Civilization V: Gods and Kings – Into the Smokey Skies

We interview the team at Firaxis about their unique scenario in Gods and Kings.

Imagine a world divided into empires obsessed with steam power. In this world Empires ruthlessly undercut and smash their peers into oblivion – not in the name of god, but because such actions are considered valid for the sake of “progress.”

This is exactly the sort of world you’re dropped into when you start up the Empires of the Smokey Skies scenario in the upcoming Civilization V expansion, Gods and Kings. Only instead of the typical civilizations you’re given a set of fresh ones to choose from, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Alongside new leaders come a slew of reworked features, including alternate victory conditions, new steampunk-inspired units, and lots of new information to absorb in the fleshed out civilopedia entries for Smokey Skies. To get a bit more information on the design process and learn more about this unique scenario for Gods and Kings, we hopped on the phone with Civilization V Ed Beach and Anton Strenger, designers on Gods and Kings.

Empires of the Smokey Skies came about because the team at Firaxis wanted to do something cool that presented an alternate history. Marketing Associate Pete Murray came up with the idea originally, and Strenger was “attracted to the steampunk scenario and the setting because Civilization V is the ultimate history simulator.” Strenger loves how Civilization allows you to play through totally implausible situations, such as “when you win a space victory as the Mongols.” He wanted to design a scenario that takes fundamental game concepts like the tech tree and come up “with an alternate path.”

Smokey Skies is also shorter than a typical game of Civilization, something Strenger says was intentional. “The paradigm for a Civ scenario is something that is an interesting but short variation on the stuff that Civilization offers. Whereas a base game of Civ can take up to 10 hours, the scenarios are kind of an interesting peek into another very focused kind of experience.” “The other two scenarios that are shipping with the expansion are also kind of long ones,” added Ed Beach, “those do take probably five or six hours to play through. So we just wanted a good mix…keeping the steampunk scenario fit in with that.”

Despite being a shorter experience, the team at Firaxis didn’t shy away from spending the time developing the world of Smokey Skies. Included with the expansion are civilopedia entries for each faction, with lengthy quotes that give insight into the minds of their leaders. “We actually found out that internally the team got more and more into it the more we developed it,” said Beach. Strenger himself developed a lot of the base ideas for the civilopedia early on as well, because “establishing what the world was would be important. As a steampunk scenario it’s kind of in-between true history of the base game, and kind of something crazy left-field science fantasy.” Thus to place it properly Strenger developed a more fleshed out backstory, something he hopes will help players get into it since it rides the line between fantasy and reality.

With the world fleshed out, the real challenge was creating victory conditions that fit in with the scenario. To do this Strenger sat down with the rest of the design team to and figured out a system of five titles. To win players have to earn three of five titles and hold them for three turns. Each of the five titles is unlocked after certain technologies have been unlocked, and players constantly knock one another out of position. It results in a constant tug-of-war between civilizations, where one empire can go from fifth place to first in a matter of a few turns if they play just right. It’s also “the most open-ended of our scenarios” said Beach, adding that “there’s a lot of replayability” because of the various victory conditions and how they work on an array of map types instead of a specific land mass.

While religion is probably the biggest gameplay component of the Gods and Kings expansion, you won’t see it in Empires of the Smokey Skies. “Our religious game is focused up through the renaissance, and this is a scenario that occurs in an alternate industrial age, so it’s sort of after religion,” said Strenger. Espionage does make an appearance, though, and can directly affect your chances for victory since clever spy use can net you additional technologies, resulting in faster unlocks of victory conditions.

Empires of the Smokey Skies is only one component of Gods and Kings, which includes two additional scenarios and the ability to set up your own maps starting from the dawn of time. For a more detailed dive into what the base game of Gods and Kings brings to the franchise, check out our initial breakdown. For our review, check in sometime next week after Gods and Kings releases on June 19th.

Is Pro Evolution Soccer 13 A Title Contender?

Konami's football franchise looks set to make a play for FIFA's crown.

It feels unfair to begin a preview of PES 13 by comparing it to its nearest and dearest rival, but not doing so would ignore the proverbial elephant in the room. It would be an understatement to say that over the last few years, Konami’s football game franchise has had a considerable amount of its thunder stolen by EA’s FIFA series. To put it bluntly, it’s been booted firmly into second place.

It’s tempting to chalk this up to funding and cast FIFA as the footie sim corollary to Man City, a former mid-table club turned league dominating beast due to an injection of largesse and talent. An element of this is self-evident in PES 13’s presentation. The player models and animations look the part and the in-game commentary’s decent, but the crowd noises sound generic – presumably because Konami doesn’t have the funds to send a sound team around the globe capturing club chants and region-specific crowd reactions.

The overriding factor in FIFA’s success and PES’s downfall, however, is as crucial in the gaming industry as it is in professional sports: direction. FIFA had it and PES didn’t – that is, up until PES 11, a game that, while far from perfect, indicated that Konami had woken up to the fact that it could no longer rely on the affections of its rapidly deteriorating fanbase. PES 12 continued the push, providing a style of play that wasn’t arcade-like, but wasn’t exactly a straight sim, either. The emphasis here was on fast-paced attacking football and placing more control in the hands of the players in aspects like like shot-taking, dribbling and ball-trapping.

PES 13 feels like the next step forward in the journey started by PES 11. Its improvements can be broken down into the three key areas: gameplay, an improved AI, and Player ID (which has a bearing on both). First up is the PES Full Control (PES FC) feature, an advanced version of PES 11’s Total Control system. What this means, according to Konami, is that players can now put the ball pretty much anywhere they want on the pitch, in any direction, at any speed and at any height.

This being PES, the level of each individual player’s skill is brought to bear – you can’t just hammer the buttons and expect a result. Put the work in and you’ll become a defender’s nightmare, issuing quick cuts through the back four and lofting balls into space for headers. Players can also mess about with their Dynamic One-Twos; clicking LB and the A button sends a nearby attacker running in the direction dictated by the left thumbstick, allowing the player to either feed them the ball in space, or use this as a diversionary tactic to flummox the defence – although, admittedly, this works a lot better against a human adversary than the game’s improved AI.

Players also have more control over shots and dribbling. Players can place shots, which is an absolute boon during dynamic play inside the box or when faced with a one-on-one situation with the keeper. Players can curl shots around defenders, nutmeg other players and chip-shot over keepers who have come too far off their line. Deft Touch Dribbling offers a precise, tight control of the ball, allowing those who put in the practice to skin opponents, create space for shot chances, or just hang back and wait for the opposition to come to them while they consider their attacking options.

Dynamic First Touch dovetails nicely with PES 13’s emphasis on control, while also allowing a fluid style of play. Players can bring a bouncing or long ball to heel by hitting the right trigger, or they can opt to flick or backheel the ball onto players running into space on attack.

Player ID, one of the game’s three main pillars, governs a lot of the deftness in these moves. The focus here by Konami has been to make players on the pitch look and play like their real-life counterparts. The first half of this is cosmetic, and impressively so; Christiano Ronaldo and Kaka, for example, not only look scarily like their real-world versions, but their running and stance animations mirror them as well. Not only that, but both are better able to pluck the ball out of the air with ease or skin an opponent than, say, a defender like Eric Abidal (who, despite retiring in May this year, was still in Barcelona’s first team in the PES 13 build I played this week).

Speaking of defenders, the juiced-up ProActive AI positions the backs a little more tactically, so they’re not caught as often on the break by speedy attackers. They’ll adjust to compensate for where the attackers are putting the ball and move to close them down, while cutting out paths for through-balls. It should be noted that defending in PES 13 isn’t as easy as in FIFA titles, where you can actually allow the AI to do the heavy lifting for you. Then again, if you didn’t want a challenge, why are you playing PES 13 in the first place?

The improved AI also organises the player’s attackers a bit better, with AI players better able to anticipate where the player will put through-balls and lob passes. This happens when the player is defending too; depending on the Player ID, certain off-the-ball attackers will hover at the top end of their half, waiting for the opportunity to launch an attack on the break if the player picks them out with a lobbed clearance.

It may sound, at this stage, that while there’s much to admire about this year’s upcoming PES game, it still lacks that special something – that killer feature – to unseat FIFA from its position of dominance. It certainly has direction in its gameplay, sitting squarely in the sweet spot where fantasy meets reality and success is dependent on practice and experience. But looking at the list of features, tweaks and tucks, it’s easy to gain the impression that they don’t add up to much outside clinical evaluation. So, consider this riposte from a dyed-in-the-wool FIFA player who buys FIFA religiously year-in year-out.

I didn’t care much for PES 12 and cared even less for PES 11, but after less than an hour at its controls, I genuinely found myself warming towards PES 13. Once I battled through the initial teething problems (pressing Y for a header, for example) I found myself becoming fascinated by learning new moves, finesse dribbles and clever flick passes in attacking play.

Outfoxing defenders gave me a substantial charge, shutting down attackers was immensely satisfying and threading a series of passes into a goal-scoring chance made me positively glow. By the end of my time with the game I wanted to delve deeper into its interface and master its style of play. In short, I wanted to spend a lot more time playing PES 13, and if that isn’t an indication that FIFA 13 has some serious competition this year for its crown, I don’t know what is.

Being a Werewolf in The Sims 3: Supernatural

The latest details on what it's like to play a werewolf in The Sims 3: Supernatural.

The recently announced The Sims 3: Supernatural takes cues from the likes of Twilight and Teen Wolf to introduce the werewolf fantasy into EA's beloved franchise. So what exactly does it mean to suffer from lycanthropy in Sims 3? How exactly do they handle the violence and other issues that being a wolf-man would cause? To find out we've gathered details from EA, as well as spoken with Jon Leslie, a producer on the upcoming expansion.

Making a scene.

The biggest thing that the team behind the Sims 3 wants to change with Supernatural is how hard it was to become a werewolf in the older games. “In Sims 2 you had to figure out how to find the pack leader and get him to bite you, but now -- right from the get go-- you'll be able to create a wolf in Create a Sim,” noted Leslie, “not only can you control what the human form looks like, but you can toggle back and forth between so you can fully customize what your Sim will look like when he transforms.” You can toggle your wolf's fur style and color, as well as give them specific hairstyles for when they change. The werewolves in Supernatural aren't the ghastly creatures out of a horror flick, either, but look more human than you're used to -- such as how they do in the new Teen Wolf TV series.

As you might expect, lycanthropy-cursed Sims have to watch out when it comes to their relationships. Transformation occurs whenever a full moon rises, but can also sneak up on you and occur at inopportune times if your Sim's mood ever gets too low. Unlike the full moon transformation, though, the mood-based switch lasts for a tunable duration, which you can affect as you build up your Lycanthropy Skill. Additionally, werewolves can transform at will, and doing so enables you to bounce back to your human form whenever you choose. Be warned, though, when a Sim transforms back into its human form it will be disoriented, and transforming is taxing on your Sims' hunger meter.

Not quite the crazy wolf-man you might expect.

Disorientation doesn't sound good, right? Well, that's pretty tame compared to what your werewolf might do if he's around company. Whether you spawn your werewolf inside the included Moolight Falls city, or add them to your current town, you won't ever have to worry about them accidentally hulking out and murdering your friends. “In pre-production we had a tendency to go a little too dark,” said Leslie, but “it's probably darker than...what's been done in The Sims before.” So, no, your werewolf won't kill people, but they will cause fear in fellow Sims, might randomly kiss them and could destroy property around themselves.

Obviously the team behind Supernatural wants you to want to make a werewolf, and has also included a bunch of perks for lycanthropes. Building up your your Lycanthropy Skill can give you hefty benefits, including rare collectables when you're hunting as a werewolf, and decreased loss of various things like Energy and Bladder whether or not you're transformed. Werewolves also live longer, have bonuses to their Athletic Skill, can eat raw meats and fatigue slower.

Being the only werewolf in the world is a lonely existence, but you can spread it around. You can have children that inherit lycanthropy (50/50 chance if you mate with a normal Sim), or you can work your relationship up with other Sims, converting them with a bite (as long as they accept the offer). If you earn enough experience and Lifetime Happiness you can purchase an Alpha Wolf reward, giving you a terrifying howl and the ability to bite anyone without being rejected. Your werewolf can also interact with other Sims who don't want to convert in a new special way. “You can become a protector, as you would in, say, True Blood,” said Leslie, wherein you make sure the human is saved from the vampires that also encounter the towns in Supernatural.

Werewolves run on all fours to get where they need to go.

If you're looking for a new fantasy life to live in The Sims 3 and are intrigued by what you've learned of werewolves, you can try them out for yourself when The Sims 3: Supernatural releases this September.

Offensive Combat -- A Shooter for the Crude, Cheap and Core

Fun FPS combat all in a browser.

Offensive Combat is a joke. No, really, the entire game, right down the name itself, is supposed to be funny. Generic name aside, Offensive Combat's success partially rests on the idea that it can stand out in an increasingly crowded space by forgoing the super serious or military look of other games and embrace the most childish and ridiculous aspects of online shooter communities. Like you'd expect from a shooter trying to appeal to fans of competitive shooters, it also has all the bells and whistles, with graphics on par with many Xbox Live or PlayStation Network games. In this regard it isn't really all that unique outside of its comedic factor...until you realize it's all playing straight out of a browser.

Looks pretty good, right?

After downloading a tiny Unity Engine plugin, you'll be able to immediately jump into Offensive Combat. Other free-to-play shooters like Blacklight: Retribution or Tribes: Ascend may look better, but there's still a higher barrier to entry for many people when they have to download and install a client. Developer U4iA Games wants to avoid that and make the entire experience as inviting as possible. Say, for instance, you played Offensive Combat and were into it, the idea is that you can then quickly text your buddies, have them sign up and start playing in your group within minutes.

Despite being browser based, Offensive Combat isn't going to limit you in terms of its mechanics. This isn't a social game shoehorned into a first-person perspective, but a real, competitive title created by a staff made up of shooter developers like Zipper, Zombie and Activision. Action in Offensive Combat is fast, and anyone who plays the likes of Call of Duty or Blacklight should feel right at home. Along with your main weapon, everyone gets access to a range of secondary and melee weapons, as well as grenades. How good you are matters, too, since Offensive Combat rewards skilled players more than anyone who spends money.

Of course if you do want to spend money the team at U4iA plans to give you plenty to buy. Avatars are highly customizable, and you can mix-and-match different heads, arms, legs, torsos, and gloves to create everything from serious looking soldiers to lizards with phallic looking bananas jutting from their crotch. Everything in the game outside of a few vanity items and boosts are planned to be purchasable with both in-game and actual money, and Offensive Combat will also utilize a rental system for people who want to try things out briefly.

Along with customizing your character's appearance, you can also tweak their weapons and what U4iA calls their "pwn." Killing an enemy nets you experience to level up your account, and earning levels grants you access to purchase new tiers of weapons and other unlockables, as well as new perks (which are earned solely through leveling up). If you manage to take someone down and it looks relatively safe, you can walk up to their corpse before the timer counts down and hit the G key, initiating a pwn. Pwns are basically taunts, though U4iA's put a large number of them in, and each one comes with a custom animation. Thus you might manage to take someone down with a well-placed headshot and then run over and fart on their face, dance on their grave, or even just rock out. Doing a pwn presents a risk / reward situation, since each takes a few seconds to complete and if someone interrupts you there's no bonus.

The most controversial design decision U4iA's made with Offensive Combat comes in the way they handle rewards for kills. You always get the experience you earn, but since each enemy drops in-game currency or other items upon death, you have to go and pick up the reward before someone else does. This makes sniping and camping less valuable, something I think is smart, but I'm not so sure how people will react to having others take something they might feel they've earned. Still, it could be worth the frustration because it can create dynamic focal points on the battlefield, where everyone is hustling to a particular choke point or landmark to try and score fat loot.

Closed beta starts soon, with a full release coming before the end of the year. Prior to release they also plan on putting in controller support, as well as integrating iOS into the Offensive Combat experience -- though not at all how I expected. Since the Unity Engine works across iOS and PC, I expected them to make some sort of port of Offensive Combat. Instead, they're trying to make the mobile version an accompaniment to the PC version, enabling players to do things like use their phone to call in airstrikes for PC players. Details are scarce, but we're supposed to hear more on that in the coming months.

Full on banana suits.

Offensive Combat's ridiculous take on character appearance and the pwn animations help it stand out, but the real reason it could succeed is how simple it is to get started. When all you need is a browser to hop in, you have a ginormous potential audience. The real question, then, is will Offensive Combat's low barrier to entry and quirky premise earn it the cash U4iA needs, or will it get pwned by its higher fidelity competition?