nce again, science fiction paints a grim future. Dwindling resources, a booming population and constant terrorist attacks are threatening the survival of humanity. In desperation, scientists birth the Outlive project, an expedition to find alternate locations of much-needed minerals.
The good news is that more minerals are found. The bad news is that they are on Titan, one of Saturn's moons. Nevertheless, humankind has never been one to shy from bad news, and the scientists feel they can work with Titan's limitations. Unfortunately, they don't exactly agree on how to work with the
problem. Some feel robots are the key to mining Titan, while others believe genetically altered humans are the answer. Of course, as with all gaming differences of opinion, war breaks out. Talonsoft's Outlive is the story of that war.
It's a classic real-time strategy story between the humans and the robots that they created. Played from an isometric view, gamers maneuver their troops through three campaigns as they attempt to resolve the combatants' differences. The strategy is production-based, so not only must players fight well, but they must also harvest resources, build buildings, research technology and produce units.
For those who tire of the campaign, Outlive offers both a multiplayer and a skirmish mode. The multiplayer supports 16 players. The skirmish mode is similar to multiplayer, but pits the gamer against the AI. Also stuffed on the ROM is a map editor, which may be used to construct new multiplayer and skirmish maps.
Good enough just isn't good enough
Yogi Berra is famous for his one-liners. One of his best was "It's like deja vu all over again." So it is with Talonsoft's latest entry into the real-time strategy field. A semi-copy of Blizzard's venerable Starcraft, Outlive provides veteran gamers little that is new, little that is creative and little that is fun.
The similarity to Starcraft is striking. From the game's graphics to its science-fiction motif, it becomes obvious that the developers were big fans of Blizzard's hit. Yet where Starcraft provided three uniquely engaging races, Outlive provides two near-generic entities, frequently mirroring the units of the two enemies; where Starcraft spun a gripping tale, Outlive tells a dry story over-played by less-than-stellar voice actors; and where Starcraft encompassed cleverly designed missions, chock-full of scripted events, Outlive
often offers dog-tired, kill-everything-in-sight scenarios with nonsensical triggers.
Nevertheless, what Outlive does, it does reasonably well. The 2-D graphics are crisp and colorful, and those nostalgic for that click-fest adrenaline rush of first-generation real-time strategy games may enjoy the frantic base construction, unit production and "tank-rush" combat. But the
genre has marched far past that state. Games like Ground Control and Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns have shown that real-time strategy can include real tactics. Returning to the simplicity that personifies Outlive is tedious.
There are no bugs, the game plays as advertised, and the graphics ain't half-bad, but Outlive is just a game whose time has passed. Gaming neophytes may find succor in Outlive's build-and-conquer formula, but to everyone else this is deja vu all over again.
The gaming industry is a moving target. What was hot yesterday is no longer hot today. Unfortunately, it appears that Continuum Entertainment (the game's developer) forgot to lead its target.
--Mark
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