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Studio Daedalic Entertainment managed to gain respect and earn a credit of the trust of the players – not hits who provided thousands of gamers with sleepless nights, but hard and successful work in not the most popular genres. A recognized series of quests Deponia She was unequivocally a success, but now the German team took up the RTS genre. And at the development stage from Germany came high statements: their strategy A year of rain Daedalic is going to shake the dying genre.
Now the crucified project is in early access, and while acquaintance with it leaves more questions than answers. He can hardly surprise something, but successfully reminds of another cult representative of the genre. Namely, about one of the best strategies in the history of the video game – Warcraft Sky Vegas Casino 3: Reign of Chaos.
Where are dreams
A year of rain is not just like Warcraft 3. If you remember the story of the stupid Prince Artas, then the Daedalic project seems to be its mirror reflection. It's not even about borrowing, but about direct copying: the Blizzard project here resembles literally everything, from the basics of mechanics to small details. Management, important role of heroes, their pumping, additional tasks, collecting objects from broken boxes – everything from there. Genre veterans can be shut up when they see the “Hand Laying” spell at the local lady-pauline: this is exactly how Artas treated his soldier until he moved off the coils. Even in the inventory the same six slots for objects!
When clicking on each unit, an animated picture appears below below. Yeah, we have already seen it
The game presents three fractions that also do not shine with originality – but in RTS it is very important. In the forgotten University at War: Earth Assault The set of warring parties was able to make it original and memorable. British studio Creative Assembly demonstrated exemplary work with asymmetric armies in Warhammer: Total War. Here everything is standard and boring: a knightly house is a familiar set of forth, paladins and harsh gnomes; undead – she is also undead in German games, so meet the mighty murder machines without unnecessary emotions. Outcasts faction – ethnic minorities offended by fate: almost the same orcs, only with an admixture of fantasy exotic.
For each of the three fractions, you can choose one of the three heroes. Unexpectednesses were not stolen here
If you have at least once launched any RTS, you can safely skip your studies: nothing new will be told there. In the Year of Rain, exclusively familiar classes await you. The economy is simple, but it is important, and its main feature is the rapid exhaustion of resources (yes, one more hello to the misadventures of Artas). So you have to tirelessly control every simple hard worker.
However, if you forget about begging comparisons for a second, the strategy looks and plays well. A very low threshold of entry goes to her only a plus, despite the fact that there are enough subtleties here.
Workers are able to repulse the attackers. The main thing is to remind them in time
It is convenient and exciting to build the town, although the process itself looks slightly superficial. However, this more than compensates for the pleasure of studying the map. Spacious locations are covered with fog of war, neutral monsters are on duty near their holes, and in an abandoned lair you can find a valuable artifact.
All this looks also pretty: the picture in the spirit of an inconsistent old-fashioned cartoon was made using the technology of the Selo-Sheading technology. Pencil strokes can be considered on some units and decorations, and art design again reminds of Warcraft, but exclusively in a good way. A background embosses with a light orchestral sound creates the right mood, although it can not be compared with the luxurious epic soundtrack of the Blizzard project.
A single campaign is rich and non -casual: there are many dialogs, I don’t want to miss them, all the phrases are well voiced, and the skillfully selected storyteller's voice pleases. True, if Warcraft 3 was immediately fascinated by the history of the prince, who turned into a maniac right under our leadership, the player is being brought down on the player’s sea of Paphos about the salvation of innocent, and history does not produce a bright impression.
The cards have prepared different: the jungle, and deserts, and tundra. In the Lorderon were the same ..
Follow until it's too late!
If you can relate to the resemblance to Warcraft differently, then the bugs and shortcomings of the mechanics need to be fixed, and urgently. For unknown reasons, the loading and saving function does not work in a single campaign. The tactics in the game practically does not breathe: if you have more than two under control (only two!) fighters, one of them will surely go, get stuck, catch on a comrade and will jerk out in animated convulsions. Any skirmish in the end is like an honest fight of the tipsy gopniks. When the “large armies” of ten thugs in each converge in the battle in the battle, the pitch hell begins in general: a game with a fifteen -year -long graphics in a completely modern PC!
As in ancient RTS, the fighters now and then repeat the same set of phrases. It is clear that in some Command and Conquer it was even worse with this; But when your paladin at every step mutters about the fact that he is a lighthouse, this can tire a modern gamer by order. In addition, some heroes have a frankly ridiculous appearance: cuirass, giant shoulders and lack of helmet in battle? Seriously?
Causes dissatisfaction and design of maps. There is no dispute, it is interesting and useful to scream the locations – but, for example, you find an orc camp, at the entrance to which there is a boiler. This boiler does not boil, does not block the passage entirely, but no one of the group can go further! Or take work with the details: on the maps they often place different pretty little things (like a bright impressive lizard on the shore of the lake), but then you are offered to run along an empty gray canyon, where there is absolutely nothing to catch on the eye.
Among local evil spirits there is such an exotic as two -headed zombies
There are several modes in the Year of Rain, and a special sight is expected to be made on e -sports and cooperative. For network battles, individual cards are planned, where there will be many ways for bypasses, ambushes and other vile tricks … Yes, only while it remains to believe the developers for the word: the current build does not allow you to try out network contractions. If you want to measure your strength with living opponents, the game creates a lobby for some time, and then simply freezes.
Tried to imitate Warcraft 3 repeatedly. For example, in 2004, Hungarian developers released a strategy Armies of Exigo, And today it looks a much more beautiful and interesting Clone of hit Blizzard. Daedalic has time and ability to bring his project to mind, but it is definitely not worth expecting a breakthrough in the genre.
However, this medal has two sides. To the negative attribute too diligent and literal citation of the former hit. Positive – old fans will feel here as at home. And the new generation of RTS connoisseurs will receive many of the coolest chips that their fathers (or grandfathers) fell in love with them.