Tempest Rising is a game that proudly wears its Command & Conquer influences on its sleeve. I have experienced this first-hand after playing more than a few multiplayer matches against other players. Let’s just say that it is every bit the classic revival we’ve been looking for. But a question that naturally comes up is whether or not the campaign will play out exactly how a typical C&C campaign will play out. Thankfully, we got our answer well ahead of the game’s release.
The game’s participation in February’s Next Fest was more than just the multiplayer demo players were accustomed to. We also got a preview of the GDF and Tempest Dynasty’s single-player campaign. Yes, for this round of testing, the developers included the first two levels of the factions’ respective campaigns.
The campaign begins with a brief introduction of the factions’ commanding officers. We are then given our orders and an opportunity to ask basic background questions. Afterwards, we are shown an equally short cinematic showing troop movement. The scenes are non-specific and are mostly there to set up the eventual start of the level.
I was quite impressed with the high level of production. The in-game models look top-notch, and the voice acting was solid. Part of me wishes the briefings were shot in FMV (full motion video). But, in retrospect, I suppose it is best that Tempest Rising tries to forge its own path instead of merely retreading old ground. (Something to consider for their take on the secret giant ant mission. Maybe?)
The mission structure should be familiar to anyone who has played a modern RTS. You start with a handful of tier-1 units. Eventually, you redevous with slightly more advanced units. In the case of Tempest Dynasty, it was their flame thrower units. For the GDF, it was their grenadiers. Later, you gain access to units with active abilities. This is, in my opinion, the best place to learn about unit abilities. I know some players prefer to jump straight into multiplayer and learn the hard way when and where to use abilities. They’re not wrong. But I’d rather learn from the campaign first and then work on improving execution in multiplayer.
The second level fully introduces you to base-building mechanics. GDF players start to learn about their unique resource: Intelligence. You don’t go into it too deep, just the knowledge that you can gain Intelligence from swapping the scout vehicle’s ammo type to tracer rounds. I can’t understate how important it is for GDF players to learn about Intelligence sources. If you are in a multiplayer match, Intelligence is the main bottleneck holding you back from releasing your army’s true potential.
Tempest Dynasty has a neat trick for its power plants that not enough players know about. The game teaches you the advantages and disadvantages of using the Overload ability. I must admit that I never learned of this tech until I had half a dozen multiplayer games. It allows you to pump out a Tempest Rig faster than you normally would. It’s a real game-changer to Dynasty’s early game, and I wish I had known about it sooner.
Overall, this is a good start for the campaign. The most micro-heavy part was coordinating a pursuit of a prisoner transport before it got away. But even then, it shouldn’t have been too difficult if I had bothered to complete the secondary objective and laid mines on the bridge along the escape route. Speaking of which. The only thing that left me hanging was how we were going to spend the points earned from completing primary and secondary objectives. I assume it goes towards permanent upgrades, but that remains to be seen. Unless it’s already in there and I missed it entirely, which is also possible.
Regardless, I am more hyped for this game’s launch than ever. Now that I know that both the campaign and the multiplayer are practically complete, any concerns I had come launch day are gone and dusted. If all goes well, Tempest Dynasty would be the most complete RTS on launch in recent memory. I do hope that it lives up to a fraction of our expectations. Goodness knows, we’ve been burned once too often by games that were released in unfinished states, requiring over a year’s work to finish.
