Battle Worlds: Kronos – Field maneuvers in classic style. Review of Battle Worlds: Kronos Hard to learn

When a well-known adventure game developer takes on a new genre, you can expect anything from him. But usually miracles do not happen and the end result leaves much to be desired. It would seem: who else but the masters of fairy tales from Daedalic should surprise role-players with the plot twists and turns of Blackguards? However, the script turned out to be one of the weakest points of the RPG from the creators of Deponia and Memoria. It’s the same story with the wargame Battle Worlds: Kronos from the authors of The Book of Unwritten Tales.

Retelling the beginning of Kronos is as pointless as clicking on different answer options in rare conversations with “story characters”: the choice, obviously, does not affect anything, and you will forget that it was made at all within five seconds after closing dialog box. The absolutely predictable campaign (divided into two, apparently solely for marketing purposes) does not contain any surprises: if you go through Battle Worlds, it’s clearly not to find out “what’s there at the end.”

It’s true: while raising money on Kickstarter, King Art promised a classic strategy “in the best traditions” - and that’s what it delivered. Formally. Immediately after a simple but pleasant picture, one notices a cumbersome help, because of which the trivial rules at first seem complex and even abstruse: you have to work hard to find a game with an equally vague tutorial.

Meanwhile, after spending time carefully reading all the available tips, mastering Kronos will not be difficult. Let the authors be proud of the “high complexity” of their project, and let the klutzes on the Steam forums cry into each other’s vests about the second story mission: once you get to know the world of Battle Worlds better, all the problems will disappear by themselves.

...after taking the time to carefully read all the available tips, mastering Kronos will not be difficult.

The game has a really impressive number of diverse ground, air and sea units, but they interact according to a more complex principle than “rock, paper, scissors”, and therefore you have to use all available resources. Fighters have two action points, which depend on the type of subordinate: scouts, for example, can move twice, but a tank cannot. Each type of army has its own small development tree (one of the two branches of which, as a rule, is selected once and for all), but pumping is implemented in the game mediocrely: out of the entire armada of “veterans”, only two or three wards can be used in the next mission. Considering how quickly the coveted ranks are gained, there is absolutely no need to groom and cherish the heroes of past battles.

The tactical picture is completed by two important details. Firstly, a squad surrounded by enemies receives noticeably more damage. Secondly, often buildings can and even need to be captured: it will be possible to repair or produce a new armored personnel carrier (in some tasks you can rebuild an army, it seems, ad infinitum). That's all, basically: simple, but fascinating. Not revolutionary, but very worthy. You just need to play Kronos with significant breaks, so that simple marching battles don’t set your teeth on edge, because King Art completely missed one important point.

Billed as “smart” AI is passive and predictable. All its “power” lies in vile scripts that draw reinforcements for the opponents at the most inopportune moment for the players. And everything would be fine, but the rest of the time the enemy’s infantry and armored vehicles are also not very intelligent: without any problems they are lured right out from behind the fortifications. Having seen the target, the computer drives all available units into an open field - such tactics, frankly speaking, are clearly not a competitor to the masters of the genre. The only thing that is required of us is not to attract excessive attention to our person. As a result, almost every mission comes down to gradually moving across the map and destroying everything that gets in the way. There are few exceptions, and only the penultimate stage turned out to be really difficult: it is very difficult there to complete all the side tasks and get additional achievements. At least the first time.

The game has a truly impressive number of diverse land, air and sea units...

The thirty hours of story campaigns indicated by the authors are the purest truth, but it is impossible to overcome them in one fell swoop. It's too boring to take on at least two operations in Battle Worlds in a row at once. In Kronos there is no limit on the number of moves, there is no motivation to save all possible units: some important point is missing that forces you to act cunningly and unconventionally. Whether it’s a carrot or a stick, doping would clearly not hurt the “ideal heir” of Battle Isle: say, banning allies from passing through cells with each other would have been much more difficult. But video games don't tolerate the subjunctive mood. What it is is that almost every map starts out extremely promising, but in most cases it eventually slides into a dull cleanup of the surroundings around a key object.

Battle Worlds: Kronos is another Kickstarter baby. Developers from KING Art Games wanted to make a wargame in the spirit of the old school - in the style Battle Isle And Advance Wars. To have a turn-based mode, a hexagonal map and an army operating against a superior enemy. Well, the tasks, accordingly, are not just “destroy all enemies,” but to capture bases, hold strategically important points, escort a convoy, and stuff like that.

They didn’t find a publisher for KING Art and decided to contact their future players directly. They made the right decision: the project quickly raised the required amount - and within a few months it appeared on Steam.

War on order

The planet Kronos, ironed out by nuclear bombing many decades ago, has long been considered uninhabited and unsuitable for life. That is, people live on it, but try with all their might to pretend that they do not exist - Kronos plays too big a role in the political life of the galaxy. The entire planet is a huge testing ground where interplanetary military conflicts are resolved. And every time with the death of the ruler of the galactic empire, pretenders to the throne fly here to sort things out. Whoever captures Kronos will become the new emperor.

However, the imperial throne is not about our honor. We have to take on the role of a tactical officer in the service of the noble house of Telit - the leader of the “election race”. We will command soldiers and carry out the orders of generals - that is, lead combat operations on the surface of the planet.

Amphibious transports land troops on a sand spit, while cruisers crush the enemy with artillery fire from the sea. Classic!	Captain Hamill, our field commander. Concurrently, it is the main source of comments on the topic “how to complete this mission.”

To the credit of the developers, the plot is not limited to this. KING Art made a standard war drama - simple, but with conspiracies, betrayals, several unusual plot twists and even a couple of memorable characters. And although the script here cannot be called a literary masterpiece, it copes with its role - it gives meaning to what is happening and dilutes the missions with dialogues. And this is very pleasant - considering that some operations here take several hours of real time and one and a half hundred moves of game time.

It's hard to study

Unlike classic wargames like and ), in Kronos the soldiers hardly use the terrain features. Different types of troops move better over different types of terrain, but the territory does not provide any advantages or penalties in battle. The combat system rests on three pillars: formation, positioning and use of the right types of troops. With the last point, everything is simple and clear: there is no need to try to shoot down planes with infantry, there is no need to launch light armored personnel carriers into a frontal attack on heavy tanks, and so on. The rest is a little more difficult.

Troop control is organized in a rather original way - each fighter is allocated two action points per turn. Points come in three types: "move", "attack" and "wild card", which can be spent on both.

An surrounded fighter receives much more damage from any attacks - the more damage there is the more enemies there are near him. In addition, each soldier has his own attack range. For example, a rocket buggy can only shoot two squares - it easily fires rockets over the heads of its allies, but will not shoot back at anyone at point-blank range.

The conclusion is simple - you need to cover flimsy long-range troops with armored vehicles and protect them from breakthroughs. However, forming a “turtle” and trying to sit on the defensive is the path to certain defeat. In any skirmish, other things being equal, the one who attacked first will win.

At captured factories, you can build troops or repair damaged units. The second is usually more profitable - experienced fighters are more useful than green beginners. But both require resources - and their supply at any plant is very limited.

The in-game help tells about these and many other details. It also gives you a lot of opportunities to miss them. The minimum training takes a couple of minutes from the first mission, after which real combat missions begin. Then we learn directly in battle: as soon as an unfamiliar element appears in front of us, the game displays a small icon on the edge of the screen with a link to the corresponding help section. On the one hand, it’s great that the developers got rid of the tired “move the cursor to the right edge of the screen to move the map to the right.” On the other hand, we have nothing else to do except go for information in the midst of a battle in order to read about the factory flashing on the horizon. Usually you immediately forget this information - and frantically try to remember it later when it becomes needed.

A soldier is not supposed to think

There is no point in thinking about going through any mission in a hurry. The computer always knows the ideal strategy, which is guaranteed to block all obvious paths to victory, so the campaign in the game is a kind of series of military puzzles. Every mission has the right solution, but it's never the one that immediately catches your eye. The first few tasks are completed exactly on the third attempt. At first we act in the most predictable way and fall into every trap that the developers have prepared for us. Then we try to come up with counter-tactics and even succeed in this - but when it dawns on us, it’s already too late. And finally, the third time we go right from the start.

Firing machine gun turrets with naval artillery is a long and not particularly interesting task. But why not fill these turrets with corpses of soldiers?

After several levels, your eyes are already slightly trained, and you begin to notice traps before you climb into them. A convenient and almost unguarded passage to the enemy base, above which the only thing missing is a neon sign “HOLE IN DEFENSE”? Nice try, computer - my soldier will not set foot near this passage. A long sand spit that just begs for landing from amphibious transports? Thank you, of course, but first I'll look for where the ambush is hiding. Make a forced march that allows you to go straight to the mission goal, or wander long and tediously through forest gullies to get out near a well-guarded enemy side base? I think you've already guessed which answer is correct here.

A small group of sentries vigilantly guards the road to the base while our infantry captures this base. This is approximately how the AI ​​reacts to all unforeseen moves on our part.

One has only to pick up the key to the enemy’s strategy - and the artificial intelligence will stand rooted to the spot, helplessly throwing up its hands. The local AI skillfully forms lines of defense, unerringly finds gaps in the player’s formation... But in everything related to coordinating the actions of the army, it blindly relies on scripts, without even trying to understand their essence. It is written “after capturing the radar, send troops across the bridge to strike in the enemy’s rear” - the radar will obediently surrender and send a detachment across the bridge. And even if your rear behind this bridge is no longer about five moves away, this will not confuse the enemy. The would-be saboteurs will simply stand and wait until you come into view - even if your army is at that time calmly cutting down their colleagues behind a hill two meters away.

Such throwing of the computer is not perceived as a puncture, but rather as a well-deserved reward - yes, we outwitted the enemy, broke his tactics, and now his troops are disorganized. But this same approach completely kills the interest of replaying. What's the point of trying new tactics if we've already found one that works, but the computer still won't change its own?

Patience and work

Multiplayer here is a kind of analogue of the antediluvian play-by-email. We saw something similar, say, in Neptune's Pride. The presence of the opponent online is not required, and the move can take at least several hours, at least several days. We create a multiplayer match, select a map, give orders to the troops, click on the “End turn” button... That’s it, you can close the game and go for a walk. The opponent has received a notification and moves whenever he wants. All this time, the game will hang in your list of open matches.

Ice on the river is not just a beautiful decoration. With each move, the river freezes more and more, giving more room for maneuvers of ground forces.

The idea is thoroughly spoiled by the clumsy interface. Okay, there’s no integration with Steam, well, to hell with it, but why isn’t there at least the ability to invite a friend from the in-game list to a match? If you want to play with someone specific, enter his username manually when creating the game and hope that he will receive an invitation. Because you may not get it, and then in the game you will sit alone, eternally “waiting for the enemy’s move.”

The interface, generally speaking, is not the strongest part of the game. Ingenious solutions (highlighting enemies that shoot through a selected cell) are side by side with rare unsuccessful ones. Tooltips are there where no one needs them, and they are not there where it is very difficult to do without them. The “Call Reinforcement” button can only be found by chance. You cannot undo the last action, even if you simply missed the mouse. Autosave - either at key events or every fifth turn. In a word, it doesn’t seem to be anything critical, but after playing for a few hours, it starts to get wildly annoying.

* * *

Sometimes you explore a section of the map and realize that it would be better not to see this. Well, how to fight such a horde?

Battle Worlds: Kronos is such a vivid illustration of the word “niche” that it should even be included in explanatory dictionaries. This game is intended for seasoned turn-based strategy fans and doesn't even try to be interesting to anyone else.

Turn-based strategies, and especially pure-blooded wargames, rarely delight modern fans of computer entertainment. It would seem that in the age of dynamics and shaders, slow and thoughtful military strategies have finally turned into niche products. However, the Bremen studio King Art, previously known only for very good adventure games, like the recent detective story, set out to prove the opposite.

Battle Worlds: Kronos

Genre Turn-based strategy / wargame
Platforms Windows / Mac OS / Linux
Developer KING Art
Publisher KING Art/Crimson Cow
Website battle-worlds.com

Grade

Purebred gameplay for the genre, an abundance of possibilities in terms of strategy and tactics, asynchronous multiplayer

Weak plot component, identical combat units of most factions, minor bugs and shortcomings

A classic turn-based wargame with a modern twist

The game was in the works for six whole years, but all the potential publishers that the developers approached were convinced of the futility of the chosen genre. But having appeared on Kickstarter in March of this year, Battle Worlds: Kronos successfully raised $260,000 instead of the requested $120 thousand, at the same time receiving approval on Steam Greenlight in record time, and thereby clearly demonstrated the interest of players, proving that it is too early to give up turn-based wargames from accounts. But what is completely unusual is the release of the final version not just on time, but a month earlier than the planned December. Against the backdrop of the established traditions of crowdfunding, where you sometimes have to wait for what is promised for years, this looks very good.

The plot of the game is no different in originality and depth - however, you don’t really expect this from a classic strategy. The action takes place in a science fiction setting, on a planet called Kronos. It was once almost destroyed during the civil war, and most of the inhabitants were evacuated to a neighboring celestial body. Now, after the death of the next emperor, the three formed hostile factions returned to their native ashes in order to continue their confrontation with renewed vigor: according to tradition, a candidate for rulers must take possession of the ruins of a dozen local temples. You can follow the twists and turns of the storyline through cutscenes between missions and through slightly more numerous in-game messages with standard, even rather banal characters from a military-themed game: we have an old general giving orders, a pretty TV correspondent, and a rival with a very bad character the commander of a neighboring army, and a zealous subordinate captain who regularly reports to us on the state of affairs in the trenches.

Although, to be honest, you don’t have to follow the plot at all. Unlike, say, Massive Assault and other early works of the now famous, this component of the gameplay was clearly not a priority for the Germans. The main thing here is different: classic tactics of warfare - with planning several moves ahead, with carefully thought-out movement of units, with careful attitude to each combat unit entrusted to us - and without any excesses in the form of diplomacy, construction or taxation. KING Art aims to bring the ideas of the best wargames of twenty years ago, such as Battle Isle or Panzer General, to a new technological and visual level, but with full respect for the classics in terms of maintaining the spirit of the gameplay, which requires constant attention and forces acceptance at every turn difficult decisions.

Perhaps the developers managed to do this after all. Visually, Battle Worlds: Kronos is done quite well, the images of troops and buildings are nice and detailed even when the camera is zoomed in as close as possible - the latter, to the delight of veterans of 1980s strategy games, can be zoomed out to the level where three-dimensional units turn into two-dimensional icons on a flat field of hexagons. At the same time, the game does not try to scare off beginners with its prohibitive difficulty in mastering - the first, training mission in the campaign mode allows you to delve into the gameplay in about fifteen minutes. Another thing is that already the second of the missions makes you scratch your head a lot, carrying out an order to escort transports that do not know how to attack and defend from point A to point B under constant persecution from the enemy and with a real threat of encirclement...

Since the setting is in the spirit of sci-fi, tanks and self-propelled artillery predominate among the combat units we control. Later in the campaign, ships, aircraft and infantry snipers will be added. In addition to the usual indicators of “health”, damage dealt, armor and experience levels, each unit has two of three types of action points: movement, attack and “wild card” (that is, the first or second action to choose from) - an interesting point that allows good balance the performance of our troops. For example, the “Rogue” - a light and fast combat vehicle with a ranged attack - boasts two jokers at once, which means that during each turn it is able to move twice, or shoot twice, or do both once, - but at the same time it is extremely vulnerable in “hand-to-hand” combat and requires thorough cover from slower tanks. Skillful maneuvering and coordinating the actions of all troops is a difficult and quite exciting task: for example, each unit receives a bonus to attack if there is another friendly unit next to it.

There are thirteen story map missions in Battle Worlds: Kronos - in two campaigns, which follow one another and are designed by the authors to take about thirty hours to complete. However, the game is more conducive to a leisurely style of combat - and even to replaying already completed stages in order to complete all side tasks with less blood. The latter is all the more relevant since only troops that have received a level increase at least twice are allowed to be transferred to the next mission - and, of course, managed to survive to victory.

But what is puzzling is that almost all the warring parties have the same units. For three dozen combat units and buildings common to the three main warring factions, there is only one unique unit: a strange decision by the developers, which can only be explained by a lack of time and resources. True, in the second story campaign you will be able to play for the fourth faction - the “Residents”, the indigenous inhabitants of Kronos destroyed by the war. The natives, unlike the more advanced “invaders,” cannot boast of technical power: their troops are dominated by infantry, and their tactics are guerrilla warfare with an emphasis on various stealth skills. Infantry, by the way, should not be underestimated when playing for other sides of the conflict: snipers or infantry robots are the only ones of all our troops capable of capturing enemy warehouses, radars, marinas and factories. In the first of them, if you're lucky, you can find a couple of ownerless tanks or helicopters, and the latter are used to produce light or heavy combat units for resources, which, again, are mainly obtained during the systematic seizure of enemy territory.

In addition to the story campaign, there is also a single-player mode of play against AI - alas, it has only three maps. There is, however, hope that their number will soon be replenished, not without the help of the players themselves - the map editor can be downloaded from the official forum. For the multiplayer mode, more maps are supplied, a whole dozen - of which only one each for three or four participants. Multiplayer here, in addition to the simple and familiar hot-seat, is cross-platform and asynchronous. You can play online (by creating a closed game with a friend, or an open one with the ability to connect any player online) following the logic of thoughtful strategic gameplay, without rushing at all, by setting a time limit for a move from 8 to 72 hours. Of course, nothing prevents you from playing together in real time.

The game was released in seven languages ​​at once, including Russian, and with video clips voiced in all languages, which is not so common lately. Unfortunately, the accelerated release dates inevitably affected many errors and shortcomings in the release version, especially in localizations: if testing took place, it was only for the German and English versions. It should be noted that the recently fashionable release of games in “early access” mode does not allow us to draw a definite line between disadvantages and advantages and to indicate where the collection of money for a crude beta version ends – and where the promotion of the concept of “games as a service” begins ”, reminiscent of constant updates in the spirit of MMORPG. The release of Battle Worlds: Kronos is not listed in the Early access category at all, but many very significant elements and features will be added by the authors over the coming months. So, in addition to the obvious bug fixes, next week we are promised the appearance of a rating system and leagues for multiplayer, by the end of November - a browser version (designed to make participation in the asynchronous multiplayer game mode much easier), and many new official maps before the end of the year. At the beginning of 2014, we expect versions for iOS, Android and Ouya, as well as a full-fledged Trains addition with a third campaign for ten hours and new combat units.

Of course, this does not mean at all that the game is not worth paying attention to now. In the end, owners of Battle Worlds: Kronos will receive all of the above completely free of charge - and they have something to do even before patches and updates appear. Veterans of classic military strategies can enjoy the available capabilities in terms of combat maneuvers, and newcomers can try to join the rather complex gameplay without feeling disgusted when looking at the graphics and interface. Despite all its relative shortcomings, Battle Worlds: Kronos is a very worthy choice in the rare wargame genre today.

The wargame genre can perhaps be safely called one of the most elite among strategies. Any fool can win when all that is required of him is to churn out more tanks, circle them with a frame and throw them into battle. But in order to defeat the enemy, having a limited contingent of troops, you have to think.

Unfortunately, today this complex and complex genre is not going through its best days - the last game of this kind came out... Uh-uh... In general, it's been a long time since it came out. We don't even know when exactly.

So our joy knew no bounds when several fans gathered for Kickstarter money for , and they released this game into the world. We traditionally already sent Login to figure out what, how and how much. Keep the jokes about the fact that the smartest member of the editorial staff had to take the rap!

Notes of the centurion Loginius Cotius about the Kronian War.

The Great Interstellar Empire lives by war. War hardens these people, just as a fire in a forge hardens steel. It is not surprising that even the election of the Emperor takes place amid the roar of guns, because only the strongest warrior and the most worthy commander have the right to command the interstellar state. Only a charismatic leader who has himself experienced countless battlefields has the right to send soldiers to their death. Only a man with an inner core of steel, hardened in the heat of battle, can resist the ambitious aristocratic families that are already landing their troops on Kronos. However, I, Centurion Loginius Cotius, am far from politics. My job is to lead the troops and win the throne for the employers - the Great House of Telit...

The game's plot is filled with intrigue, sabotage, backstabbing and everything that accompanies a good military drama. The situation is aggravated by the tense political situation. Medicine has advanced so far that the new Emperor seems to be guaranteed immortality. Moreover, in a hundred years the new ruler will not turn into a bedridden brainless idiot, but will still be young, full of strength and cunning. It is not surprising that this latest war is filled with intrigue, stabs in the back, betrayals... What a war - the landing on the planet begins with sabotage on our shuttle!

But I, Loginius Cotius the Red, can handle it. If necessary, I myself will kill the last soldier of the enemy army, smashing his head on the carriage of the last cannon. The main thing is that the locals do not interfere and do not get in the way. Nothing - we’ll win the war for the throne, we’ll deal with them too.

From the memoirs of Grand Admiral Loginder von den Rottenkot.

What can I say about the battles? It all starts with troop control - according to the doctrine of the General Staff, each unit receives two action points per turn. Points of the “movement” type can be spent on movement itself. “Attack” points are spent on striking the enemy. Finally, “joker” points can be spent on what the commander needs most at the moment - an additional attack, movement or use of a special ability. In my opinion, this solution is very ingenious, and allows field commanders to build complex military schemes. When all the action points are spent, it is the enemy commander’s turn to act.

Remember about ammo - artillery mounts and some other long-range units have limited ammo. In general, when beginning a conquest, generals must remember a few important things. The surrounded fighter receives a huge amount of damage from each attack and is very constrained in his actions, so the competent ones constantly line up their forces in tactically adjusted battle formations. Tanks with strong armor are certainly in the vanguard. Light equipment must support armored forces, and the destiny of infantry is ambushes and treacherous attacks from forests that are no longer accessible to anyone except aviation. In addition, a good military leader takes into account the fact that each unit has its own attack range. For example, due to the nature of the weapons, artillery is not capable of inflicting damage on a unit that stands close to it, and armored vehicles only hit troops located in close proximity. Finally, it's always worth remembering about ammunition - artillery mounts and some other long-range units have limited supply.

However, it is no less important for the commander to respect his enemy. The local artificial intelligence controlling enemy forces is very talented and makes good use of all the features of military equipment. So don't even try to complete combat missions with a cavalry charge. The enemy is cunning and insidious, and will prefer to bomb your forces from the air, or iron them out with artillery. Moreover, in every battle, numerical superiority alone does not provide an advantage. There is no need to go on the attack, relying only on naked military power - that’s what you will learn in!

War journal of General Che Logino de Rojo Gato.

Of course, not everything on Kronos is perfect - only a revolution can save this planet. While the bourgeoisie fight among themselves, the eye of a real commander notices the slightest flaws in the world around him. Firstly, it is painted with terribly bright colors. Have local commanders heard nothing at all about camouflage? Why are the tanks painted bright red? To make it easier to shoot at them? Why does the design of military equipment look so much like toys? Why does the brightness of the grass make your eyes water? Why, finally, is the enemy’s artificial intelligence built on scripts? As soon as you do something non-standard, the enemy gets lost and stops acting.

As soon as you do something non-standard, the enemy gets lost and stops acting. But in campaigns he is still devilishly cunning. But perhaps the most important disadvantage of the project is its absolute and merciless nicheness. If you have never commanded an army in turn-based mode on a hexagonal field before, don’t even play the game, it will quickly discourage you from doing so. Training in the spirit of “with the left button we select a squad, with the right button we send it into battle, and now here’s an infantry robot, overwhelm the enemy army with it” also does not increase attractiveness.

Finally, the entire game landscape is just a picture. Yes, in some places we drive a little faster, but in others only infantry or ships will pass. But in general, from occupying a dominant height you will not be either cold or hot - the protection does not increase, the range of fire does not change. To hell with it, most of the missions are done in the spirit of “our small detachment must cut out the enemy army, which is constantly receiving reinforcements,” which gets pretty boring after a couple of hours.

Summarizing everything that our brave commander Login said - the cat, by the way, for some reason only asked to address him as “Your Koteishestvo” - we can say that on the whole the game was a success. will quickly besiege everyone who considers himself the Great Strategist. At the same time, the game feels somewhat incomplete and niche - it’s obvious that the developers were making a project that would be interesting to play, first of all, for them. Finally, there is a sore lack of really interesting ideas here - this is such a solid, classic wargame. Whether this is good or bad, decide for yourself.