demo: silent storm

At first glance, my reaction to Silent Storm was "Good lord. Another WWII-based game." And by the same guys that made Blitzkrieg, a WWII RTS game that ended up being pretty good, incidentally. Either Nival was feeling particularly unimaginative after their cult hit Etherlords, or they are on to something. I was extremely pleased by the demo for Silent Storm, so I'm leaning towards the latter.

The game sports a great looking 3D engine, and an easily maneuverable camera similar to Dungeon Siege and Neverwinter Nights. I found the graphics to be a bit taxing at some points, though, because I had to turn down the resolution a notch (1280x1024) to get a decent framerate. Hopefully these video optimization issues are worked out for the North American release. The tutorial is well laid out and teaches you the subtle nuances in game mechanics, which I highly recommend playing through before getting started on the included campaign levels. Players of Fallout, Jagged Alliance or even the largely overlooked Shadow Watch may find themselves battling through familiar territory here though; the turn based squad tactics are surprisingly complex.

Objects in the game such as walls and obstacles are destructible, allowing a new dimension of tactics to be revealed. Your characters can run, walk, strafe, crouch or crawl in the prone position, each taking different amounts of action points. The accuracy of the weapons seem realistic enough: you can shoot more with an MP40 or snap off multiple shots with a rifle, but if you can spare the action points you can aim carefully which will result in a higher chance of scoring a hit. Cover and elevation play an important role, as they should; you'll have more of a chance hitting a target far away if you are at an elevated position. This may not seem like anything groundbreaking, and it isn't. However the implementation of the combat mechanics is exceptional, and you barely have reason to think about the combat engine's flaws.

There are two separate campaigns in the full version of the game, Axis and Allies. You're given one mission from each in the demo, and they are both equally challenging and calculatingly paced. The continuous playing of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance has prepared me for this type of gameplay, but some may not like the slow pacing. However the deep customization of skills and ordinance loadouts for each character make this a game you must play slowly, for the rewards lie in heeding the finer points. For each demo mission you start off with a preselected squad, but the full version of the game boasts a selection of over 40 operatives of varying nationalities and classes (assault, demolitions, sniper, recon, etc.). The character models all looked great in-game; they seemed a bit cartoony but were still extremely detailed.

The game is only available in Europe currently, and is garnering a few encouraging reviews. We can expect it to hit stores in North America in late January; I plan on preordering over the holidays. It looks to be a solid turn-based strategy/RPG and as always the subject material makes the game that much more fun for me to play. An expansion for Silent Storm has already been slated for release next year, showing that Nival has high hopes for this series. As do I.

You can grab the demo here to partake in this high-quality gaming experience.