Shattered Union (Xbox) Review.
I have recently purchased and played a turn-based strategy game for the Xbox named Shattered Union, which was developed by Pop Top Software and published by 2K Games and released last October (2005).
The premise of the game is more than just a bit fetching. The United States have voted in the most unpopular President since, well, George Bush Jr.!
The President increases the power of the Patriot Act and declares martial law. He arrests the more popular opponents before his election and wins by default. During his inaugural speech, a low yield nuclear weapon is detonated in Washington D.C. destroying the line of succession.
California succeeds from the Union forming the California Commonwealth followed by the Republic of Texas and others.
The California Commonwealth is made up primarily of the former states of California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. Although the faction is wealthy in natural resources, most of the population centers are on the Pacific coast. Typically, others see members of the California Commonwealth as shallow but with an eye for color. The reality is they are also creative and resourceful. Most members of the California Commonwealth see the war as a battle against restriction and oppression.
The New England Alliance is made up of parts from the former states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Members of the New England Alliance are driven and feel a strong sense of purpose in this war. Though only comprised of three territories, the NEA has one of the highest population densities in America. Before the secession, New Englanders felt that they were not given a representative voice.
The European Union peacekeeping force currently resides in a single territory made up of the former states of Maryland, Delaware and parts of Virginia, West Virginia and New Jersey. After open hostilities broke out, the war compounded the growing instability in the world due to the loss of such a large and prolific market. The EU voted to re-establish the union of states to prevent the spreading chaos. American resentment has grown since the EU decided to expand its role in the war.
The Great Plains Federation is made up of all, or parts of the former states of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota. Midwesterners are usually seen as ultra conservative, dirt farmers with a stubborn streak a mile wide. Members of the Federation are still generally more tolerated and tolerant than any other faction, as they often are familiar with or were previous members of some other faction. Pacifica, made up of the former states of Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado.
The Pacifica faction came into being as a last resort when refugees from San Francisco were forced from their homes by Californian militia. The realization that there was no were to turn forced the region to form a defensive pact. Often classified as tree hugging, technophiles with a weak grasp of reality. The reality however, is that Pacificans see the war as a fight against aggression.
Comprised of a confederation of the former states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi Tennessee and Kentucky. The Confederacy sees the war as an attack on tradition and the acts of the other factions are viewed as treasonous. Most see confederates as backwards or stubborn. In fact, the Confederacy is quite progressive and other than geography it has little in common with the confederates of the first civil war.
One might argue that the Republic of Texas was just one excuse away from existing since the formation of Texas itself. The Republic is made up of parts of the former states of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri. Though regarded as beer swilling cowboys, and gun toting rabble. Texans are also known to live by no-nonsense rules and take a dim view of traitors and bureaucrats. Texans are ferociously independent and live just one step away from anarchy.
Each of these territories have value associated with them in terms of cost to purchase and repair units, fuel upgrades for your army, and so on. Aside from that, the main strategy you'll have to employ is in how many troops you send out on the battlefield. The issue here is that any units you use to attack or defend will be eliminated from defending again before your turn comes back up. That means if you attack with all of your forces, or defend against one army with all of your forces, you'll leave your territories defenseless and will have to concede a territory without a fight should you be attacked again.
On the plus side, you can use hit and run tactics on attack where you simply fly in, destroy as many units as possible, and retire from battle before you lose anything yourself, hopefully weakening your enemy. On the other hand, this can mean that the strategic game becomes a back and forth struggle that's more aggravating and slow than it is fun.
Now, I do like the storyline and the fact that there is finally a strategy war game set in the United States. I also like how easy it is to learn this game. A few battles under my belt and I had things pretty much under control. However, by raising the difficulty or choosing a less strategic starting faction will severely increase the difficulty of the game. Thus the game has a high replayability factor that shouldn’t be underestimated.
The computer’s AI isn’t the best in the world, you’ll still get a lot more out of it if you play other people, but it’s not bad at all and is a great substitute for those times when you don’t have anyone else to play with.
Unfortunately the map itself is severely lacking. You can get better maps off of Mapquest.
While fighting in what used to be Colorado, I discovered that major cities like Grand Junction, Pueblo, and Colorado Springs didn’t even exist! What’s really surprising for me is that NORAD is in Colorado Springs! How did they miss THAT!
Couldn’t they have used bland but ACCURATE maps? Have much harder would it have been to use the terrain maps found in most GPS systems? I can get better physical maps for free!
Granted, using better maps would have used more memory and increased game play time by about a 100 hours or so, but who’d complain about that?
The Xbox easily has the capability to handle much better graphics and game mechanics than what is shown here. Detailed maps are just the beginning though.
The game has an unfinished feel to it, as though it were rushed through production to meet a deadline or something. Outside of the cheesy maps, there are several features in the game that are either missing or have no apparent purpose.
There is no opportunity for diplomatic relations or solutions, but there is a diplomatic rating system. There is no Navy, even though the United States has a large coastline area and the most powerful Navy in the world. There are no options for attacking bordering countries like Canada or Mexico. Hawaii is mentioned once in the game but you never see it. you have to fight to take Alaska back from the Russians but that’s after you beat the rest of the game. The game could continue into a world war type of scenario but doesn’t.
Do I like this game? Yes. Would I get it again? Definitely, even with all its flaws. Not only that, but I’d buy the sequel (if they make one) in a heartbeat.
I have yet to play another person, but I look forward to that day eagerly. I even have some victims, I mean people, in mind…
I give this game a B+
The premise of the game is more than just a bit fetching. The United States have voted in the most unpopular President since, well, George Bush Jr.!
The President increases the power of the Patriot Act and declares martial law. He arrests the more popular opponents before his election and wins by default. During his inaugural speech, a low yield nuclear weapon is detonated in Washington D.C. destroying the line of succession.
California succeeds from the Union forming the California Commonwealth followed by the Republic of Texas and others.
The California Commonwealth is made up primarily of the former states of California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. Although the faction is wealthy in natural resources, most of the population centers are on the Pacific coast. Typically, others see members of the California Commonwealth as shallow but with an eye for color. The reality is they are also creative and resourceful. Most members of the California Commonwealth see the war as a battle against restriction and oppression.
The New England Alliance is made up of parts from the former states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Members of the New England Alliance are driven and feel a strong sense of purpose in this war. Though only comprised of three territories, the NEA has one of the highest population densities in America. Before the secession, New Englanders felt that they were not given a representative voice.
The European Union peacekeeping force currently resides in a single territory made up of the former states of Maryland, Delaware and parts of Virginia, West Virginia and New Jersey. After open hostilities broke out, the war compounded the growing instability in the world due to the loss of such a large and prolific market. The EU voted to re-establish the union of states to prevent the spreading chaos. American resentment has grown since the EU decided to expand its role in the war.
The Great Plains Federation is made up of all, or parts of the former states of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota. Midwesterners are usually seen as ultra conservative, dirt farmers with a stubborn streak a mile wide. Members of the Federation are still generally more tolerated and tolerant than any other faction, as they often are familiar with or were previous members of some other faction. Pacifica, made up of the former states of Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado.
The Pacifica faction came into being as a last resort when refugees from San Francisco were forced from their homes by Californian militia. The realization that there was no were to turn forced the region to form a defensive pact. Often classified as tree hugging, technophiles with a weak grasp of reality. The reality however, is that Pacificans see the war as a fight against aggression.
Comprised of a confederation of the former states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi Tennessee and Kentucky. The Confederacy sees the war as an attack on tradition and the acts of the other factions are viewed as treasonous. Most see confederates as backwards or stubborn. In fact, the Confederacy is quite progressive and other than geography it has little in common with the confederates of the first civil war.
One might argue that the Republic of Texas was just one excuse away from existing since the formation of Texas itself. The Republic is made up of parts of the former states of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri. Though regarded as beer swilling cowboys, and gun toting rabble. Texans are also known to live by no-nonsense rules and take a dim view of traitors and bureaucrats. Texans are ferociously independent and live just one step away from anarchy.
Each of these territories have value associated with them in terms of cost to purchase and repair units, fuel upgrades for your army, and so on. Aside from that, the main strategy you'll have to employ is in how many troops you send out on the battlefield. The issue here is that any units you use to attack or defend will be eliminated from defending again before your turn comes back up. That means if you attack with all of your forces, or defend against one army with all of your forces, you'll leave your territories defenseless and will have to concede a territory without a fight should you be attacked again.
On the plus side, you can use hit and run tactics on attack where you simply fly in, destroy as many units as possible, and retire from battle before you lose anything yourself, hopefully weakening your enemy. On the other hand, this can mean that the strategic game becomes a back and forth struggle that's more aggravating and slow than it is fun.
Now, I do like the storyline and the fact that there is finally a strategy war game set in the United States. I also like how easy it is to learn this game. A few battles under my belt and I had things pretty much under control. However, by raising the difficulty or choosing a less strategic starting faction will severely increase the difficulty of the game. Thus the game has a high replayability factor that shouldn’t be underestimated.
The computer’s AI isn’t the best in the world, you’ll still get a lot more out of it if you play other people, but it’s not bad at all and is a great substitute for those times when you don’t have anyone else to play with.
Unfortunately the map itself is severely lacking. You can get better maps off of Mapquest.
While fighting in what used to be Colorado, I discovered that major cities like Grand Junction, Pueblo, and Colorado Springs didn’t even exist! What’s really surprising for me is that NORAD is in Colorado Springs! How did they miss THAT!
Couldn’t they have used bland but ACCURATE maps? Have much harder would it have been to use the terrain maps found in most GPS systems? I can get better physical maps for free!
Granted, using better maps would have used more memory and increased game play time by about a 100 hours or so, but who’d complain about that?
The Xbox easily has the capability to handle much better graphics and game mechanics than what is shown here. Detailed maps are just the beginning though.
The game has an unfinished feel to it, as though it were rushed through production to meet a deadline or something. Outside of the cheesy maps, there are several features in the game that are either missing or have no apparent purpose.
There is no opportunity for diplomatic relations or solutions, but there is a diplomatic rating system. There is no Navy, even though the United States has a large coastline area and the most powerful Navy in the world. There are no options for attacking bordering countries like Canada or Mexico. Hawaii is mentioned once in the game but you never see it. you have to fight to take Alaska back from the Russians but that’s after you beat the rest of the game. The game could continue into a world war type of scenario but doesn’t.
Do I like this game? Yes. Would I get it again? Definitely, even with all its flaws. Not only that, but I’d buy the sequel (if they make one) in a heartbeat.
I have yet to play another person, but I look forward to that day eagerly. I even have some victims, I mean people, in mind…
I give this game a B+
posted by Keko at 14:03
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home