Was wind
| Was wind | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | Dreamforge | ||
| Publisher |
 SSI
|
||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
1996 | ||
| platform | PC with Windows | ||
| genre | Real time strategy game | ||
| Game mode | Single player , multiplayer | ||
| control | Keyboard , mouse | ||
| system advantages preconditions |
Pentium PC with 60 MHz processor, 16 MB RAM , SVGA - graphics card , 5 MB on the hard drive , 2 x CD-ROM drive (Recommended: Pentium PC with 120 MHz processor) |
||
| medium | 1 CD | ||
| language | German | ||
| Age rating |
|
||
| information | Current version: 1.2 | ||
War Wind is a real-time strategy game . It was released for Windows in 1996 and was developed by Dreamforge ; SSI took over distribution .
action
War Wind was released a year after Warcraft II and is significantly influenced by it. However, the developers tried to differentiate War Wind from its role model, so there are four races on the imaginary fantasy world Yavaun, which this game is about (Warcraft II has two):
- Tha'Roon , snake-like beings who form the ruling class and stand for the rational
- Obblinox , a stocky, lizard- like warrior breed that represents the body
- Eaggra , plant-like beings that are used for architecture and construction and stand for feeling
- Shama'Li , a rather dainty race, responsible for everything religious and covered with paintings, which stands for the spiritual
All races have different goals. The Tha'Roon want to end the rebellious machinations and consolidate their threatened rule again. The Obblinox strive for an honorable reorganization within which each breed finds its place. The Eaggra finally want to free themselves from the rule of the Tha'Roon and rehearse the uprising. Finally, the Shama'Li strive to unite all races in a peaceful and equal coexistence. To do this, they try to summon Naga Ron, from whom all four races went out. In the four campaigns of the game, one for each race, you try to achieve these goals for the respective race. There is no consistent "everyone against everyone" principle, so in the course of the Eaggra and Shama'Li campaigns a friendship develops between the two races, which leads to an alliance.
Gameplay
In its style of play and operation, War Wind is similar to other real-time strategy games, so here too there is the ubiquitous research in this genre. It is usually played relatively leisurely (if, for example, there are no attacks by the opponent on your own base) and like a puzzle. The mission goals are quite different and do not consist exclusively in the destruction of enemy bases, but can also be the theft of important documents or the escort of a troop who is supposed to bring a gift of thanks to another race. New units and mercenaries can be recruited in pubs, and there is a fixed, low probability that heroes with special skills will appear there from time to time. For example, an Eaggra hero can conjure up trees that have already been felled, so that there is never a complete bottleneck in resources. Each race is divided into tribal lords, workers, magicians, fighters and special forces, each with their own specific skills. The units (except mercenaries) can receive bi-upgrades in the categories of power, camouflage, sight, speed and armor, which result in improvements such as a self-healing option or more difficult detection by spies.
When there are a certain number of units (usually around four), one of these units can be upgraded to an advanced unit. It is even possible to upgrade these units to super units. From mission to mission, with the exception of these super units, a different number of units can be taken over into a kind of unit gallery, from which a fixed number can also be selected at the beginning of a mission for the following deployment. This creates the incentive to handle the units carefully and to work carefully on the development of advanced units, as an elite troop can be built up step by step in said unit gallery until the end, which can then be fully deployed in the last mission.
All races have the ability to build bridges, vehicles and boats. Mines can be laid and flying explosives can be released on opponents. Yavaun has a diverse fauna , some animals are harmless and passive or not permanently dangerous (there is an animal that paralyzes units for a short time when they are near it), some others are aggressive and must be killed in a confrontation. There are occasional treasures or items of equipment on the maps.
Overall, the races differ from each other more clearly than in many other strategy games, where the units differ almost or entirely only visually, but not as much as in StarCraft, which was released a year and a half later .
Each of the campaigns consists of seven missions, which results in 28 missions for all races. After each mission there is a cutscene as a reward, an attempt is made to create as dense an atmosphere as possible and to tell an exciting story.
War Wind contains a scenario editor for creating your own single and multiplayer levels.
Graphics and sound
Resolution and color depth are the standard of the time the game was released (640 × 480, 256 colors). The units and heroes are carefully designed; the races and clans are clearly distinguished from one another by colors and design features. In addition, there are appropriate sound effects when moving, selecting the respective unit and acknowledging the given command. There are ten pieces of music that match the fantasy subject in terms of atmosphere and can be individually selected as background background. The cutscenes are designed as animated film scenes. A short text passage (with Naga Ron's voice) is spoken from the off.
Multiplayer
Modem and serial connection (up to two players), network ( TCP / IP or IPX , up to eight players)
Reception of the game
Was Wind received some excellent reviews, so the well-known English-language game site Gamespot awarded a rating of 8.8 out of 10 points, the German magazine Power Play awarded 86 out of 100 percent, and PC Action and PC Games gave ratings of 75% and 78 respectively %. Despite this criticism, the game did not achieve the status of Warcraft II or any other best seller. Just one year after its publication, it found its way into game collections ( Gold Games 2 ) or as a full version on magazine CDs, for example in the 1/1998 issue of GameStar magazine .
successor
War Wind was continued with the very similar War Wind 2 in 1997.
swell
- ↑ Rating at Gamespot
- ↑ Ratings for War Wind on pcgamestardatabase.de
- ↑ GameStar Issue 1/1998 on pcgamestardatabase.de
Web links
- War Wind at Home of the underdogs (English)