War of the Roses
Preview
Gamescom 2011: When Mount & Blade met Call of Duty
by Chris Priestman
previewed on PC
On Its Way
War of the Roses will feature both a single and multiplayer mode, with the latter receiving the majority of the attention. Despite this focus, Fatshark did express some concern with some recent statistics that proved that barely half of gamers bother to complete single player modes. Due to this, they are rewarding those players who work their way through the entire single player process with some multiplayer unlocks that cannot be achieved any other way. Those who are into their historically accurate, action focused games will need less of an incentive to play through the story by themselves.
The mainstay of War of the Roses will be its online multiplayer features, and trust us, they are certainly something to get excited about. Although the developers are still working out the framework, it is obvious that their intention is to take the multiplayer experiences of the Battlefield and Call of Duty series, and place them within a medieval setting. This may seem like a big undertaking for a relatively small studio, but having previously developed Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West and now being joined by veteran Battlefield producer, Gordon Van Dyke, Fatshark’s ambition should not be scoffed at by anyone.
Death To All
Details of the multiplayer are by no means at a solid state as the developers are still working them out, but we have been assured of a deathmatch mode and a castle siege match type being an “obvious” alternative. The player count for each match is something the developers are keen to expand as much as possible so that larger maps can be catered for and huge, impressive battles can unfold before the eyes of the player. Scaling these larger maps will be made easier by riding a horse rather than traversing the battlefield as infantry. Horseback combat is of course a possible jeopardy to game balance and so Fatshark will only be allowing it where appropriate, and will have cooldown effects on certain moves performed with weapons like the lancer. However, infantry will be granted the ability to slash at the horse’s legs and take the animal and rider down. Does that sound absolutely brilliant to everyone else?
One idea that is being toyed with is the inclusion of gunpowder weapons as they are a historically plausible feature that may or may not make it into the final game. It seems like balancing these weapons will follow the example set in With Fire and Sword, so if guns do make it in they will be inaccurate and slow to reload. It is not yet apparent whether players will choose these different troop types via a pre-battle class selection screen and therefore tied to a certain type of weapon and battle tactic, or whether this will be an interchangeable factor during matches. The developers did seem open to the idea of allowing players to control siege weapons like catapults and trebuchets, but this stage is way off yet. This means there should be plenty of different options for attack during battle though, and it seems that all different play styles will be able to prosper.
Something Wicked This Way Comes
War of the Roses is not all about killing each other on the battlefield though. It is also about looking good doing it. The game will feature a deep online persistence with progressive unlocks and weapon classes to upgrade. We were able to have a peek at some of the prestige helmet designs so far, and were left impressed by noble golden birds and daunting horned helms. Outside of unlocks, War of the Roses will also issue in-depth player feedback with battle performance overviews and weapons stats for gamers to get obsessed over as is typical.
Needless to say, War of the Roses is tapping into a highly successful multiplayer formula and placing it into a completely fresh setting. Fans of the pioneering Mount & Blade may be treated to something holier than thou and will inevitably take their addiction to War of the Roses. Fatshark consider this a long-term project and will support the game with DLC and plan on making room for mod support. War of the Roses held our attention immediately and we will be following it adamantly through its development. We sense something almighty is upon us.
