Wasteland and Slitherine team up for Time of Fury

[SlickWilhelm]

Just saw this on the main Matrix Games screen:

The Definitive WWII Wargame Is Coming In Spring

It was the time of defiance, the time of life and faith, the time of wrath. It was the time of men against men, nation against nation. It was the time of planning and strategy against anger and rage. A Time of Fury.

In World War II every single aspect of war was crucial: from troop movements to supply, from logistics to diplomacy, from innovation to careful use of terrain. Many games have tried to replicate the depth and complexity of this global conflict and only a few have managed to give an all around experience to players.

Today Slitherine and Wastelands Interactive are proud to announce a new game that will truly replicate all these aspects. The developers of the highly successful Time of Wrath are back to the European theater of war with an ambitious project that will allow players to truly experience what it was to be a decision maker of the period.

Time of Fury spans the whole war in Europe and gives players the opportunity to control all types of units, ground, air and naval. Not only that, each player will be able to pick a single country or selection of countries and fight his way against either the AI or in multiplayer in hotseat or Play by E-Mail. This innovative multiplayer feature will give player the chance to fight bigger scenarios against many opponents, giving the game a strategic angle that has no equal in the market. The game uses Slitherine’s revolutionary PBEM++ server system.

“We are proud to have signed this ambitious yet challenging and exciting project”, said Iain McNeil, Development Director of Slitherine. “There aren’t too many developers around that are able to deliver such high quality titles whilst keeping an eye to an ever developing market and Wastelands is one of these for sure”.

Beta testers for Time of Fury are currently being recruited at Slitherine’s main site at the following link: http://slitherine.com/beta_test/time_of_fury.

Leszek Lisowski , Leader Designer at Wasteland Interactive said: “We are very excited about the ability to work with world leading publisher of strategy games. This gives us the opportunity to deliver this easy to learn and hard to master title to all those who value a deep historical setting and accessible gameplay combined with the possibility to modify almost every aspect of the game”.

The game will be available in spring on Slitherine (www.slitherine.com) and Matrix Games (www.matrixgames.com) sites. For more information about the game, check out the official product page: http://slitherine.com/time_of_fury

Interesting news. Looks like the biggest draw will be the multiple PBEM Allies/Enemies?

I've never tried a multiplayer PBEM game before. Doesn't Crown of Glory: Empire Edition have this feature?

[V22 Osprey]

ORIGINAL: Slick Wilhelm

I've never tried a multiplayer PBEM game before. Doesn't Crown of Glory: Empire Edition have this feature?

Yes.

[jomni]

So is it like Time of Wrath?

[Jeffrey H.]

Pass, can't stand the graphics.

[Anraz]

ORIGINAL: Jeffrey H.

can't stand the graphics.

What kind of graphics do you prefer? I ask because there are many kinds of graphics in the game, including classic board-like view of the map and counters.

[ilovestrategy]

ORIGINAL: Anraz

ORIGINAL: Jeffrey H.

can't stand the graphics.

What kind of graphics do you prefers? I ask because there are many kinds of graphics in the game, including classic board-like view of the map and counters.

I think this is a valid question.

[Anraz]

ORIGINAL: jomni

So is it like Time of Wrath?

It is much better

[warishere]

Looks like a very ambitious title. However, it also looks like Commander - EAW but with bigger maps and more hexes. I wonder if its going to play exactly like EaW but just bigger maps and more features?

[diablo1]

Awesome graphics, looking forward to this one too. I have Time of Wrath and Storm over the Pacific and they are both great games. Hope you are going to use Gamersgate again as an alternate release site?

[Anraz]

ORIGINAL: warishere

Looks like a very ambitious title. However, it also looks like Commander - EAW but with bigger maps and more hexes. I wonder if its going to play exactly like EaW but just bigger maps and more features?

Hard to compare, because we had very limited contact with Commander. We put the accent on AI, detailed theatre mapping and general World War Two feeling. If you ask about our inspiration it goes far beyond mentioned title, inter alia I mean historical books and games made by other companies.

[Wolfe1759]

I might be missing something but this seems very very similar to Time of Wrath.

Does it add such significant improvements, particularly to the single player game (as I'm probably never actually going to play multi-player) that it is worth purchasing if you already own ToW ?

[Jeffrey H.]

ORIGINAL: Anraz

ORIGINAL: Jeffrey H.

can't stand the graphics.

What kind of graphics do you prefer? I ask because there are many kinds of graphics in the game, including classic board-like view of the map and counters.

I looked over the screenshots posted on the linked website and they were all isometric skewed, 'toy town' units, with what looked like square landscape tiles. Although I did see some dotted lines that looked something like hexes but they were an overlay of some sort.

I can't honestly say I like anything in particular, but at the same time I can say what I don't like. It's very much a "feel" thing. Skewed Iso, toy town units, just means move on to me. Make it appear as though the terrain tiles are square and that simply reenforces the feeling. The game is appealing to a different person, with a different background than me. It's probably made by someone with a completely different idea of what a fun game is than me. I won't enjoy it.

I have the same cut off on area movement games, such as the HOI series. I really didn't like "Risk" too much and they all tend to look like a modified Risk to me.

[doomtrader]

Wolfe, among many improvements, there are two that I might tell about. First one is a huge change in naval combat. Now navy is moved on the main map, and also during the naval battle you are able to give orders to your units, so you can concentrate your fire on specific enemy groups or try to withdrawn your own damaged vessels. Second thing is that now all countries have got individual setting, for example German armored units are faster and a little bit stronger, also Soviet infantry is a little bit cheaper, US Army supply system is better, UK ships can move five sea zones instead of four, etc.

Jeffrey H., as we very good know that not everybody likes this kind of view, we have prepared more boardgame-like skins for the game. Stay tuned to see new screenshots.

[Texican]

Strategic-level ETO games are always welcome, but I do hope they up the graphics a bit. Hex-sided coastlines should have died with tabletop board-gaming.

A good example of map art styles would be Colombia Games; stuff you can look at and that fires up your imagination. Give the deserts some color and ridgelines and tracked roads and such. Toss in a few rail-lines on the continent of Europe, even if they are ignored mostly for game purposes. Make maps look and feel like maps.

[doomtrader]

Indeed their maps looks very impressive, however I'm not sure do they have an editor included that allows to draw completely new maps. [;)]

[Fred98]

ORIGINAL: Jeffrey H.

......the screenshots ....and they were all isometric skewed, 'toy town' units, with what looked like square landscape tiles.

Although I did see some dotted lines that looked something like hexes but they were an overlay of some sort.

Skewed Iso, toy town units, just means move on to me.....

Me too.

I wonder of there is an option for a top down 2D view?

-

[doomtrader]

Me too.

I wonder of there is an option for a top down 2D view?

Please wait for some more new screenshots, you should be satisfied.

[jomni]

ORIGINAL: doomtrader
First one is a huge change in naval combat. Now navy is moved on the main map, and also during the naval battle you are able to give orders to your units, so you can concentrate your fire on specific enemy groups or try to withdrawn your own damaged vessels.

Sounds like Time of Wrath using the Storm Over the Pacific engine.
For those who want to know what 2D looks like go to Storm Over the Pacific forums and look for screenshots and mods.

[Anraz]

ORIGINAL: jomni

Sounds like Time of Wrath using the Storm Over the Pacific engine.

It defiantly goes further. For example at screen you may see railroad network.

[Anraz]

If you would like to know a little bit more about the game (screens, faq, etc) have look at the Slitherine forum http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=124 !