The Wargamer

Mario Kroll

G-2's Red Storm Entertainment Exclusive:
Not all Carolina Tornadoes Bring Bad News

Nestled only minutes from North Carolina's Research Triangle Park, author Tom Clancy's venture into entertainment software is quietly cranking out what promise to be some of the hottest gaming titles for 1998 and 1999. Currently nearing completion are four major new titles, two of which will be accompanied by new Tom Clancy novels. Red Storm, whose company logo is a red tornado, focuses on a relatively small number of titles annually, providing for the utmost focus on quality and content. As with Politika!, Red Storm's first title released earlier this year, typically two titles a year will be marketed in conjunction with Tom Clancy novels, while the rest will be published as more traditional stand-alone computer games (although Mr. Clancy frequently participates in the pre-production content development brainstorming sessions at Red Storm). In May, Red Storm Entertainment was kind enough to allow me a chance to see exactly what they have in store for us during the coming 24 months.
This year's two Tom Clancy tie-ins will include Rainbow Six, a first person anti-terrorist game where it's up to you and your team of counter-terrorist agents to prevent the end of the world as we know it. The related tie-in novel with the same name will be release in hardback, a format that the prolific author only makes available once every two years. The other tie-in title will be a follow-up to Tom Clancy's brand new Power Plays series, entitled ruthless.com. This ominous sounding game is a gloomy (but entertaining) look at the dark side of the computer entertainment industry where a hostile takeover involves lots of ammo. I was also able to preview Dominant Species, a twist on the familiar alien invader theme: You are the leader of a hive of creatures, defending your resources against other hives and against strange, two-legged creatures that stand upright. For some reason, like the occasionally nagging mosquitos pestering late-summer campers, these invaders are bent on sucking dry your planet's resources at all cost. Interestingly enough, these pains-in-the-rear hail from a distant place called "Earth." Sound interesting so far? I thought so, too, but I'll discuss all of these titles in more detail later on. For now, I wish to jump to my favorite title seen at Red Storm during my visit.
Force 21, not scheduled for release until Q2 1999, takes a look at modern warfare in the 21st century. John Farnsworth, a former active duty U.S. Army military intelligence officer with over 11 years service under his belt, leads project development on Force 21. His applicable experience includes leadership roles at the U.S. Army's National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, California, where John was heavily involved in the day to day operations and overall tactical and strategic planning of the OPFOR (Opposing Force). In a nutshell, Force 21 integrates the U.S. Army's battle plans for the 21st century, where highly fluid, rapid-deployment forces rely on sophisticated digital communications systems to overcome numerical disadvantages with superior technology. Enemy movement detected, Sir!
"With the [digital communication] capabilities of Force 21, two units could maneuver around opposite sides of a hill. Each unit would then essentially see what the other sees, allowing for excellent coordination of efforts and better-shared fields of fire," explained John. To get a real feel for the game and the flow of combat John even called some of his buddies at Fort Irwin, allowing the Force 21 development team members a fun-filled week at NTC, where it looks like they had an absolute blast.

Force 21 will allow the players (yes, a full feature of multi-player support via LAN and WAN will allow cooperative and competitive play) to control a well-balanced, company-sized force of current and near-future, cutting edge equipment and men of the United States, Russian, and Chinese military. John promised a full complement of unit types, including main battle tanks, other armored fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, engineering and bridge-laying units, artillery, close air support, reconnaissance and scouts, as well as logistical and support units.
Each player may control up to six platoons of up to six units per platoon. Play is real-time, with an initial mission briefing and planning phase. The game's graphical perspective is truly revolutionary in strategy gaming (if a tad disorienting at first) and inherited its basic 3D engine from the soon to be released Dominant Species. "With a great 3D engine already developed for Dominant Species, using that same engine for Force 21, gives us more time to enhance the rest of the game," explained Wendy Beasley, of Red Storm Entertainment. Two more kills, then returning to base... Basically, as commander of your company-sized combat element, you can view the action as an omnipotent observer, able to oversee the entire action from above. Are you more of a fan of first person perspective? No problem, just zoom in close to your vehicle of choice or take control of an individual unit and view events from that unit's vantage point. The view could best be described as a "tank-cam," to borrow a term from David Letterman: It is a true 360 degree free-floating camera that allows you to pan in and out as desired, looking in all directions and from all possible vantage points.
Map navigation is handled elegantly through a non-obtrusive pull down 2D map that indicates major terrain features, friendly unit positions, and known enemy positions. "It simulates the tank commander pulling out the map and studying it during a momentary lull in the action," explained John. Operational area secure, Sir!All in all, the interface and graphics looked fantastic and elegantly developed. As in all of their games currently under development at Red Storm, Force 21 will rely heavily on realistic physics modeling. "Tanks running into obstacles will react realistically," commented John. "We want to make this game as real as is possible without actually being in combat." This should be a refreshing change from the slew of recent tank simulation titles from other companies, where individual trees, sandbags, and similar relatively flimsy objects single-handedly put a stop to the full momentum and force of an armored attack. As soon as more information or initial art for Force 21 is available, I'll be sure to let you know.
The other big title, being raved about in the gaming press, is Rainbow Six, planned for an August 1998 release. Rainbow Six, which will follow a Detailed agent weaponsTom Clancy tie-in hardback novel of the same name, places you in command of a multinational anti-terrorist force, battling to save the world from the maniacal plans of evil terrorists. The action is primarily first person, although the view can be maneuvered similar to the observation model for Force 21. Graphics, currently nearing their final version, looked beautiful and were reasonably fluid, with particular attention to character equipment to include some of the most modern weapons from the H&K arsenal. Background sets for the action were very attractive and obviously very painstakingly created in every detail.
Although very hush, hush, as not to ruin the suspense, your team of agents will need to successfully complete all seventeen unique missions, taking place in such unusual locations as a decaying mansion in the Congo, a Paris theme park, and a North Sea drilling platform. According to Wendy, "each mission will be increasingly more difficult. The emphasis is on preventing casualties and completing your objective for each mission." Agent AyanaYou initially have a very ecclectic multi-national, multi-disciplinary pool of 20 agents from which you must choose up to eight agents per mission (such as Ayana, pictured below). Each agent is rated in ten unique abilities and possesses one specialty skill such as Assault, Electronics, Recon, or Demolitions. Although common abilities such as Leadership and Firearms skill are fairly obvious in their purpose, I particularly liked the fact that Aggression and Self-Control were included. "A character with high Aggression ratings and a low Self-Control may open fire at an inappropriate time, whereas a character with low Aggression may cower or refuse to attack when needed," explained Wendy. "It adds a great deal of flavor and unpredictability to the game."
A briefing that includes background information and leads into an extended mission-planning phase precedes each mission. I have never before been a fan of extended mission planning phases in other games, but Rainbow Six has to offer one of the slickest mission planning graphical user interfaces I've ever seen. As mission commander, you are shown an actual blue print of the mission area, showing you and your agents some information about the objective. "Current technology allows anti-terrorist and hostage crisis forces to locate a heartbeat through several feet of concrete. Using similar technology, forces in Rainbow Six will typically have some information about the upcoming threats, as in real life," explained Wendy as I wondered out loud why blips, indicating a potential enemy presence, were shown on the not yet explored blue-print map used for the commander's mission planning. As commander, you'll be able to divide your current mission team (of up to eight agents) into up to four smaller teams, with a maximum of four members per team.
During planning, the commander sets ingress and egress routes for the various teams. Way points are used to script relatively sophisticated decision making logic for the various team members. Sketches of a typical team member...This comes in very handy as many missions require multiple small teams to approach the objective in a well-orchestrated, coordinated fashion. Each team may be provided with rules of engagement (coined "go codes") that can be changed at each way point. The available rules of engagement include instructions to clear an area of hostiles, engage hostiles if they pose an immediate threat, or simply advance at the fastest speed possible. Agent teams may further be controlled by assigning them speeds of advance, which can include virtually running to the next way point by selecting "blitz"; advancing deliberately, using reasonable caution; or moving with the utmost of stealth. As in actual anti-terrorist situations, planning the overall mission is very important to the success of the game and a poorly conceived plan can spell doom for your team of agents, no matter how professionally they execute the mission.
Red leader, go!As you may have heard from other sources, Red Storm brought in a wide range of experts in anti-terrorism to lend Rainbow Six a high degree of accuracy and realism. Over 200 individual motion capture moves were used in creating the agents under your control. Advanced concepts such as muscle memory and weight carrying capabilities of the individual agents has been modeled. Agents, for example, cannot pick up and effectively use a weapon found during a mission, as Wendy clarified: "Actual anti-terrorist professionals simply do not do that. They get used to training with a specific weapon, the balance and weight of their own ammo loads, and are intricately familiar with every minute detail of their weapon. They use muscle memory to engage targets and picking up an unfamiliar weapon would severely disrupt this delicate balance." Rainbow Six producer Carl Schnurr further elaborated on this fact, "It's primarily a matter of the time factor. It may take longer to engage a target with an unfamiliar weapon and this could make the difference between life and death." Health and welfare of your agents can be monitored via non-obtrusive heart monitors that will allow you to feel the pain as your fellow teammates are picked off by the terrorists one by one. Even friendly fire is a real possibility in this white-knuckle thriller, as you play solo or explore the possibilities provided by the game's option to link multiple players in competitive or cooperative modes.
My only negative comment about the game dealt with some of the combat graphics, which I must clarify, were from an alpha version of Rainbow Six. I thought the actual depiction of the agents during combat seemed somewhat blocky, particularly when zooming close up. Likewise, the graphics of agents receiving incoming fire and being hit by bullets seemed below the graphical standard of excellence established by all other components of the game. Despite these minor graphical quibbles, Rainbow Six will be a definite must-play for fans of Tom Clancy's work and anyone that's ever wondered what it would be like to be a member of a SWAT or terrorist response team. Heck, even couch potatoes that simply enjoyed action movies like Die Hard or Speed will be hard pressed not to find something to love in Rainbow Six.
Dominant Species, as I indicated in the introduction to this article, places you on an alien world, where you are the mind lord of one of several hives of alien creatures.Dominant Species storyboard In this resource gathering strategy game, you can compete with up to three additional players, building units of ever-increasingly savagery and combat ability. Humans play an external role in the game, acting as the unpredictable wild card by invading your native planet and attempting to steal its resources. Fog of war and realistic day and night lighting cycles provide additional replay value. What I really found fascinating about Dominant Species was the fantastic scenario editor that's being included. A human vessel This editor includes a very intuitive layout and permits any grayscale bitmap to be converted into terrain tiles. Additionally, the editor provides plenty of tiles for desert, snow, water, lava, rocks, trees, and all game creatures. The scenario editor also allows direct manipulation of terrain elevation and permits programming relatively sophisticated AI behavioral logic.
As with the other games I've talked about so far, Dominant Species places heavy emphasis on a realistic physics model. A Rambeast in action..."You can use the terrain to your tactical advantage, to exploit strengths that specific creatures possess," explained Wendy, as she showed me how a Rambeast could be used to literally shove enemy units off a nearby cliff. "We also plan on supporting Dominant Species through our website after its release, perhaps showcasing the best user-made scenarios there." All in all, Dominant Species looks to be a witty and fun game that the whole family can enjoy. If you're a fan of designing game levels or custom scenarios, I would recommend checking out Dominant Species for the cool editor alone. Expect to see it in stores in October of this year.
The second Tom Clancy novel tie-in planned for 1998 (and the second title in the Power Plays series) is ruthless.com. This dark, gothic plot evokes images of Blade Runner, Johnny Mnemonic, and CyberPunk. "Although it's part of the same series as Politika!, ruthless.com will be a VERY different game," explained producer Kevin Perry. Your executive has been kidnapped...Up to six players can compete in this sinister look at the entertainment software industry, where corporate takeovers take on another meaning entirely. Players attempt to expand their growing business empire, while at the same time hindering the progress of their opponents by any means necessary. Frivolous lawsuits are on the tame side of the tactics employed in ruthless.com, where kidnapped CEOs, assassinations, industrial espionage, and sabotage are commonplace business tools. Throughout the game, your CEO and subordinate executives (should they survive) gain experience, skills, and personality traits.

Security is everything...Unfortunately I was unable to see an alpha version of this game in progress but from the screen shots and background information, ruthless.com sounds like a total blast for all those with a slightly twisted mind. (Ed. - I was just notified that a working version is ready for media preview and will provide additional details on ruthless.com in a future column.) I hope you'll join me and the rest of The Wargamer's staff in an Internet multi-player session when the game is released this fall.

That about completes my round up of my visit to Red Storm Entertainment and the new titles brewing there. I again wish to thank Wendy and her staff for the time taken out of their schedule to accommodate my visit. If you get a chance, be sure to stop by the Red Storm Entertainment website for additional screen shots and information about their upcoming titles.

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