Warshift 2

{Warshift 2} is truly a unique game that I'm delighted to have had the chance to try out. It gets off to a pretty intense start, with you upgrading a mech or a vehicle that serves as your character. It's almost like an action role-playing game in that you head out into the world to destroy and blow things up for points. You can then invest these points in more and better upgrades. The fun doesn't stop there, though; you can also zoom out and take control of base building, troop production and other aspects. Your task is to juggle an intense action role-playing game and a real-time strategy game, much like {Starcraft}, all at the same time.

In this future, a cyborg faction is at war with aliens. Both are quite similar in function but radically different in appearance. They follow the same progression in construction, and the buildings operate in much the same way. The differences lie in the types of units and weapons. The aliens are somewhat insect-like, with heroes reminiscent of the Cybrans in {Supreme Commander}. Which is a bit ironic, given that they're a cyborg faction. I have no complaints about either of them, other than that I'd have hoped the base building could be a bit more asymmetrical between the factions. At the same time, I also understand that, as a solo developer, there's only so much you can do.

The strategy view looks good, but it isn't always as user-friendly as it needs to be.

My first impressions are that the whole thing feels a bit clunky. Depending on what you focus on, something else will suffer. As well as comparing this to the original, I'd like to highlight two other successful game series. The first is a series I've always loved and hope to see more of in the future, called Battlestations. It's a naval and air-based game where you control all the ships, submarines and so on in third-person view, like an action game. You can also control the action via a map, like a tactical strategy game. The difference between this and Warshift 2 is that you don't also have to gather resources and build bases. It's intense and stressful, but in many ways it shares the philosophy of juggling several gameplay systems at once. The other series is Natural Selection, which solved this in a clever way. One player handles base-building exclusively, whilst the other players try to defeat one another.

However, you can set buildings to be managed by the AI, which then commands, produces troops and attacks the enemy. If you're completely opposed to base-building, there are game modes where you don't need to build anything. Instead, you produce unit types in space aboard a spaceship, but you do not build bases. You can also disable base-building entirely on land maps or adjust victory conditions, such as economic victory. This gives the game a certain amount of variety in its gameplay, although the classic mode remains the most engaging. In this mode, you build bases, upgrade your character, produce troops and defeat the enemy.

The graphics are incredibly stylish for something created by just one person.

Warshift 2 offers a lot to keep track of at once, resulting in a fast pace, and you have to manage almost all the systems yourself. However, some campaign missions allow you to skip certain parts, as the mission is designed to focus on a single aspect. Early missions usually focus on troop movement and defeating the enemy with whatever resources you have at your disposal. Regardless of which side you're on, however, they're quite similar, with straightforward objectives. Go there, destroy that and build this in that spot. It doesn't really offer the same kind of variety that StarCraft 2 did in its campaign in terms of mission design. However, I can forgive much of this given the circumstances Cyril Megem has faced as a solo developer.

You can choose between combat robots that transform into aeroplanes at the touch of a button or flying ninjas. There's a good selection of heroes and they're varied.

To fight effectively, you need a hero character. I like that your war machine is so versatile; depending on your choice, it can fly, roll along the ground, dive beneath the sea's surface and take part in all the arenas where the conflicts take place. Some are powerful tanks, others a mix of everything, and some focus on aerial combat. You choose your favourite before starting a match, as well as how many allied AI-controlled heroes will take part. From what I've tested, you can have up to two extra heroes in addition to your own. The first game offered a co-op mode; the second doesn't at present, but I assume it's in the pipeline. This is currently a single-player game, which is worth bearing in mind if you're interested.

The game itself, however, struggles to excel at any one thing. It's more of an overall experience. The strategy aspect has its flaws, such as the fact that you can't currently queue movements, and it skips certain standard features. The vehicles feel a bit sluggish and jerky in their movements when you control them without any real momentum. The word clunky is quite apt in this context. You then have to land on a special spaceship at the right moments to upgrade your hero whilst everything else is going on. It's utter chaos, really, and there's something about the game that draws you in and keeps you entertained. I'm convinced you won't play the game for any one element in particular, but for the combination of all the elements at once.

The aliens are monstrous and work well. They feel a bit weaker than their enemy faction.

Unfortunately, I feel that this concept only works in certain situations. It's mainly effective on a small scale, with few enemies and not too many troop movements. When things start to move in all directions, it falls apart a bit. You can find it helpful to number the unit types, though. When a lot is happening at once, it's all about prioritising based on ability. It's a game where I'd like to have an assistant or a fellow player to do the things I'm not doing. I sat there for ages thinking that {Age of Empires}'s co-op mode would be a perfect fit. One player builds the base and another fights. I don't want it to be the case, as it is at the moment, that everything I'm not doing comes to a standstill. If I switch to a tank, I don't want my major offensive to stop and base-building to cease. I'd like to see a more seamless switching of perspective, where the tasks you're not performing are still carried out by, for example, a customisable AI player or a human teammate. That would make it easier to move between all the game systems.

Before I started finding shortcuts, queuing up unit production with AI-controlled factories and a few other things, it was quite a difficult game to get to grips with. Unfortunately, the AI opposition isn't particularly effective if you spam. However, the developer is set to add even harder difficulty levels in the future. Considering that it's more or less a one-man project, I'm still impressed by what one person can achieve. The game looks good, sounds good, and the creator seems to be actively listening to feedback. I think that's clearly evident. It's a better game than its predecessor in almost every respect. What I miss most is the lack of a co-op mode. It reminds me a bit of old computer games from the 90s, with its sometimes hard-to-read user interface, lack of explanations of the game systems and a campaign that's more like a tutorial. It doesn't quite feel finished, even though it's being sold as such.

To build, you need to activate an energy node. Think of it as a temporary Pylon in Starcraft, where you can construct buildings within its range.

I might not recommend this to you if you have a low tolerance for bugs, design issues and the need for direction in games. I think Warshift 2 really shines in its screen-based skirmish mode, where you can customise the opposition, the map and a few other things. The campaign is linear and fails to engage due to its lack of narrative; and although it does offer some unique scenarios to a certain extent, they aren't good enough. The experience also suffers slightly due to technical issues such as bugs, the absence of features that are standard for the genre, and a mix of game types that isn't entirely seamless. At the same time, it's brilliant when you defeat an AI through clever positioning of your troops, stealth attacks with your upgradeable robot in action mode, and by using your economy to produce more military resources than your opponent. It feels great when everything clicks and works.

If I were to place Warshift 2 in a gaming category, it would end up in the same boat as the Rampage games. It's good when it works, becomes repetitive quickly, and has its charm despite some fairly obvious design flaws. It's extremely iterative and resembles the first game in many ways. It's a refined sequel that doesn't fix all the problems with the original. It's not a game for everyone, but I think certain types of players could get a few hours' entertainment out of it. However, this requires you to be tolerant of the flaws I've mentioned and to appreciate genre-blending games that hybridise game design. I believe there's a larger market for this, but at present I don't think Warshift 2 is the title that fully realises the concept's potential.

The space mode is brilliant - you get aircraft carriers instead of having to build buildings. It acts as a base where you can build things like spaceships.

From a technical and visual perspective, the game is a mixed bag of bugs relating to sound, graphics, scripts and a user interface that's hard to read. At the same time, the graphics are impressive for a project by such a small developer, and the game sounds good, even if the music quickly becomes repetitive. I've experienced crashes and some strange bugs with music transitions that cause lag. However, you do have plenty of tools at your disposal within the game, though some of them are a bit counter-intuitive to use. One example is a tutorial mission where the game asks you to click a button. That button did nothing at all; instead, you had to hold down another button at the same time before you could press it - something you can't tell from the instructions on how to proceed. It can therefore take a bit of time to get to grips with all the gameplay elements, as you have to work things out for yourself. However, this is something the developer can fix fairly quickly.

I must, however, praise the system for controlling troops in battle. It reminds me of games like Bannerlords and {Kingdom Under Fire}. It's simple, a bit limited, but allows you to take part in the battles without having to switch back and forth constantly. I think this is where the game's strength lies at the moment. Watching your armies clash with the enemy's, commanding your own war machine and taking part in the fray yourself. I'm not quite as impressed with the strategy aspect, which currently needs more high-quality features to interact better and work effectively with the action mode. At the same time, I can still take a positive view of the fact that the developer is listening to feedback and offering something original and unique. If you're looking for something different, original and fascinating on the indie scene, Warshift 2 might be worth checking out - it's a decent game with plenty of potential.

You can upgrade both your troops - as shown in the bottom left-hand corner - and your weapons - as shown in the top right-hand corner. Not everything is available straight away, and you'll need money to equip the weapons.

The worlds are beautiful, and it's hard not to be impressed by them from a purely visual perspective.

The menu is a bit cluttered, but it's quick to launch a skirmish, a training mode or a campaign mission. Both factions have their own campaign.