Ground Control 2: Operation Exodus(PC)

Recently I had abandoned all hope of seeing a captivating RTS. Haegemonia, Homeworld 2 were good, but they lacked something..Warcraft 3 lacked a lot in my opinion. Once I played Ground Control 2 I realised what they lacked: an interesting story, a pleasant gameplay and enjoyable to play campaign.

Ground Control 2 (GC2 from now on) uses a system different than the majority of RTS use, although it isn't the first game to use that system. In this game there are no bases to be built, the units cannot be upgraded (except the Dropship). You can only order units which are transported to a specific location on the map, a landing zone, by a dropship. By controlling landing zones and Victory locations (key locations on the map) you acquire Acquisition Points, which are what you use to order more troops. There's a large variety of different units, and what is more interesting all the units have primary and secondary modes, between you can switch on the battlefield (and to finish the game you will do that often!). There are only 2 sides who you can play as: the Northern Star Alliance and the Virons. The two races are balanced very well, unlike in some recent RTSs. The campaign can be very slightly repetetive, but is very fun, and I played the game almost every night for weeks to finish it.

The graphics are stunning and it works fine on my GeForce FX5200 and on a friend's Radeon 9000. The battlefield, the soldiers, the athmosphere, all very detailed. Music is excellent too.. The problem I had this game is the sound. You will very soon get annoyed by hearing "Sarge does what Sarge does best" 3 times in a row froma certain unit. Even though every unit has different sounds and voice there isn;t a large range of them like in Starcraft for example, and I have to admit it can get extremely annoying!

The Story of the game is nothing special to be honest, but still interesting enough for me to want to complete the game.

I haven't had a chance to try out the multiplayer yet, but I don't doubt it will also be great fun.

It is sad that this game will probably not be a hit like Command & Conquer series (thank you, EA, for runing those), Star-, WarCraft or Homeworld. It is far more fun and deserves far more attention than it got.

The problem sequels have is having to live up to or exceed the previous games reputation. To do this it has to make decisions like whether to add a new feature or take away an existing one or whether to change the interface or controls, these decisions can make or break a game and must be taken wisely.
The original game was a masterpiece. The no resource factor was a great challenge and brilliantly pulled off, it encourages you to think up your own strategies to complete the missions with minimal loses. It may sound simple but it the later missions it became tricky.
But Ground Control 2 lets all this slip with the new AP Points, the AP Points allow you to purchase new units and deliver them in by drop ship, though this does introduce the tactical element of capturing the enemy LZs (Landing Zones) and cut of the enemy reinforcements I think that it undermines the crucial element that made the original game so great. Also the fact that units now have unlimited secondary fire, in the original for example infantry had a secondary fire that could be used three times, an anti-tank weapon but in the new game that can now be used infinitely meaning that you can just mass infantry which are very cheap and send them in en masse.
These are only a few limiting factors though, the rest of the game is highly enjoyable, the story is well-scripted and interlocks well with the previous game, the graphics are well detailed and the units too are highly detailed right down to facial expressions, the abilities to do things like hide your infantry in buildings and use terrain to much greater advantages are also very good and add a great deal to the game, the new NSA forces are well rounded and highly imaginative, many units fitting specific roles, but the real star of the show are the Virons, they are the most thought over and developed units, being able the meld to form other units can create many tactical advantages, eg. you've got a horde of infantry heading for you, so you get all your Clanguards (basic infantry) and order them to meld, the resulting units are Infectors, great against infantry, you then take out the incoming any units with ease. The amount of tactical opportunities for this are limitless and great fun to think up.
All-in-all it's a good game, some great ideas and concepts but I think let down by the new AP points and unlimited secondary attack features which has pushed it down to four stars. Well worth buying if you're a fan of the game or genre.

Ground Control II, originally released in 2004, is fairly obviously the sequel to Ground Control, the classic real-time tactics game. GC2 picks up the story centuries further on and it initially appears that there is no relationship between the two games, save being set in the same universe. However, as the game continues it becomes clear that the events of the original game set in motion a chain of events that are now coming to fruition, and a new generation of heroes must complete the work begun by Major Sarah Parker and Deacon Jared Stone in the first game.

There are, however, some significant differences between the two games. Ground Control was excellent because it strictly limited the military forces available to take into battle, putting the emphasis firmly on tactical decision-making, battle formations and picking the opportune route across the battlefield. With no ability to save mid-mission, the game encouraged genuine tactical decision-making rather than quicksaving and then hoping for the best. Whilst for hardcore strategy fans this was good stuff, more casual players were put off by the game's rock-hard reputation, despite fantastic reviews at the time.

GC2 is, by contrast, far more commercial. You can save mid-mission and you can reinforce your army in the field at any time through the seizing of landing zones and the deployment of dropships. Destroying enemy forces, seizing 'victory locations' and achieving objectives earns you points you can put towards recruiting new units or upgrading the dropship. You can order the dropship to remain on-station after delivering units and use it as a gun platform or a scout before it runs out of fuel and has to return to base. This is actually a pretty clever idea, and it's not unusual for the success or failure of a mission to turn on how you outfit and deploy the dropship effectively.

You control both the NSA army and a Viron taskforce during the two campaigns. Both sides are well-developed and fun to play, but the Virons take the edge for ingenuity and originality. They are based on organic technology and have both secondary modes granting them different skills and the ability to 'meld' two units together into a more powerful one. Playing as the Virons offers superior tactical possibilities and a greater variety of units and tactics.

Unfortunately, the addition of the in-mission saves means that getting through missions is sometimes more a question of stubbornness and reloading than using genuine tactical skills. The game creators minimise this as best they can by making the missions quite challenging and not having a quicksave key (you have to go through the menu), encouraging more experimenting with unit combinations and formations.

Graphically, the game uses a very similar engine to the original GC, although the maps are not quite as insanely huge. Obviously for a game that's four years newer, the graphics are notably better than the original game (which still had very impressive graphics for a game released in 2000), but the UI is, curiously, a lot more restrictive than the original. The viewing area of the screen is reduced by at least a third due to a fancy border and lots of unnecessary buttons you never use, standing in contrast to the smooth, streamlined and (ironically) far more modern interface of the first game.

The game has an excellent storyline with some really good twists and turns, and the characters are a pretty cool bunch. Their desperate struggle against the odds is compelling, although sadly incomplete: the game ends on a cliffhanger with a number of questions left dangling. Although the primary story arc of the game is complete, the fate of several key characters is left up in the air. It is clear that Massive were going to release either a third game or an expansion to address these elements, but the relatively mediocre commercial performance of GC2 meant this did not happen. Massive went on to develop World in Conflict and its recent expansion for a different publisher, and it sounds unlikely there will be further Ground Control games, at least not in the near future.

Ground Control II is a fast-paced and very satisfying real-time strategy game, with frantic combat, excellent graphics and sound (the game has aged very well indeed) and a challenging difficulty level. However, the commercialization of the game means that some elements of uniqueness from Ground Control have been lost. The game is rather more traditional and less ambitious than its forebear. Still, it remains a very fine example of the RTS genre and was a notably superior game to Dawn of War, which came out several months after it and used some similar ideas, but to weaker effect.

Ground Control II (****½) is a very satisfying and enjoyable RTS, and if it disappoints it is only in comparison to its excellent forebear.