Once the fans of war video games from Friv2Online Studio decided to make an interesting experiment: they created a multiplayer wargame based on RTS with mechanics partially borrowed from popular military simulators. We tell you how successful the game makers' idea seemed to us, and whether the realization was good or not - in the Iron Conflict preview.
It's interesting that despite the gameplay of Iron Conflict, it may be really easier for those players who are familiar with multiplayer military simulators and have, so to speak, tactical flair.
But it will be easier for them to get used to it, because for effective friv game play you will need not so much marksmanship and knowledge of the enemy's weaknesses (although there will be a use for these skills), but the ability to keep in memory a lot of elements and in parallel to plan your actions in a conditionally long-term perspective.
Of course, more than half of the players in your randomly recruited team, including, perhaps, yourself, will lack the necessary virtues. And the situation, which at the start looked like a planned armed offensive, without a commander-in-chief will quickly turn into a real chaos, which will be contrastingly resolved by protracted maneuvers of the surviving units (most likely artillery units).
Those of you who are interested in hybrid projects probably still have memories of Creative Assembly's experiment with Total War: Arena. At one time SEGA attempted to create an online multiplayer friv game based on the title. To control the units offered not one or two opposing players, and the whole team of players, each of which was allocated only a few units.
Actually, the idea seemed like a winner. Especially considering Total War's huge fan base. And the concept as a whole was favorable. But something went wrong at the stage of highly protracted tests, later the project was handed over to Wargaming, and then closed. Critics agreed that the main problems of the friv game consisted in the monotony and confusion that the participants of the conflict for lack of adequate teamwork, the presence of which in session games, and in RTS, often plays a crucial role.
And now guess what we see in Iron Conflict? You have to communicate with your teammates by means of arrows and markers on the map, which almost nobody uses. There is a chat room, but it is also not in demand, because there are only three servers and in one offensive can participate simultaneously representatives of all possible nationalities, some of whom do not speak English.
And if on the first social point Iron Conflict on the caterpillar moves on the same routes, that so not by the way trampled Creative Assembly squads, then in terms of gameplay (and appearance, by the way, too), the project is largely superior to the nondescript child of SEGA.
Up to twenty players, divided into two competing teams, participate in Iron Conflict sessions simultaneously. Each participant is his own commander, leading three combat units. The goal is to gain a foothold on important positions and hold them until the end of the match.
What's going on in general terms is reminiscent of strategy friv games like Company of Heroes, or some of the campaigns in C&C, when players don't have a shoulder to lean on in the form of a base actively producing equipment and soldiers. But here the players do not have a battalion in the rear of superior enemy forces, but a real army with tanks, aviation, artillery and foot units.
It should be noted that everything is drawn very well. Bird's-eye view maps look like they were originally modeled for arcade simulators, and when the camera zooms in you can see hundreds of interesting nuances.
Animations are very pleasing to the eye. Fire, smoke, explosion effects look great. The only thing missing is the hulks of equipment, blazing on the battlefield for epicness - bodies and broken cars disappear almost immediately. Meanwhile, the game-makers didn't forget to animate even the most modest objects.
When, for example, the soldiers are ordered to open fire from a rocket launcher, one of them uncocks the gun, cocking it for an aiming shot, and the rest of the men stand back a bit. Howitzers and launchers with huge surface-to-surface missiles turn around spectacularly, and the equipment that has overcome the rye field leaves behind crumpled ears.
Friv2Online Studio have done a great job of involving players in the process. What is three pieces of equipment? For a strategist, who sometimes has hundreds of different-caliber units under microcontrol. But strangely enough - you still don't have to be bored, and there's simply no time to be bored.
Conventionally, units are divided into infantry, aviation, tanks, artillery, and branch by class. Tanks - on light, medium and heavy. Aviation - into reconnaissance, bombers, fighters. Guns - on anti-aircraft guns, missile systems and so on. And each unit is to be managed in detail.
Unlike the same classic strategies, where light tanks can take a heavyweight, for example, by numbers, here they will have to pass the armor penetration test. But you can make an attack from the rear, or even better - from a shelter, but beforehand filling the barrel with high-explosive shells. And there, look, on the "flagged" equipment will hit the allied "artillery", or you switch to your own, aim, just like in World of Tanks, and hit properly on the caught by surprise tanker.
Foot soldiers can mine the roads or set up a radio tower in a secluded place, and then lie in the bushes and watch the passing vehicles, waiting for the right moment to rush to the enemy howitzers. And the fighter can be equipped with missile countermeasure systems, which you will have to shoot down and guide manually.
In short, there is a lot of control even for three units, and the experience gained in tank sessions, be it positioning on the landscape or tactical maneuvers, will come in handy in Iron Conflict. It turns out that we are facing a kind of RTS-wargame, but obeying the rules of the best military simulators.
Similarity is added by the familiar progress system in the form of a tree, where you first study all kinds of modules for "personal" or "global" experience, and then you can buy a new variety. And also the arsenal, where you can buy consumables for each of the units separately for in-game currency.
The in-game store, by the way, is also already functioning. In it you can buy premium account, boosters and bonuses for gold coins, which you can either buy for real money or for silver with the coefficient 1 = 1600. From the unusual - entertaining skins for vehicles, also sold for gold coins. Premium machines have not been seen yet, but I think, and without them will not do without.
Even now we can cautiously assume that Iron Conflict has a bright future ahead of it. A lot of things need to be finalized, some features are still missing, but for the most part the game is already ready. The interface is well organized, there is a lot of equipment, and there are enough maps to start with.
If you like military simulators, but are not very good at strategies - give it a try. It's enough that you will manage a tank competently, which means that in time you will be able to manage three. If you like RTS, but you are not good with simulators, you should play it anyway. Your skills will be used, and the subtleties will be mastered in the process.
In case you, like Friv2Online Studio, just like quality online friv games on the military theme - Iron Conflict should definitely be in your library. Just don't forget to bring your battle buddies - without teamwork you'll have a hard time.
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