I have no idea why there aren't more games like Nival's Silent Storm. It combined the same great turn-based, tactical gameplay that we loved so much in games like X-COM and Jagged Alliance with a brilliant physics system and some amazingly destructible environments. Throw in plenty of RPG elements, a great graphics engine and set it all in a World War II setting and you've got a game that seems like a sure winner. Though the model is rarely copied, fans will have the chance to experience the same great action when Nival releases the sequel, Hammer and Sickle, later this year.
Where the previous game took place during World War II, the new game will flash forward to 1949, a year when the forces of NATO and the USSR are amassing vast stockpiles of nuclear weapons. Tensions in Europe, particularly in occupied Germany, threaten to spark a new war. Agents from both sides of the conflict find scrambling to further the agendas of their own countries and organizations.
On starting the game, you'll have the chance to create a unique character. There are six main character types here, but you're free to customize each template to make the character better fit your playing style. The Scout character is good at hiding and hand-to-hand combat. It's a lot harder for the Soldier to hide but he makes up for this with his skill in automatic weapons. Snipers are much weaker than soldiers but are better able to take down enemies at long ranges. Grenadiers are especially hardy and are experts at using all sorts of heavy weapons. The Engineer is more of a non-combat, skill-based kit, adept at disarming devices and picking locks. Finally, the Medic kit offers players a chance to heal themselves and others during combat. A wide range of custom appearance options lets you create just the right character for you.
Fans of Silent Storm will find that Hammer and Sickle plays out pretty much the same way in terms of controls and mechanics. Each character has a set number of points that can be spent each turn to undertake a variety of actions. Shooting a gun, picking up a dead body, opening a window or laying flat on the ground all cost a certain number of points. You'll have to manage your inventory, discarding useless weapons and picking up fresh ones during combat. Nearly every area in the game offers the opportunity to earn money that can be spent buying new weapons, forged papers, information, or hiring soldiers and agents to help you. You can even use money for bribes and bail when you get caught.
The game takes place in Southern Germany, in the Allied occupation zone. The player takes on the role of a Soviet agent who's been sent to the region on a basic investigation mission. Things go from bad to worse as the agent finds himself cut out of the loop and struggling to avert a war between his home country and the Anglo-American alliance. Negotiating the various associations and deciding who you can and can't trust becomes vitally important to your survival. Since the unfolding of the story is one of the most rewarding aspects of the game, we won't go into too much detail about what happens next.
In any case, the player will have a lot to say about the direction the game takes from here. But with this freedom comes responsibility. Early on in the game, I wound up accidentally getting into an argument with one of my contacts and it escalated to the point that I had to kill him (not to mention his mother). Playing through a second time, you could carefully avoid sparking off the argument and set the game off in an entirely different direction. In this particular case, the mother was an expert forger and would have been very useful when I needed to buy papers to access certain restricted areas in the game.
You'll need to be especially careful because some of the people you meet can eventually be recruited as party members. This gives you a chance not only to add a few extra guns on your side of the fight, but also add new skill set (like engineering and medicine) that your character might not have. These extra characters will have their own conflicting agendas. In some cases, the different goals and ideologies of your party members might even come into direct conflict, forcing some members to leave the team and possibly even start fighting against you.
The player's decision to enter a mission area will also be affected by the time of day. The availability and difficultly of certain objectives will change depending on whether the player shows up during the night or during the day. A high-risk house burglary mission might work better during the day if the occupant is out of the house. Then again, at night, it will be easier for the agent to make their way up to and away from the house undetected. Certain contacts will only be available (or will only be willing to cooperate with you) in certain areas at certain times of the day.
As you can see, the game is much more open than Silent Storm was. Rather than heading down a linear path of scripted missions, the player will have more opportunity now to choose where to go and who to work with in this game. Beyond that, the player's actions within each area will affect the world around them in profound ways. If a player finds themselves in shootouts in the middle of the city, the local police will start to crack down on this type of lawless behavior. Military patrols will also be sent out to deal with the player's violent actions. This will make it much harder to move around as you please in later missions. Moving around in an appropriate disguise or buying a set of forged papers will also help you avoid causing too much suspicion during the course of a mission.
All of this is tied to the player's "behavior meter." If it gets too high, the NATO authorities will assume that the Russians are carrying out sabotage in preparation for a nuclear attack. If it gets this bad, the US will decide to launch their missiles in a pre-emptive strike. That's not to say that there won't be plenty of opportunities to shoot it out with enemies in this game; you'll just need to pick your moments more carefully this time around.
The early levels of the game include a nice mix of combat and stealth but, given the nature of the story itself, you can expect that sneaking and smart tactics are going to be more valuable than massive amounts of firepower. Even so, Hammer and Sickle is still a tactical combat game at heart. Players will still find themselves shooting it out with rival agents, clubbing guards over the head and lobbing grenades into rooms full of enemy soldiers.
Rather than relying on the run-and-gun method, this game is about setting up the right conditions for a firefight and trying to get as many advantages as you can on your side in terms of position, visibility and weaponry. When the bullets and grenades start flying, you'll also need to be aware of the potential collateral damage. Accidentally taking out a key contact who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time is definitely a possibility in Hammer and Sickle.
Kamerater la oss bekjempe de borgerlige vestlige imperialistene :svette:
Where the previous game took place during World War II, the new game will flash forward to 1949, a year when the forces of NATO and the USSR are amassing vast stockpiles of nuclear weapons. Tensions in Europe, particularly in occupied Germany, threaten to spark a new war. Agents from both sides of the conflict find scrambling to further the agendas of their own countries and organizations.
On starting the game, you'll have the chance to create a unique character. There are six main character types here, but you're free to customize each template to make the character better fit your playing style. The Scout character is good at hiding and hand-to-hand combat. It's a lot harder for the Soldier to hide but he makes up for this with his skill in automatic weapons. Snipers are much weaker than soldiers but are better able to take down enemies at long ranges. Grenadiers are especially hardy and are experts at using all sorts of heavy weapons. The Engineer is more of a non-combat, skill-based kit, adept at disarming devices and picking locks. Finally, the Medic kit offers players a chance to heal themselves and others during combat. A wide range of custom appearance options lets you create just the right character for you.
Fans of Silent Storm will find that Hammer and Sickle plays out pretty much the same way in terms of controls and mechanics. Each character has a set number of points that can be spent each turn to undertake a variety of actions. Shooting a gun, picking up a dead body, opening a window or laying flat on the ground all cost a certain number of points. You'll have to manage your inventory, discarding useless weapons and picking up fresh ones during combat. Nearly every area in the game offers the opportunity to earn money that can be spent buying new weapons, forged papers, information, or hiring soldiers and agents to help you. You can even use money for bribes and bail when you get caught.
The game takes place in Southern Germany, in the Allied occupation zone. The player takes on the role of a Soviet agent who's been sent to the region on a basic investigation mission. Things go from bad to worse as the agent finds himself cut out of the loop and struggling to avert a war between his home country and the Anglo-American alliance. Negotiating the various associations and deciding who you can and can't trust becomes vitally important to your survival. Since the unfolding of the story is one of the most rewarding aspects of the game, we won't go into too much detail about what happens next.
In any case, the player will have a lot to say about the direction the game takes from here. But with this freedom comes responsibility. Early on in the game, I wound up accidentally getting into an argument with one of my contacts and it escalated to the point that I had to kill him (not to mention his mother). Playing through a second time, you could carefully avoid sparking off the argument and set the game off in an entirely different direction. In this particular case, the mother was an expert forger and would have been very useful when I needed to buy papers to access certain restricted areas in the game.
You'll need to be especially careful because some of the people you meet can eventually be recruited as party members. This gives you a chance not only to add a few extra guns on your side of the fight, but also add new skill set (like engineering and medicine) that your character might not have. These extra characters will have their own conflicting agendas. In some cases, the different goals and ideologies of your party members might even come into direct conflict, forcing some members to leave the team and possibly even start fighting against you.
The player's decision to enter a mission area will also be affected by the time of day. The availability and difficultly of certain objectives will change depending on whether the player shows up during the night or during the day. A high-risk house burglary mission might work better during the day if the occupant is out of the house. Then again, at night, it will be easier for the agent to make their way up to and away from the house undetected. Certain contacts will only be available (or will only be willing to cooperate with you) in certain areas at certain times of the day.
As you can see, the game is much more open than Silent Storm was. Rather than heading down a linear path of scripted missions, the player will have more opportunity now to choose where to go and who to work with in this game. Beyond that, the player's actions within each area will affect the world around them in profound ways. If a player finds themselves in shootouts in the middle of the city, the local police will start to crack down on this type of lawless behavior. Military patrols will also be sent out to deal with the player's violent actions. This will make it much harder to move around as you please in later missions. Moving around in an appropriate disguise or buying a set of forged papers will also help you avoid causing too much suspicion during the course of a mission.
All of this is tied to the player's "behavior meter." If it gets too high, the NATO authorities will assume that the Russians are carrying out sabotage in preparation for a nuclear attack. If it gets this bad, the US will decide to launch their missiles in a pre-emptive strike. That's not to say that there won't be plenty of opportunities to shoot it out with enemies in this game; you'll just need to pick your moments more carefully this time around.
The early levels of the game include a nice mix of combat and stealth but, given the nature of the story itself, you can expect that sneaking and smart tactics are going to be more valuable than massive amounts of firepower. Even so, Hammer and Sickle is still a tactical combat game at heart. Players will still find themselves shooting it out with rival agents, clubbing guards over the head and lobbing grenades into rooms full of enemy soldiers.
Rather than relying on the run-and-gun method, this game is about setting up the right conditions for a firefight and trying to get as many advantages as you can on your side in terms of position, visibility and weaponry. When the bullets and grenades start flying, you'll also need to be aware of the potential collateral damage. Accidentally taking out a key contact who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time is definitely a possibility in Hammer and Sickle.
Kamerater la oss bekjempe de borgerlige vestlige imperialistene :svette: