I saw two strategy games today, Disciples III from Akella and Command and Conquer 3: Red Alert from EA. And I think I’m equally interested in both.
Now I’m not a huge Disciples fan, so I’m sure a lot of this had to do with the contrast between the game and the environment it was shown in. EA is on one end of the show floor and Akella is in the exact opposite corner. So one side is all noise and basketball and Xbox 360s overheating. Akella’s technical glitch just meant that the sales rep showed me the game on his laptop – a small presentation befitting their small stature.
But Disciples III is doing something really neat – putting a hex based wargame into the series instead of the traditional grid system. It looks great in 3D, and they’ve done some neat stuff with the information displays.
Red Alert looks good, too. Don’t get wrong. Lots of color and things going boom. And it’s not like E3 is the zoo that it apparently used to be.
I really liked Disciples II. I don’t suppose any of the Strategy First people made the trip to Russia. That game came out back when Strategy First published some really good games (Gal Civ, Supreme Ruler 2010) before they went bankrupt.
Huh? Disciples III looks good? There’s something I didn’t expect, though I’m pleasantly surprised.
Hexes are be new to the series-Disciples 2 and its many expansions always used grids, and there only for overworld movement.
I’m glad they are going the route of hexes instead of simple grids, for obvious reasons (far superior tactical options and decisions).
I read not too long ago about the Russian game design aesthetic (wish I remembered where, sadly) and the developer being interviewed talked in some detail about how since they are now very much making games-even stuff like Disciples 3-for their native audience, they are often taking the approach of giving their customers games that require a bit steeper learning curve as a tradeoff for deeper mechanics. Seems like the choice of hexes over grid is just part of that mentality.
Speaking of fantasy-based strategy games, it’s a shame Atari isn’t going to be showing off 1c’s King’s Bouty remake this year at E3. I’m already hearing “RPG/strategy/something-in-between game of the year” from those fortunate enough to understand the Russian and import the game directly.