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Command & Conquer Team Take On LoTR RTS

Posted by simoniker on from the franchise-of-the-kerchings dept.

Thanks to GameSpy for their unveiling of a new PC real-time strategy title based on the Lord Of The Rings movies. Not to be confused with Vivendi's book-based War Of The Ring RTS we covered a couple of days back, in this title, "EA and the C&C Generals team are bringing their own brand of RTS gameplay to Tolkien's world.", and the tech demo screenshots from this large-scale, early-in-development title look intriguing, as the developers try to "capture the epic cinematic flavor of the three film's battles (including Helm's Deep, Ithilien, and Minas Tirith) by combining content from all the movies."

29 comments

  1. l33t by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    sure it's not L0tR?

  2. Looks sweet by My+name+isn't+Tim · · Score: 1, Informative

    I can't wait to see the final product. Would be cool to be able to take control of a character and walk around first person in battle. Graphics look stunning. http://www.gamespy.com/asp/image.asp?platform=PC&i mage=/previews/september03/lotrbfmepc/14.jpg In game shot!

  3. great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll
    anything that might keep lotr lusers from going out in public is fine with me!

  4. I hope the Helm's Deep battle scenario... by HaloZero · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...goes better than it did during Development of The Two Towers.

    (Referencing the bug in which the AI controlling the CGIed Uruk-hai, in attempting to cause the most damage with the fewest casualties, turn around and ran away from the scene on the first take. That would make for a lousy campaign.)

    --
    Informatus Technologicus
    1. Re:I hope the Helm's Deep battle scenario... by mraymer · · Score: 3, Informative
      (Referencing the bug in which the AI controlling the CGIed Uruk-hai, in attempting to cause the most damage with the fewest casualties, turn around and ran away from the scene on the first take. That would make for a lousy campaign.)

      Eh, wrong. Just google around and you'll find several interviews with crew members of the massive dev team who explained that this is sort of a rumor that has been twisted around a bit.

      What happened was that the CGI monsters did not have good enough vision to see where the enemies were. Therefore, while it looked like they were running away, they were in fact looking for people to fight. They simply couldn't see anyone to fight, so started wandering around aimlessly.

      A few tweaks to the AI cleared this problem right up. While it is funny to imagine any vast army running away in fear, it's not exactly what happened with massive. I know you were just joking and it was funny, too, just not accurate. Sorry for the nitpick.

      --

      "To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit." -Stephen Hawking

  5. I hope... by KDan · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ... that we don't end up with yet another C&C clone in a different disguise. I'm sure I'm not the only one to have found that all the C&C variations, from the original to Red Alert 1 and 2, etc, were all more or less the same game with slightly different game play and units... Hopefully, instead, LOTR can be at least as groundbreaking as warcraft 3 (which is not very groundbreaking, let's be honest, but at least is different from the previous blizzard RTS's).

    Daniel

    --
    Carpe Diem
    1. Re:I hope... by TheFlyingGoat · · Score: 3, Informative

      Did you read the article? The AI involved seems completely groundbreaking. In addition, the graphics engine (or logic for hiding detail while zoomed out) they're using must be a stud to be able to handle 1000+ units, each fighting and reacting uniquely. Toss in the fact that arrows actually stick in enemies, Trolls being smart enough to use Orcs as weapons, and the incredible graphics and it should be an excellent game. I normally don't get into RTS games, but I'm almost definitely going to buy this one.

      --
      You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. --Winston Churchill
    2. Re:I hope... by KDan · · Score: 1

      You haven't mentioned much about gameplay. Visuals are nice, sure, but that won't keep it from being the same game, again. I'd rather have something with the graphics of Starcraft and the originality of gameplay of the original c&c (compared to what came before, ie Dune 2).

      Daniel

      --
      Carpe Diem
    3. Re:I hope... by PainKilleR-CE · · Score: 1

      the graphics engine (or logic for hiding detail while zoomed out) they're using must be a stud to be able to handle 1000+ units, each fighting and reacting uniquely.

      You might want to re-read that part. Although the graphics in the shots look impressive, it never mentioned that all 1000+ units were visible on the screen at once, just that they were seen as red and green dots in the mini-map. OTOH, this leads to needing some fairly efficient AI, as there's certainly going to be a lot going on off-screen as well as on-screen all the time with that many units in a given area. This is especially noted when they talk about the things the AI can do (interacting with the environments, using buildings, terrain, and other units as projectiles, forming 'intelligent' battle lines, and so on).

      The gameplay sounds a lot like Myth with a larger overall scale (in other words, heavily tactical but you can't see all of your units at once).

      --
      -PainKilleR-[CE]
    4. Re:I hope... by Flunitrazepam · · Score: 1

      Sounds like how excited I have been for every C&C game for the past 4 years, too bad I was extremely let down every single time.

      --
      1) Your analysis is based on bad assumptions so your result is way off. 2) You're a sick bastard for fucking a horse.
  6. Confused. by Schnapple · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Could someone out there point out to me a good place to sum up all of the recent LOTR games? I can't remember who's making what game or what they're based off of (i.e., the FOTR game based off of the books, the FOTR game based off the movie, the FOTR game based off of the breakfast cereal, etc.)

    Also, how is it that so many people are making so many games based off of LOTR? How is it EA didn't sew them all up?

    --

    Schnapple

    1. Re:Confused. by sidesh0w · · Score: 1

      Could someone out there point out to me a good place to sum up all of the recent LOTR games?

      I would recommend, if you haven't been there already, TheOneRing.net's Gaming Havens:
      http://haven.theonering.net/index.shtml

  7. Generals look by AzraelKans · · Score: 1, Funny

    Wow, I definetily would like to check this one out, IMO Generals was an underapreciated game for its time, to begin with it was the first RTS game using "next generation" techniques (real time shadows, vertex shaders) so that made it slower than the competition even on high end pcs. Second: it came out in a real bad time just as war was about to start and it actually themed the american and "terrorist" army (heck George Bush appeared in the intro video) calling it a "not sensible" issue is a bit of an understatement. But all things checked graphically and gameplay wise is not bad at all, is much more realistic than any other C&C but without trapping it in a simulation status, it boosts some features that help you not to take it too seriously, like choppers who can refill their ammo in mid air or command centers than can be stablished 2 feet away from the enemy base, not to mention the constant homage/parody to "black hawk down".

    In my opinion that game with the LOTR theme, will work wonders Generals was great but it tapped a truly sensitive theme and that made it a lot less fun than it should.

    --
    Go ahead MOD my day!
    More opinions here
  8. Get your 4 GHz machine before playing by gmhowell · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    The wonderfully optimized Generals engine Plus thousands of units? You better have something serious in your beige box. Probably powered by a Mr. Fusion, and cooled with liquid nitrogen.

    --
    Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
    1. Re:Get your 4 GHz machine before playing by PainKilleR-CE · · Score: 1

      Frankly, after updating the game itself (I didn't even buy the game until a patch or two was available, and never ran it before patching it), Generals ran quite nicely on my system, which although probably better than average, isn't anywhere near the top of the curve.

      That being said, the additions they've made and the apparently improved graphics don't bode well for the people that aren't planning on upgrading at all between now and whenever this game will finally be released. I'm just hoping nVidia gets back to the lead before I have to buy an ATI card to play a new game.

      --
      -PainKilleR-[CE]
    2. Re:Get your 4 GHz machine before playing by gmhowell · · Score: 1

      I was halfway through the Chinese campaign by the end of release day. I love the C&C series. Although Generals was a weak effort. I'll be getting Zero Hour in about two weeks (no sense getting it before vacation).

      --
      Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
    3. Re:Get your 4 GHz machine before playing by PainKilleR-CE · · Score: 1

      Personally, I played mostly in the skirmish mode, which I think was the best of any of the C&C games to date. I also liked the little 'medals' they gave out for different accomplishments, which added to the replay value of the game somewhat, giving you measurable goals outside of the normal victory conditions in-game, rather than just letting the player make stuff up for themselves (though you can still do that, of course ;).

      --
      -PainKilleR-[CE]
    4. Re:Get your 4 GHz machine before playing by SophtwareSlump · · Score: 1

      Flamebait? Obviously the mods never tried playing a 6 player LAN game with a decent amount of units. C&C Generals is the only game I know of that has brought an XP2000 w/ a gig of DDR to it's knees.

    5. Re:Get your 4 GHz machine before playing by erpbridge · · Score: 1

      I agree. Although, converging 4 fleets (a fleet of 40 Overlord tanks with Propaganda Towers, another fleet of 40 Overlord tanks with Gatlings, a fleet of about 30 Migs, and a fleet of 120 Red Army foot soldiers) from separate areas of the map toward one of the enemy's main bases, then bombing the hell out of them first with an EMP, then with about 7 nukes.

      Granted, it took forever to build those armies, without cheats (unless you call another fleet of 60 hackers cheating). However, that combined attack of all those units and special attacks on the enemy base with a P4 1.8 w/ GeForce4 4600 and 512 DDR was quite crippling.

      Then again, maybe I was just asking for it trying to call in a battle of LOTR proportions.

      BTW, this was a skirmish against two Medium computer players, not a real mission. I don't have the replay saved (I did at one point), but the whole battle took about 2.5 hours from start to finish.

  9. Re:FP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    speaking of hot chicks what happened to Sumi Das? she is never on techtv anymore.

  10. Marketing statements by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    "EA and the C&C Generals team" is a bit of a misnomer. They advertised pretty much the exact same thing for Generals, "from the RA2 team." What they failed to mention was that they laid off a lot of the RA2 team after the expansion pack was released (they'd hired some people to start Generals while the rest of us did the expansion pack, and guess who got the boot when EA decided we had too many people for the project?) and the team that did Generals was about half RA2 team members at best.

    They lost another huge chunk of people after Generals was done when they moved their offices from Orange County to LA. From what i've heard, it's once again about a 50% "mortality" rate. At least half the team is different from the actual Generals team, and only two or three people (not counting upper management of course) have been on through all three games.

    Despite my obvious bitterness, the turnover doesn't necessarily mean the game will suck, but "from the same team" doesn't mean what they want you to think it means, at least not at EA. At my current company the team i'm on now is about 80% the same from the last project, and most of the difference is from new hires or people getting switched around between internal projects.

    1. Re:Marketing statements by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, its safe to say that many Westwood people did Not join EA.

      And it shows in the games.

  11. Re:FP by okie_rhce · · Score: 1

    She moved over to MSNBC. Too bad not the Spice Channel.

  12. Swell by dswensen · · Score: 1

    Oh, the Command and Conquer team! So does this mean there will be tons of FMV in between every mission, including copious shots of Liv Tyler's cleavage, kind of like we had with Red Alert 2 and Tanya?

    One can only hope, I suppose. That, and the inevitable "You have 1 hobbit and 30 seconds to destroy the massed armies of Mordor with a penknife" mission that C&C made so loveable.

  13. Hmmmm by Jhonny · · Score: 1

    The graphics look great, but why one game? They are gonna have to cram a lot into that one game for the whole LOTR.

    --
    DUKEY!
  14. And when will this be released? by zoobaby · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I love previews of games that will be out when? Next Week? Next Month? Next Year? 2 Years?

    I really can't get excited about a game that I will not be able to play until 2005.

  15. nice graphics,.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In my opinion the Total War people should be doing this, not C&C. Sure the screenshots look nice, but I have a feeling the strategy part of RTS will be lacking, as usual.