The real-time strategy genre seldom sees huge innovation or attention from the gaming industry, but it was once one of the most popular genres withseries likeCommand & ConquerandWarcraftdominating the PC market. Now, the majority of RTS fans have to turn to titles like Creative Assembly’sTotal Warfranchise orPlanetary Annihilation: Titans. While these titles give fans the RTS fix,Planetary Annihilation: Titansreceives little new content andTotal Waris focused more on giant battles than base building. ButLine Waris a new one worth keeping tabs on.
Line Warhas the classic base-building gameplay that RTS fans have come to expect, but it brings with it a huge twist. The gameplay is very reminiscent oftheRISKboard gamesas players must capture regions to acquire income to help grow their military force. The player with the most zones becomes the most powerful and has a greater chance of victory. The game brings with it a whole new way to move troops and construct units that really helps setLine Warapart from the other strategy games vying for attention.
RELATED:Halo Wars is Still the Perfect Starter RTS
What Exactly is Line War
Line Waris aPvP multiplayer-only RTS game, but the studio is working on adding AI and single-player down the line. Development is headed up by a two-person studio known as Studio Centurion. The two-person studio spent three years developingLine Warand has just recently put it into full release in hopes that it gets attention from the RTS fanbase. The studio has also provided an expansive roadmap that is actively updated that includes new modes, technologies, orbital warfare, and even espionage. There are so many features that the studio has planned to turnLine Warinto an expansive RTS, and it is hoping to be able to get it there at some point,
Currently,Line Waris only playable in a 1v1 online setting. The game will randomly generate a map and players will select their starting regions before readying up. If the regions are too close to each other then those regions will be banned and players will have to reselect until they have both picked one a fair distance away from each other. Thegameplay ensues like most RTS gameswhere players will build various factories and create their massive armies to annihilate their opponent. However, the game introduces huge changes to core RTS gameplay that really helps set the title apart from other games in the genre.
What Makes Line War Unique
The biggest change thatLine Warbrings to the RTS genreis that players are not able to individually select their units. Instead, they have to draw lines around the map and the units will move to said lines. These lines can range from simple paths they want their units to take, points that they want units to gather at, or defensive positions that they want units to hunker down in. They can choose what units listen to the line order, or the game will select the ones that make the most sense. This adds a bit of a challenge as players will constantly be drawing and removing lines as the battle progresses.
Along with this new line system,Line Wardoes not have players constantly clicking on buildings to build new things. The player willplop down various building typesand then those buildings will constantly churn out troops. The player has control over what type of troops are built in the buildings, but they have zero control over how many are built. The building will build units constantly and then those units will either stand there or head off to one of the lines that the player had drawn.
As far as building bases go,Line Wardoes away with focusing on income-based buildings. While players will have to build power plants to support their economy, the game does not have them build a bunch of money-making buildings. Instead,players will capture regions with their unitsand those regions will slowly gather income.Certain regions will have spots where players can place down cities, villages, or ports that will gather additional income. This shakes up the game as players become more focused on spreading out their army instead of consolidating them around one base.
Line Warjust released from early access, but it could bring awhole new style to RTS gameplay. Studio Centurion is hard at work adding additional modes and elements to the game to make it as expansive as it can be; If RTS andRISKfans are looking for a new game to sink hours into, thenLine Warmay be just what they need.
