Heavy Duty

[metadigital]

Due Date: Easrly 2007 Publisher: Akella

Games very rarely spring from nowhere and grasp us jaded hacks firmly by the lapels, but that is exactly what happened with Akella's Heavy Duty. It's a squad-based action real-time strategy outing, much in the vein of UFO, requiring you to protect your planet from hostile invasion by setting your own fast-response defence network.

 

Talking code

Primal Software's developers spill the beans on interplanetary RTS.

 

PCFormat: What is it that sets Heavy Duty apart

Primal Software: We are the first company in the world that actually stepped up from small flat game ares to a real, round planet with all its features: climate zones, weather, day-night cycle, etc. It was not easy, after all the only competitor here is the Will Wright with Spore, and his planets are way smaller and less detailed.

 

PCF: We heard talk about 150km

[The.Donut]

At first it sounded like it would be some kind of spiritual successor to the X-Com games but, from further reading, I was disappointed to have my expectations dashed. Still, the engine sounds impressive.

[Hurlshort]

It's a squad-based action real-time strategy outing, much in the vein of UFO

 

What the heck does that mean? This looks like another crappy game to me. I'm sorry, but you just can't capture Xcom (UFO) without offering turn based combat. It is an intrinsic part of the game.

[Darque]

Hmmm... I'm not sure what to make of this.

[Bokishi]

Sounds like Spore.

[metadigital]

I wouldn't get over-hyped just yet: it's coming form the former Soviet Union, so the development path may well be less-than-smooth.

 

The whole point of the game, at lest for me, is that it has:

1. WORLDS, not flat game zones
   
2. NPCs with inherrent behaviours, i.e. don't need to be micro-managed in programming, thus creating a better "pernanent-instance" type environment.