I had a chance to sit down with Tamбs Daubner of Digital Reality and check out their new Real Time Strategy game Ghost War. Ghost War takes place in the modern day in four locations around the world. You are a member of the Elite Strategic Operations Group (SOG) and are charged with seeking out and defeating the newest generation of terrorists.
While the game's premise may not be the most original, the game itself has taken the RTS genre to a new and compelling height by utilizing an engine that allows both strategy and tactical play by allowing you to zoom in and take control of a single unit and play at a first-person level. This cool feature allows you to order your squad one way and take out threats to that squad using a sniper rifle. There are many uses for this feature and it offers a lot of flexibility to the game as you don't always have to rely on the unit AI to do what you're hoping it will do.
Units are not the only thing you can control directly as all vehicles can be flown or driven in first person mode; if you see it you can use it. Want to dive that M1 Abrams or that Huey Cobra Attack Helicopter -- you can! In the demo we were shown, Tamбs Daubner grabbed one of the clunky old vehicles from the Cuban street and started diving it around. Sadly, when asked about if you could use an enemy vehicle to sneak up on your foe we were told that would not be possible.
Cover is also an important factor in the game as you can send squads in to buildings and they will take them over and use them as firing points. It is, nevertheless, a double edged sword in that those same buildings are destructible, although buildings more then three stories tall will leave rubble that can act as cover.
In a departure from most RTS games, there will be no resources, although there will be some trading for items and equipment that might be useful. That said, however, all of your own equipment and the enemy's will be "lootable". For example, one of the enemy has a hat you really like and want to use it. Form up a squad and you can gather those hats and equip your squad with them. I really like this feature as it will allow some nice customization of your units and any characters that you choose to use.
The graphics of the game are on a bit higher scale then a normal RTS, due to the first person mode they have to maintain the same level of detail in both RTS and first person perspective. In this they seem to have succeeded, as even though we didn't get to see anything more then one Cuban map, the level of detail seemed to be good in both modes.
The single player campaign will consist of 4 campaigns, consisting of 5 missions each. The only known campaign takes place in Cuba, after the death of Castro, where terrorists now run the country; your goal is to remove the terrorist threat. One can assume that the other campaigns will include other such hotspot locations around the world. The game also includes 10 multiplayer maps though not much was mentioned about what would be included in the multiplayer.
I was impressed with this game and it has a lot to offer players. With its innovative game play and superb graphics it should provide plenty of enjoyment. While the game still seems to need a lot of work to complete, it and will be heavily dependant on its AI. It should be one of the better and more creative RTS games of 2006 it certainly was of this year's E3.
Raised in Massachusetts and made move to south of the Mason/Dixon line to the lovely state of MD. I have been working Desktop support for the last 2 years for Games Workshop. When not working for the Galactic Toy Company I am playing any one of 8 MMOs or Numerous console games.
