Ever since the RTS genre was born, the largest objects you could control in many games were big, towering buildings, and machinery. But how about an RTS game that uses massive, towering units – which were not buildings. mechanical, or supernatural? In SEK’s upcoming game ParaWorld, dinosaurs are the name of the game, and they are large. ParaWorld takes place in a universe where humans and dinosaurs co-exist, even going to the extent that humans use dinosaurs as war machines. Ever wanted to have an army of lumbering Triceratops crashing through your enemy’s walls? Then ParaWorld is the game for you. Throw a technological spin into the mix, and you got a nice combination of dinosaurs and weaponry. What can go wrong with that?
Resources are critical to your forces, and they’ll be scattered across each map. In the game, resources are divided into three basic groups: wood, stone and food. The game will feature a variety of factions, and each faction will have their own way of gathering resources. The Dustriders have to kill for their food, but can easily move their bases (located on the backs of Brachiosauruses), which leads to faster resource gathering. The Dragon Clan, on the other hand, has to carry their resources back to their base on foot. But ultimately, they have different options available, such as growing food. Like gathering resources, players can gather experience (called skulls) through killing enemy units. Gathering skulls will make more units available to you, and can upgrade existing units. In ParaWorld, the unit system is portrayed through tiers; gather more skulls, and you open up more tiers. Different sized dinosaurs take up a certain number of units/tiers. For example, say you want a furious T-Rex – you’ll need to have access to a tier 4 slot.
Hero units are also present, and when you use skulls to upgrade them they’ll prove to be very valuable. As in most games, the heroes in ParaWorld come equipped with abilities you can use at your disposal. Some abilities include standard passive skills like increased hit-points, but other abilities include a hypnotizing skill, which can put opposing animals into a sleep-like state. Hero units also can’t be "killed." Instead, after getting beat up and losing a fight, they’ll be out of action for a little while. So far, five different climate zones are planned for ParaWorld. Ranging from the volcanic Ashvalley zone to the chilling Icewaste zone, these maps will parallel Earth’s ecosystems over its billions of years of existence.
Earlier, I briefly touched upon two of the factions present in the game. In total, there will be three factions, and they each have different playing styles. In the case of the Dustriders, their mobility leads to fast movement, and quick attacks. The Dragon Clan is the stealthier faction; they have units who can cloak and disguise themselves as the enemy. The Norseman are the third faction. While playing as them, a heavy emphasis will be placed on defensive tactics. One of their unique units is known as the Norseman Kentrosaurus. These beasts are not very good in the offensive scheme of things, but with large spikes all over their bodies they provide a safe heaven for archers and other weaker units.
Other units in ParaWorld include the Norseman’s Lancer infantry, which is great for fighting mounted units, but helpless against other infantry units. The counter them, nab some Allosauruses, who are more than happy to gobble up smaller units. You can also hire some Ankylsauruses, and use their tails to smack around some infantry. Each faction will have their own set of "big" dinosaurs, which are dubbed the Titan units. The Norseman have armored Triceratopses, the Dragon Clan have monstrous Brontosauruses equipped with mortars, and the Dustriders have very angry T-Rexes.
Remember the part in Jurassic Park 2 when the T-Rex trashes the city? Picture that in a more fantasy-oriented setting, and you have ParaWorld. The game will hit U.S. stores on September 25, so stay tuned to GamerNode during the next week for our ParaWorld review.
