Since the Nintendo DS’s release, I’ve said that
one genre is perfect for the platform. I said that once this genre makes its way
to the platform, no one would ever want to go back to what they’re used to.
I was referring to real-time strategy games. That
genre is begging for a touch screen. On the PC you’ve got to use the same old
cumbersome mouse to change the camera, draw over your units, etc.
Shogun Warrior: Real Time Conflict is the first
RTS to take advantage of Nintendo’s innovative alternative. Units may be
selected, formed and directed by pressing, holding, and dragging the stylus.
Thumbs and thumbnails work too, but don’t count on them to be as reliable.
In the preview edition, top-screen units were the
fighting polygon models; the bottom-screen units were 2D and didn’t have much to
them. The opposite will occur if necessary for the gameplay (sometimes it
believes that your attacks would be more effective if the second screen were to
utilize it both graphically and interactively). Multiple moves/selections can be
made per turn, but the number is not infinite. Hence this being a strategy game.
There’s a lot more to it than that though.
Obviously you have to take into account the enemy and how he or she works.
Shogun Warrior has all the bells and whistles of a PC real-time strategy game,
and the new stylus controls are excellent. You can scroll over (push down on the
screen and draw toward a corner until the desired units are selected) your
teammates to select them No matter what I’ll play the game just for that
feature. I wouldn’t buy a game for it, and once it becomes commonplace in the
industry it won’t matter. Until then Shogun is getting my portable attention.
The graphics don’t look too spectacular at this
stage in development, but its dual screen capabilities are a moderately
impressive spectacle. Having the screens change perspective from 2D to 3D…that
can’t be an easy one. Both can’t be 3D at the same time (the Nintendo DS’s
processor can’t handle it), and while they could both be 2D, they rarely are.
The jury’s out on this one and won’t be back for
some time, but my preliminary reaction was a good one. This’ll be a strategy
game to watch for when it’s released later this year.
