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Platform: PC |
Developer: BreakAway Games |
Publisher: Sierra |
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Genre: Strategy |
ETA: Fall 2002 |
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Emperor:
Rise of the Middle Kingdom When
looking at all of the different eras and motifs that are incorporated
into the strategy game genre it’s a little disconcerting just how
little representation the Far East gets compared to the seemingly
endless parade of titles set in the Middle Ages (with a fantastical spin
or otherwise), in contemporary times (often with a WWII or Cold War
glaze thrown on), or in the far off, future with some sci-fi seasoning
thrown in. It would appear
that the folks over at BreakAway Games feel the same way as they are
currently plugging away on a new strategy game for the PC set in ancient
China, Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom (referred to as Emperor from
here on in). First
off, let’s make things perfectly clear.
By strategy game we don’t at all mean combat-oriented real-time
strategy a la WarCraft when referring to Emperor, what we mean is a
city-building, administrative, political strategy game far more akin to
something like Civilization. Players
will need to focus on building their cities so that they can support the
current populous and allow for their numbers to rise as the years pass,
all the while making sure that everyone is happy, while those with a hankering
to level your lands to the ground are kept well away and appropriately
dealt with when necessary. Of
course this sort of stuff is present in just about any city-building
strategy game, so in comes the elements specific to ancient China to
focus one’s strategy, putting the potentially unique spin on the game. The
period in which the game takes place starts at approximately 2100 BCE
and runs right up to the early 1200s CE, right about the time that
Genghis Khan and his hordes swooped down from Mongolia and laid waste to
the region. However, during
the 3000 years in which the game takes place there was plenty of
political, social, and intellectual goings on in China and Emperor’s
developers appear to be taking advantage of this as best they can. There
will be seven dynasties to deal with while marching along the historical
path of the game as players take control of the Neolithic Xia dynasty,
and the Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui/Tang, and Northern Song dynasties.
What hasn’t been mentioned is how much militaristic conflict
from these eras will be included in the game, but since the game is
focused on building cities, not burning them down, it would stand to
reason that either the more notable wars of these times will happen in
the background, or there will be ways to avoid them.
Whatever the case, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens
here. The
Chinese Zodiac will be working its way into the equation too as the game
progresses. So far its main
purpose appears to be to shower a player with goodies when the year
their emperor was born in corresponds with the year in the zodiac is.
For example, if your emperor was born in the year on the snake,
then when the year of the snake roles around good crops, or other such
happy circumstances will happen. No
mention, however, as to there being any sort of bad years when
conflicting zodiacs line up. Not
only is there the zodiac to deal with, but a number of different
religions as well that all must be respected appropriately so to keep
people happy and win the favor of particularly skilled individuals.
There will be Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, not to mention
ancestor worship that must be properly adhered to in order to keep your
society on the up-and-up. Play
your cards right and you’ll have heroes coming by to visit that when
visiting give boosts to output and productivity in the city during their
stay. Emperor
will be divided into missions and campaigns; it won’t play out in one
big, free-flowing form where players watch the years flow by and new
leaders take the throne. There
will be a fair degree of structure as the game is divided into 7
campaigns, one for each of the ruling dynasties, with 40-50 missions
peppered throughout them. Each
mission will have a specific set of goals, which must be completed in
order to progress. These
could range from getting a city’s population to a certain size, to
building a monument of some sort. Unlike
so many other titles in this sub-genre, you won’t have to play this
game all by your lonesome as online multiplayer mode will also be
featured in the title. Supporting 2-8 players you’ll have the option of cooperative play or versus.
In cooperative you and your buddies will have to team up and try
and build a monument like the Great Wall, or perform some other fairly
sizeable feat. In versus
mode players will have to do the same sort of thing but it will be a
contest to see who can finish the quickest.
Whatever way you go, unlike a lot of strategy games out there where all the
players share the same map and are forced to compete for highly scarce
resources, in Emperor each player will get their own map to play with.
There will still be some materials that are hard to come by, but
it won’t be to nearly the extent that using a shared map bares the
potential for. Although
each player has their own map, it won’t mean that you can’t see what
everyone else is doing. If
you want to sneak a peak just send over a spy or emissary and take a
look around. At
its core, Emperor looks like a fairly traditional city builder, but
hopefully all of the little extras that come with the era that the game
embraces will prove to vastly enhance the title. Whatever the case its nice to see a strategy game on its way
that takes a break from the combat and goes the administrative route
instead. - Mr. Nash
Review: Shogun - Total War (PC)
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