Feb 12 2009
What happens when you take a real-time strategy game and cross it with an online collectible card game? You get BattleForge, an upcoming title being developed by EA Phenomic in Germany. BattleForge is set in a fantasy realm full of exotic creatures and magic, and has online features not unlike MMOGs. Here are my first impressions of the game from playing the beta.
RTS Building Revisited
One thing that sets BattleForge apart is that it dispenses with the traditional building system used in RTS games almost entirely. Instead of creating a fixed structure on the map that lets you build certain units, in BattleForge you place units on the map by using cards from your deck. Defensive towers, heals and other combat skills are also deployed this way. A shortcut bar across the bottom of the screen displays your available cards, and they're easily deployed with a couple mouse clicks.
Some units have special abilities and different weapons that can be activated using an icon that floats over their heads. Although it's hard to say how they will build on this in the future, it's a little less involved than many current RTS games that have units which gain experience and upgrades on the field.
It's possible to place new forces on the field anywhere you have a ground unit, but it helps to place them near one of your power nodes because otherwise they don't start out with full health.
Using Cards
You take 20 cards into each battle, although there are many more than that to choose from, so planning your deck is a big part of the strategy. Cards can be bought and sold through the integrated auction system, or traded in a chat channel. Right now there are around 200 different cards, and points included with the purchase of the game will allow you to buy roughly 3/4 of those. The plan is to sell additional packs of cards via microtransactions, akin to a collectible card game. You are also awarded BattleForge points in-game which can be used to buy more cards. There will be no monthly fee for access to BattleForge servers.
Cards are divided into 4 types of energy, each of which has strengths and weaknesses. Nature cards include more healing abilities, Fire cards lean toward quick, high-damage attacks, Frost cards feature unique defensive moves, and Shadow cards let you sacrifice units for temporary buffs, among other things. More powerful cards require control of more "spheres" on the map, which further limits the units available to you when a match starts. The "Forge" is a practice area where you can experiment with all the different cards available to you, so you know what to expect when the action heats up.
Resource Nodes
Energy nodes and sphere nodes are needed produce combat units, so these become key locations on the battlefield. Spheres correspond to the different energy types, and they serve a similar function to the tech trees you find in most RTS games. When you capture a sphere node you get to choose what type of sphere to make it, allowing you to employ strategies that combine different types of cards. In multiplayer situations, it seems likely that a team made up of players using complimentary energy types will be most effective.
Walls are another strategic device available to all players, but they can only be built at preset locations on the map. Typically at key choke points, these walls have gates you can control and they can be fortified with units to help fight off an attack.
Missions
As BattleForge is an online game, it includes both single-player and multiplayer co-op missions up to a maximum of 12 people. Selecting a mission brings up a lobby much like those used by other RTS titles, and when everyone is ready the match begins. There's quite a bit of lore tying it all together, presented with voice-overs during loading screens. The load times have been wearing on me a little, especially when I just want to restart a mission after losing.
Final Thoughts
BattleForge seems to be coming together nicely, and the online card collecting elements add something quite unusual to the real-time battles. As time goes on, the variety of units and abilities offered through cards will increase, expanding on an already impressive arsenal. There are a good combination of single-player missions, cooperative missions, and competitive arenas. I have some reservations about whether the RTS aspects of the game are deep enough for StarCraft fanatics, but it could catch on among the collectible card crowd, and it definitely injects some strong community features into the RTS genre. BattleForge is due for release at the of March.
