Ground Control 2 Operation Exodus

Posted by admin on March 17th, 2009 filed in 3D, Strategy

In the crowded market of real-time strategy games, the original Ground Control stood out by not following the pack. By disregarding that most sacred of RTS features, base building, that game put you in command of a sci-fi military campaign, not some mamby-pamby construction project. Ground Control II continues its predecessor’s proud disregard for base building, and the game has also been honed and refined with additional features and high-production value. The intense gameplay makes it one of the best strategy games we’ve played this year.

Hold That Point!

Though this is only the second game in the series, the plot is deep. The game’s manual devotes four pages to the game’s backstory, detailing the events of 400 years up to the moment you take the reins of the campaign. A lot has happened since the original Ground Control. The previous factions of the Order of the New Dawn and Crayven Corporation are gone, replaced by the ruthless Empire of Terra and the resistant Northern Star Alliance. In the single-player campaign, you’ll take on the role of Captain Jacob Angelus, a new NSA commander who’s trying to defend his home world from imperial forces. As the battle rages on, a new army, the Viron Nomads, enters the scene to lend their organic weaponry to the empire.

With a few exceptions in the single-player mode, Ground Control II is a capture-and-hold RTS. There are no bases to build or resources you need to tediously deploy workers to collect. The game takes its title seriously; your army will only grow with the acquisition of territory. There is only one resource — acquisition points — and the only way to get them is to dispatch your troops to take certain points on the map called victory locations. The locations are positioned at key points around the map that usually feature choke points and hardened defenses. The longer you hold the point, the more APs you’ll acquire. APs can be spent on troops, which will arrive at a landing zone via a dropship deployed from some off-map base. Unlike most RTSs, there is no tech tree. As long as you’ve got the APs and space on your dropship, you can field any unit.