Indie Strategy Spotlight – AI Wars: Fleet Command

Every Planet is a Choice. Every Choice has a Consequence.

The lack of high quality strategy games from the Indy sector is pretty sad, especially considering that most of the big names seem to be going a stale route and reusing the same conventions over and over again. Thankfully, the folks over at Arcen Games have jumped into the arena with both feet and brought us this gem in the rough: AI Wars Fleet Command.

AI Wars takes the generic RTS formula (economy + base building + force buildup) and adds many new dimensions – it takes cues from 3 genres in total (and adds to them all): RTS, 4X Space Sim, and Tower Defence. Where most RTS games have an AI that you can usually figure out easily, the AI in AI Wars can be quite intuitive… hitting you where you are weakest and leaving you wondering ‘What the heck just happened?!’. Like the little catch phrase in the title says, every choice has a consequence in this game – you can go the standard RTS route and conquer everything in your path, but you will pay the price for it… believe me.

Broad overview out of the way, lets get down to some particulars:

Graphics

The graphics in AI Wars are not spectacular, but that is part of its charm (for me at least). If graphics make or break a game for you (no matter the other content) then this game may not be up your alley. There is a method to the madness though, and it will be apparent when you start having humongous ship battles. In a full 3D game you would probably take some spectacular performance hits during large battles – during AI Wars battles it is not uncommon to field a fleet of over 2,000 ships against an AI fleet of over 2,000 ships. With the weapons firing graphic effects, shields, hardened defense spots, etc you would be looking at a major FPS hit if the game was full 3D.

For me the graphics fit the game, thus I give them a 5/5.

Audio

The music in AI Wars is spectacular – I truly mean it when I say that too. Arcen Games has its own music producer on staff and he has managed to come up with tracks that fit the mood of the game perfectly. There is no over the top orchestra, but the music in the game will please anyone with a tiny sense of style.

Weapon effects and other sounds are well done too and are not overstated to the point of being annoying. The game focuses on actual play so the way the music and sound effects are intertwined are perfect in my opinion.

For me the score would have to be yet another 5/5.

User Interface

The user interface can be a sticking point for a game of this style, too much information and the user drowns – too little and they are fumbling to figure out exactly what the heck they are doing. AI Wars has a happy medium where tons of information is available to the user – but it isn’t all shoved in your face at once. Many functions are hot-keyed so a single keypress will bring up the desired menu, there are summary bars that tell you important details like how many builders, science labs, etc you have and where they are. I do find that sometimes the interface can be a tad… odd. I use the word ‘odd’ because I don’t know what else to put there – It is responsive and useful but sometimes I find that it just doesn’t like me for whatever reason.

The interface gets a 4/5 from me – a pretty good score for an indie title with this much value.

Story

Story is not a huge facet of the game, but there is a story believe it or not. It isn’t told in CGI cut scenes, or in voiced over dialogue… but there is a reason why you are starting out with a single planet and going against an AI that has an impressive advantage over you. Heres the gist (full story can be found in the manual or on the games website): In a terminator-esque fashion, Human created AI have taken over and killed just about all humans in existence. You start out as a lone human colony hell bent on reclaiming humanities dominance over the machines… and now is the time to do so, as the AI seems to be focusing on something outside of the solar system. Yeah, it seems a bit bland.. but believe me, the actual story that has been written in the manual sounds much better than my mediocre writing can make it out to be.

It really isn’t fair to rate the story in a game that isn’t about the story, but since it does play a role in the why and what of your actions I would have to give it a 4/5.

Replay Value

The short of it? There are literally TONS of options for replay value. You can tweak the game in a myriad of different ways (system size/type, AI difficulty/type, etc) and can make each game play session completely unique. Add in a multi-play system that supports multi-session gaming and you have a gold medal winner!

Definitely gets a 5/5 in my book. No questions about it.

Overall Personal Score: 5/5

Yeah, I like this game THAT much. The game has so much going for it that its amazing such a tiny development team put it out. The developer isn’t content to just sit back and let it go at that though, since Launch there have been constant updates to the game including bug fixes, gameplay tweaks, user suggestion implementation, and much more. Arcen just released its first expansion (Zenith Remnant) for the game and with it came even more tweaks (for the base game too) and the addition of NPC ‘factions’ that add some spice, some AI neutrals that don’t care whos planet they are on… they will try to devastate anything in their path.

The development cycle isn’t over yet, the developer (Christopher M Park) has said that bug fixes and updates will still happen on a regular basis, with a new expansion possible every 10 months or so. Right now Arcen is slowing down the AI Wars engine a bit to focus on other games in their lineup, but AI Wars will never be forgotten.

Keep an eye on Arcen Games folks – they are going to be a force to be reckoned with in the future. Customer communication + suggestion implementation + awesome bug fix rate + good company ethos = a shining diamond in the rough.

If you haven’t tried the game yet you can get the demo from Steam, or from the Arcen Games website. The demo is unlimited for the tutorial levels, and has a 3 hour play limit for normal games (more than enough time to get hooked, not nearly enough time to think about beating the AI). Once you try it I am sure (as long as you are a fan of a good strategy) that you will consider it worth a purchase.

AI Wars can be purchased digitally on Steam, Direct2Drive, GamersGate, Impulse, and the developers website.

~Carlosjuero

Obligatory Disclaimer:

I have not been monetarily compensated to write this review, nor do I have a material relationship with Arcen Games, or any of the employees/developers therein. I have not received any free materials (promotional or otherwise) to write this article.