Publisher: Microsoft (USA)
Domestic Distributor: Microsoft Taiwan
Language: English
Platform: PC
Release Date: currently available
Every year hundreds of RTS games come onto the market, but only a few are able to attract a sizeable audience. In one of the more innovative of these, Microsoft's Impossible Creatures, the main character is a geneticist who reassembles the bodies of real creatures and breeds new kinds of animals. The animal Frankensteins created by the scientist are then sent to do battle with evil monsters.
"The concept of the game may have come from Pikachu," said Vincent Huang (
Impossible Creatures has a 3D graphic interface and offers 50 species for the player to reassemble.
"There is no standard for the player to follow, so their is plenty of room for creativity, but at the same time, players must test the effectiveness of different designs for themselves," Huang said. "We want to see how game players in Taiwan respond to this high level of creative freedom in online games."
Rise of Nations
Publisher: Microsoft (USA)
Domestic Distributor: Microsoft Taiwan
Language: English, Chinese
Platform: PC
Release Date: May
To cater to the increasingly jaded appetites of PC gamers, RTS games are adding more and more features drawn from other game formats. Rise of Nations is a combination of Microsoft's Age of Mythology and the Civilization series which offers the player the satisfaction of conquest and construction.
The designer of the game, Brian Reynolds, was one of 25 "Game Gods," selected by PC Gamer magazine. He was the main developer of several turn-based strategy games, such as Civilization II, Colonization and Alpha Centauri. Reynolds established Big Huge Games with three other game developers and started work with Microsoft in February 2000.
Reynolds said he wanted to combine RTS with turn-based strategy games to create a new kind of RTS, but emphasized that he was not trying to create a new kind of game, but simply wanted to underline the importance of constructive behavior in the game, not just killing and conquest.
"I hope that everyone can learn about `construction' and `growth,' look at the big picture, such as the development of social system and culture, to extend his or her power within the game," said Reynolds.
Role playing is one of the game's cross-over features, with heroes from a total of 18 civilizations who give the player an added dimension of fun when planning military strategies or constructing a city. Another feature that injects a does of realism is the use of a real-world map, which means that the player has to plan wisely in order to avoid fighting on too many fronts.
"In general, the old RTS games, such as Age of Mythology, are very cool, but our new games are more profound and strategic," Reynolds added.
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