MMORTS – Past, Present, and Future
Real Time Strategy, RTS for short, is a distinctly PC genre. RTS games have been tried on consoles over the years, but they all managed to fall flat. The reasons given for their failure vary, but a lot of it has to do with the input device. Somehow a controller just doesn’t provide the scope of movement required to command a vast army, micromanage an economy, and build defensive structures all at the same time.
With nearly all MMOs and MMORPGs being released for the PC platform, its a wonder why we haven’t seen more MMORTS games. The genre is certainly popular. Games like Age of Empires, Total Annihilation, and Starcraft laid a strong foundation and new additions like Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War, and Rise of Nations continue to innovate the genre. RTS games certainly lend themselves to the lobby based system found in MMO racing games and MMOFPS titles. Its not all bad news for RTS fans. There are signs that the genre is finally ready to take off. To prove my point, let’s look at the beginnings of the MMORTS genre and chart its progress over the years.
Developer: KRU Interactive
Release Date: 2001
Shattered Galaxy was the first game to mix MMO, RPG, and RTS elements. The result was a subscription based game that soon offered an unlimited free trial. While Shattered Galaxy never took off, the official server is still up and running. It made use of a large, persistent world where players battled on instanced maps against one another for control of territory. There’s no resource gathering or building construction in Shattered Galaxy, but players did control a small group of units in a very RTS-like fashion. The graphics are reminiscent of Armored Core, but gameplay more closely resembles those Starcraft campaign levels where players control a small group of units and must fight their way to the end.
Developer: LockPick Entertainment
Release Date: 2007
Dreamlords was the first free to play MMORTS to take the genre into the third dimension. Players take on the role of a powerful Dreamlord whose task it is to command armies and conquer territory. The game offers both PvE and PvP components. Each Dreamlord has his own exclusive island area to conquer, but most fight against other players for control of additional territory. While battles and the bulk of gameplay take place on a client, players must manage their units and handle other long term strategy planning on the official website. Though it was originally released in 2007, Dreamlords still carries the ‘beta’ tag. At one point Aeria Games published Dreamlords in North America, but it was quickly discontinued. The official servers, located in Sweden, are still up and running for those interested in Dreamlords.
Saga
Developer: Silverlode Interactive
Release Date: 2008
Dubbed a ‘collectible online real time strategy game’, Saga was first released in 2008. The game is available free to play, but a full version costs $19.95. In Saga, players chose from six nations and must build up their city while sending their units out to complete various quests. The game is heavily instanced, there is no persistent world, but players can attack one another. Access to additional units require the purchase of Booster Packs. The graphics and interface have been compared to Rome: Total War. Like the Total War series, players don’t command individual soldiers, instead they command squads which together behave as a single unit. Saga did have potential, but it now suffering from a severe lack of players and hasn’t received content updates for several months now.
Developer: Dark Sky Entertainment
Release Date: 2008
Like Shattered Galaxy, Beyond Protocol is a subscription based MMORTS with a Sci-Fi theme. Luckily, free players can enjoy the game for as long as they want though they’ll be restricted to the trial solar system. Unlike the other MMORTS games on this list, Beyond Protocol actually has a persistent world. Players will be able to construct buildings on planets occupied by other players. This leads to plenty of conflict as players vie for control of property and resources. The interface is confusing, there’s a steep learning curve, and the game is generally slow paced. But those who can look past those flaws should take a look at Beyond Protocol. Those who take the time to master BP will be able to design their own starship units, and take part in some sophisticated intergalactic diplomacy.
Developer: Electronic Arts – EA Phenomic
Release Date: 2009
Combining TCG, RTS, and RPG gameplay elements into a cohesive whole is no easy task. EA’s Phenomic studio managed to do just that with BattleForge. Besides mixing so many genres, BattleForge has a great presentation. Unlike some of the other games on this list, its easy to approach. Players design their armies in the form of decks and go into instanced maps that have a classic RTS design to them. Players must take control of strategic locations that generate resources and must summon troops with which to do battle. BattleForge has several full feature campaigns that offer dozens of singleplayer and cooperative stages. 1v1 and 2v2 PvP battles also make up a large portion of the game’s content. While BattleForge is free to play, players must purchase booster packs to gain access to more powerful and specialized units.
Developer: Relic Entertainment
Release Date: 2010
Company of Heroes Online is not yet released as of this writing, but the core gameplay will be very similar to what’s found in the original title. COHO will use a simple lobby system to connect players and allow them to face off in the game’s fast-paced RTS battles. Relic is the same studio behind the Dawn of War series, and the mechanics here are very similar. Players will have to secure control points to generate resources. Company of Heroes Online promises to be the most mainstream MMORTS to date and should be immediately familiar to fans of the genre. While there is no persistent world, the developers have promised a meta progression system where players can upgrade their commanders as they play more matches. We will have to wait to see the details, but there’s no doubt that Company of Heroes Online represents the best chance at propelling the MMORTS genre into the limelight.
There it is. Six games that chart the progress of the MMORTS genre from inception to the yet unrealized future. Despite some experimentation with persistent environments, it seems the RTS is still best suited to the lobby based system. More experimentation may yield different results, but for now its good to see the RTS finally have a strong presence in the free to play market.
Do you play any of the games listed above? What are your thoughts on the RTS genre and where its headed? Share your thoughts below!
By, Erhan Altay
July 16, 2010
#
Company of Heroes Online looks win. It’s made by Relic too (same guys behind Dawn of War).
July 16, 2010
#1
COHo is pretty much the same, but for free, and its a great move of Relic since its a little old but still great game.
Im pretty sure that it will be a hit :3
July 16, 2010
#2
downloading starcraft brood war for free and playing on LAN is what real champions do
July 16, 2010
#3
Starcraft is awesome and so is Starcraft 2 – I been playing the beta a lot!
Starcraft 2 is technically ‘free to play’ for now… but that will end in a few days when the beta closes ;(
July 16, 2010
#4
Actually, SC2 didn’t meet my expectations. I hoped for something just as polished as BroodWar and it just didn’t deliver. There are race imbalances and the whole game just takes away from the intensity of BW by not requiring as much micromanagement.
Now I normally average around 150APM on BW and in SC2, that much APM will do just as much as if I averaged 200+ on BW. There’s no need to split miners (though that’s not exactly a bad thing).
I know I’m bashing one of the most anticipated title in years, but I feel disappointed since I’ve played SC on and off as a semi-casual player for nearly a decade and the sequel comes along and takes so much effort out of playing (though it WILL benefit the more casual players and the WarCraft 3 players) that it seems as if Blizzard is betraying the more hardcore fanbase that made it what it is in the first place.
With that said… I’m still going to get the game. Can’t wait to try out the campaign lol
July 16, 2010
#5
I think taking a page from Men of War for an MMORTS would be brilliant. For the uninitiated, Men of War allows you to collect and manage individual equipment and inventory for all your soldiers. You can even take Diablo-style direct control of individual units. So it’s like Dawn of War II’s Diablo-RTS fusion, but more based in reality and with destructible terrain.
July 16, 2010
#6
Also Stronghold Kingdoms is coming out soon!
Its gonna have some Major RTS elements from what I see on the forums
July 16, 2010
#7
Yeah whatever…Ima go play Divine Souls
July 16, 2010
#8
Hey ReMo I dig how your just number… Not #1 or #2 just number. LMAO!!
July 16, 2010
#9
how the hell is armored core an rts?
July 17, 2010
#10
Maybe he was talking about the mech design… but even that’s not very AC. Too round.
July 17, 2010
#11
Woops! I was actually thinking ‘Total Annihilation’ but since that game has mechs, Armored Core popped into my head. Fixed.
July 17, 2010
#12
Not a “free-to-play” game, but a game I’m keeping an eye on is End of Nations. They advertise it with large 50 person battles, and from the trailers I’ve seen, it’ll definitely be something I’ll try.
July 17, 2010
#13
guess what? almost EVERY developers forgot the best genre ever that makes them make games that we might not want to play… RTS!!!
it’s really difficult to find an RTS game that is free to play because of the distractions (other games that are not RTS). Usually, the best games out there are the shooters, counter strike has been the best game on the shooter genre, and guess what, i played the closed beta of the unknown shooter game that is coming out in singapore… counter strike ONLINE!
But those games are just way off topic already, let me just tell you what is the best genre to pick… RTS!
XD
July 17, 2010
#14
I’m a big fan of RTS’s, and presently, I don’t think any MMORTS’s do it well. When it comes to full persistent MMORTS, it’ll be awesome. (like Beyond Protocol) But until that, the genre is kinda dead to me. Battleforge, from what I hear, the units you pay for are way overpowered. I saw an ad for some sort of battleforge update though, the humans play like an FPS, and the insects play like an RTS. Looks interesting. As for normal RTS’s, I love Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance. Not so much with supcom2. And Starcraft 2 looks just like Starcraft with new graphics. Also, Supcom:FA has huge scale wars, hundreds of units (up to 1000), which is a feature I love.
P.S. My comment is probably written like crap… oh well..
July 18, 2010
#15
Forgot to mention Ballerium, that was a good one
June 21, 2011
#16
theres only 3 persistant world rts. Gods and idols, Beyond Protocal, and Boundless Planet. Sadly gods and idols is pre release an will come out in maybe a week an beyond protocal is dead.So we all gonna have to play boundless planet =D
July 31, 2011
#17
if company’s want to get out of the typical over used Fantasy MMORPG or FPS they should try and make a “good” mmorts none of those browser based games are true mmorts’s and the only game out of all of those given that really blew me away was company of heros and thats shut down since theyre making company of heros 2