifiers like being able to carve out lakes, freeze and then melt ice. Control the air and wind with a tornado too, plus a number of super weapons available to each side.
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| The “true” human survivors | The “true” human survivors |
Maelstrom is shaping up to be a very promising title for 2007; I hope things stay their course as it would be a tragedy to fall at the last few hurdles.
Top Game Moment: The terrain is fantastic to see manipulated after a whooping explosion, it can feel very realistic.
