Universe At War: Earth Assault Review

Having launched onto the RTS stage in the post-Westwood era with their debut, Star Wars: Empire at War back in 2005, Petroglyph Games makes a return in 2008 with Universe at War: Earth Assault on PC (and later in the spring on Xbox 360). The first title produced under the studio's creative partnership with SEGA, Universe at War is the first significant RTS release of the year, following the return of Command & Conquer 3 and the debuts of World in Conflict and Supreme Commander in 2007.

But what can it bring to a genre that on the whole has struggled to move on from past glories? TVG hid from The Hierarchy's forces to get a commanding view of how the war progressed...

...slowly, and surely, they drew their plans against us.

Set in 2012 at the start of an alien invasion from a devastating species known as The Hierarchy, Universe at War: Earth Assault finds mankind on the brink of extinction. Thankfully it turns out that The Hierarchy have enemies from the depths of space called Novus, hordes of robots that turn up just in time to continue their guerrilla war right across the regions of the world. Oh, and if that wasn't enough, it turns out that a third faction called the Masari have awoken from their millennia-long slumber beneath the oceans to find Earth under attack, and mistreated by humanity.

Naturally, the game comes with a bunch of features that will sound familiar to anyone who has played an RTS in recent years (or ever): three factions, tech trees, resource building, objective-based missions, and Heroes, all make the cut into the Universe at War campaign. What Universe at War does do however, is include a 'Prelude' section, which has players take the role of a company of US Marines tasked with rescuing the President from the Capitol Building. Forgoing any resource building the mission is purely objective based, ending with a 'backs to wall' firefight against one of The Hierarchy's daunting walker units that tower above the city. A solid and immediate introduction to the Campaign ahead, the Prelude ensures that there's no laid back slope to the war.

Each of the three factions differ far more than perhaps we've seen in the RTS genre for quite some time. Offering very different perspectives from each of the three factions, together with their fairly developed backstory and motivation, makes the Campaign feel well-rounded. The robotic Novus and their conflict against The Hierarchy for instance, has led them to see emotions as a weakness, something that's developed upon during the course of Campaign. Like armour-plated Vulcans, they encourage the sole surviving 'organic' of their race to ignore her growing feelings for humanity, a hint at their own inner conflict between logic and emotion...quite heavy stuff for a genre not usually associated with such depth.

Welcome to Earth.

Beyond the back-story, Universe at War includes a number of fresh features for the genre, not least the ability to change unit statuses and upgrades on the fly during the course of battle. Beginning with the Novus' ability to send their base Ohn troopers into a self-destruct mode on contact with an enemy, which comes in handy when faced with the gigantic walker structures of The Hierarchy, players can later change the status of the Masari between 'Light' and 'Dark'. Effectively switching units from attacking to defensive modes, which adds an extra layer of Dark Matter armour to all Masari units and structures, the ability means that players will have to be prepared to change their tactics as the battle develops. The Hierarchy's dynamic tactics are altogether more aggressive however, allowing players to mix and match various upgrades to their walker structures, from additional unit pods (turning it into a highly effective transport unit) to additional armour-plating and gun turrets. Creating a much more dynamic playing field for factions to thrash it out for supremacy, the feature is perhaps the greatest hook of the game.

The strength of the units' AI, and the balance between concentrating on resource management and battling against enemy forces is integral to any RTS, and on the whole, Petroglyph pulls it off. Path-finding in particular is relatively strong, to the point where units rarely get lost or stuck behind something as mundane as a rock. They'll also attack when attacked, which at least leaves players free to concentrate on some of the finer details. Most units on the whole are also quite happy to shoot an enemy on sight too, but all too often there seemed to be a few units blatantly ignoring the carnage going on right behind them. It's certainly disappointing to see, though not enough to destroy the immersion. Some RTS armchair generals may even be megalomaniacal to the point that they would be angered if the AI made such decisions.

Something that will hopefully be rectified in the near future is the loading time between missions. Lengthy regardless of the PC's spec (we ran the game on a rig much higher than the recommended list on the pack), at times the loading took so long it was like taking a nostalgic trip to the days of the C64 and Sinclair Spectrum. Whilst a bit of a wait could be just about excusable during the initial boot up, the fact that the Campaign is fractured with long loading screens between missions just ebbs away at your patience - it's not fun when you're twiddling thumbs for a few minutes.

Brimming with DirectX 10 goodness allowing for some extra 'spit and polish' visuals, including bloom lighting and heat haze details, Universe at War's only real let down in the looks department rests with some of the close up character animation. Case in point are the rather awkward looking cut-scenes involving humanity's Colonel Moore, who seems incapable of a natural walk. That aside however, Universe at War delivers a very solid and immersive atmosphere, regardless of whether the battles are fought in Washington DC, South Africa, or the heart of The Hierarchy's orbiting invasion force. It also helps that Petroglyph has worked to make the experience scalable with older technology, so that the game runs smoothly on aging PCs - the studio certainly hasn't created too much of a demanding title. The visually unique styles of each of the factions are also well developed, with the Aztec/Maya-like Masari contrasting heavily with the almost Gundam look of the Novus and one of the Hero units, Mirabel & Viktor. The Hierarchy's look, a cross between gigantic robotic bugs and the Martians from War of the Worlds, is even more startling - especially when you're up against them on the battlefield.

The BattleCam, first introduced in Petroglyph's Star Wars: Empire at War makes a welcome return. Thanks to an evident overhaul, rather obscure shots of scrubland whilst a blazing battle carries on out of shot, are in the minority. Activated simply to get players feeling more engaged with the action, the BattleCam isn't quite perfected here however; it may not switch to that patch of scrub now, but it all too often shows an idle unit passing the time. Perhaps future patches will work to improve the function, but for now BattleCam continues to feel that little bit trivial and without any substantial purpose.

Carving up the planet.

Away from the Campaign, Petroglyph has also introduced a number of additional gameplay modes aimed at extending Universe at War's lifespan in the DVD drive. Together with the RTS standard 'Skirmish' mode, Earth Assault features a 'Scenario' mode, setting players the task of taking over the forty or so regions that make up the world map. A cross between Risk and the orbital resource management system of Star Wars: Empire at War, Scenario offers a much more sedate pace, arguably squared towards the hardcore Armchair Generals. Shifting the chosen faction's Hero units across the regions, building new structures and armies in order to safeguard the area's future from attack, and battling for control of territory conquered by one of the other groups, Scenario may not be to everyone's taste, but it at least focuses on the build up to war away from the actual battlefield.

Universe at War also implements cross-platform gameplay across both PC and Xbox 360 formats, the first time that the feature has been seen since Shadowrun in 2007. Whilst developers Fasa Studio worked hard to create a balanced experience when the gamepad of the Xbox 360 met the keyboard and mouse combo of the PC edition over LIVE, it remains to be seen whether the same can be said about the RTS genre. Of course, with the Xbox 360 version of Universe at War not due out for several weeks after the PC edition, it's not the greatest leap to suppose that console gamers will have a fight on their hands if they want to defeat their more battle-hardened PC brethren.

Regardless of that one issue however, the multiplayer modes of Universe at War at least throw in fresh takes on the traditional offerings of online RTS gameplay (if you're signed up to LIVE's Gold membership, that is). A variation of the Scenarios mode, Conquer the World sees players take over the Earth one region at a time, including a 'British Isles' area that counts France and Spain as part of its territory. Matchmaking gamers with opponents also seeking to smash and grab a region, players battle through the mode until the entire world is theirs; at which point, the map is wiped clean and the difficulty ramped up - losing a battle in one region means that players will also lose control another. The second multiplayer LIVE mode, Defcon, sees the tension ratchet up as more and more resources and advancements are made available automatically over time. With an emphasis on tank rushing compared to the rest of the game, it seems like the mode is just another facet to Universe at War's well-rounded nature.