Shattered Union Updated Impressions

A funny thing happened to the turn-based strategy genre. In the beginning, turn-based games were king on the PC, but the genre's popularity waned when real-time strategy games rose to the forefront. And then, four years ago, a little Game Boy Advance game called Advance Wars came out, which opened up turn-based strategy to a whole new audience. Sensing that there was an opportunity here, PopTop Software and 2K Games united to make Shattered Union, a turn-based strategy game for the PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 2. Shattered Union is set in the near future, and it depicts a hypothetical second American civil war in which the nation, reeling from economic despair, political corruption, and the nuking of Washington DC, splits into six factions along geographical lines, creating new nations, such as the New England Alliance, the Confederacy, Pacifica, and the Republic of Texas. To make things even more complex, the European Union has carved out the area around Washington DC for "peacekeeping" purposes.

The game has basically two parts to it--the campaign and the battles--both of which are turn-based. The campaign will let you control a faction as you attempt to reunify the country by force, and it'll be up to you to decide where to attack and what units to purchase. When you invade a province, you can purchase units that are available to you, so long as you can afford them. Since the game is set in the near future, expect to see many contemporary weapon systems, such as M1 tanks, Apache helicopters, B-2 stealth bombers, infantry units, and more. The game isn't a war game, so it doesn't go for hardcore realism. Instead, there's going to be very much of a rock-paper-scissors balance between the weapon systems for gameplay purposes.

Each province in the game can help generate revenue, which is used to purchase units. In addition, some provinces may have special bonuses not available to others. For example, one might turn out cheaper air units, while another creates better tanks. All this information is presented in simple, iconic form at the bottom of the screen, and PopTop designer and artist Franz Felsi said that the company has really focused on making the game as user-friendly as possible, especially since it will appear on consoles as well.

When you select a province to invade, or if you're on defense, you'll switch to the battle screen, which is a hex-based, 3D representation of the territory. Units appear as oversized 3D models, and if you've played any kind of turn-based game before, you'll be familiar with the concept. When it's your turn to move, you simply select a unit and it automatically highlights its range, indicating where the unit can move. Click to where you want it to go, and you'll see it execute the move. You can also click on an enemy position (or even a suspected enemy position) and fire on it. Fixed-wing aircraft, such as fighters and bombers, are handled a bit differently. Rather than move them hex by hex like you do land and helicopter units, you simply click on where you want an air mission to happen, and the plane will appear. If the air unit is providing fighter cover, it will circle around the map, automatically attacking any enemy units that encroach upon its territory. If the air unit is on a bombing mission, it will simply fly over and execute the attack. An air unit can be used once each turn. However, aircraft can take damage, so if you don't give them some time to repair, the damage may accumulate to the point that the unit is destroyed. Each turn in the game represents 24 hours, so there are no night battles.

One key idea in the game is political reputation, which tries to model warfare in a global age of instant worldwide communications. The way it works is that the more collateral damage that you inflict in a battle, the worse your reputation gets. This means that if you invade a province and you have a really good reputation, partisan units will automatically appear on the map (they're basically free units for you). However, if you have a poor reputation, then you won't get any help from partisans. The way you keep your reputation good is by avoiding unnecessary destruction, so if you level cities, or nuke them, you're going to take a big hit. A meter on the screen will indicate if you're starting to pile up collateral damage. Your political reputation will unlock certain powers, as well. If you have a bad reputation, you'll get nuclear weapons. While that might seem overpowering, if you play it clean and safe, you'll get abilities such as faster healing, or the powerful electromagnetic pulse weapon, which can kill electrical systems without physically destroying anything.

Felsi explained to us that Shattered Union is inspired by many classic turn-based games, including Advance Wars, Panzer General, Fire Emblem, and Perfect General, and the game certainly has a look that reminds us of the Panzer General sequel, People's General. The battles are rendered entirely in 3D, and there are destructible features on the map, including famous landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge in the Northern California map. Destroying landmarks will certainly be fun, but it will cost you your political reputation. The game will feature head-to-head multiplayer capability, so you will be able to play against a fellow human being.

We're very interested to see what the reaction to Shattered Union is, as games such as Advance Wars have definitely shown that there is an audience for turn-based, tactical games out there. Shattered Union has a good chance of tapping into that, thanks to its intriguing setting, use of modern military equipment, and user-friendly gameplay mechanics. We'll find out when the game ships this winter.