14 DAY TRIAL // Even as Stormrise was announced, the guys at SEGA offered people going to E3 a sneak peek at the pre-alpha version of the game that the people at Creative Assembly have put together in the last three years, while also doing work on other projects, like Rome: Total War and Medieval 2: Total War. We now know a bit more than we did when the game was first announced.
The main view point in the game will not be the now traditional top down view with full camera controls that most strategy titles opt for. The developers thought that a console strategy game should provide a closer view of the battle so they created a line of sight perspective. This means that upon selecting a unit on the battlefield you, as the general commander, will see exactly what that unit sees. There's also a more encompassing tactical view that you can use, but this is only necessary to get a feel for the overall situation and the line of sight view will be used to monitor all actual gameplay action.
To facilitate selection and control of multiple units the guys at Creative Assembly are pioneering a concept called "whip controls". On a game pad controller, the idea is to hold down one button while moving one of the directional sticks to create a glowing beam of light that moves on the screen and encompasses units, allowing you to select them and give them orders. You can also use this system to jump from one unit to another.
The line of sight view brings a whole new set of challenges to the game, mainly because of the important role that elevation and cover play in the game. Units that have a significant advantage in height will be more efficient than those below and cover will allow some units to move virtually unseen and flank strong positions. The idea is to create a more tactical game than most current real time strategy titles.
It seems that the game will be about 12 hours long and Creative Assembly says that it will also make its way to the PC, in addition to the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. But do not hold your breath, as the game will most likely arrive late in 2009.