SunAge
Preview
Old school RST gaming galore
by Akmad
previewed on PC
Nodes (cntd)
Using the network, players can extend their base or area of influence. Each 'node' in the network can be destroyed and therefore must be guarded. This allows for greater strategic depth in that a weakly defended network node could be eliminated and turn off the power to a set of buildings, rather than simply blowing them up. It remains to be seen how prominent a role the network will play in player versus player battles but it seems like a good idea and one that could add a lot to the overall gameplay experience.
Online
SunAge will also allow players to move units in a formation and give an overview of a battle while it is occurring. The overview feature would be great for players like me who tend to forget about units and end up surprised to find them standing around doing nothing while their base is destroyed. The command queuing does have one neat twist in that it will allow you to not only queue up commands, but also allow you to set when you want them to be executed.
Multiplayer will be what you usually expect from RTS multiplayer. You will be expected to gather as much of the four different types of resources while eliminating your opponents. It will be possible to play against anyone over the internet but there is no word about a central service such as Gamespy to coordinate finding opponents (likely indicating that there won?t be one). The developers do hope to add some type of online ranking system but this will likely come as a patch after SunAge is released.
Easy on the sysreqs
I said before that the graphics in SunAge are 2D but maybe I should rephrase that. They are really '2D-ish'. The maps and units are all 2D with 3D effects and lighting placed on top for explosions and the like. The result is a surprisingly crisp and detailed, yet retro look that I absolutely love. Besides looking great this design has another benefit, the system requirements are really light. The recommended system only needs a 1.2 Ghz Pentium 3 (yeah... a good ol? P3), 512 MB of RAM, and a 128 MB video card. The minimum requirements drop the RAM to 128 MB and the video card to 32 MB. It is hard to imagine anyone gaming on a system that does not fit the requirements.
SunAge is expected to be released simultaneously in Europe and the US in May and should fill a relatively empty niche in an RTS field that has largely moved to full 3D engines with full camera control and all the other features that have been added in the last few years. A game that attempts to recreate the original feel and gameplay of the RTS genre could find a devoted audience that has been turned off by the more recent titles. SunAge looks poised to be that game.
