Chapter 98: Real-Time Strategy Game
Chen Mo clicked into "Legion Conquest," and soon the game loaded.
It was a real-time strategy game with a modern warfare theme. This was obvious from the loading screen, which was filled with planes, artillery, tanks, and all sorts of cool-looking high-tech weapons.
Once inside the game, the structure was very clear, divided into two main modules: [Campaign Mode] and [Online Versus].
To Chen Mo, the game felt a bit like "Red Alert," but also different. For one, the graphics were much better. For another, the specific weapon designs were vastly different.
There were no Apocalypse Tanks or Prism Tanks here. The game mainly used real, modern tanks, though there were also some fictional futuristic weapons.
Moreover, the game wasn't set during the Cold War. There were no Allied or Soviet factions.
The world setting of "Legion Conquest" was a fictional one. It depicted a world after World War III, where many nations had been overthrown, and various military forces had formed numerous legions engaged in chaotic warfare.
The campaign mode had the player take on the role of a legion leader, conquering the entire world.
There were many active-duty weapons and equipment, like main battle tanks and bombers, but everyone could use them. This blurred the concept of nations, likely a consideration for global promotion.
Chen Mo registered an account and started challenging the campaign mode.
Overall, the game's quality was very good. The newbie tutorial was decent too. The only flaw was that the story felt a bit thin. Chen Mo played through two levels, and there was basically no main storyline. It was just the commander telling you where to attack. There was almost no sense of immersion in the plot.
Of course, this was probably a side effect of the fictional world setting and the blurred national concepts, which also limited the story's planning.
Still, this was a real-time strategy game, so the story wasn't that important. It didn't affect the game's popularity.
In terms of control scheme, "Legion Conquest" was also relatively rough, similar to "Red Alert." The interface, hotkeys, and mouse button functions were all inconvenient in Chen Mo's opinion.
Selecting, moving, and attacking were all done with the left mouse button. The right mouse button only served to "deselect." This made Chen Mo very uncomfortable.
Chen Mo played through the story mode while studying the game.
Just then, a student who looked like an internet-addicted youth sat down at the computer next to him. While waiting for his computer to boot up, he glanced at Chen Mo's screen.
Chen Mo was maneuvering a tank to crush seven or eight soldiers ahead. But those soldiers raised their machine guns and opened fire with a "pa pa pa pa" burst, directly blowing up Chen Mo's tank.
"Damn!" Chen Mo was speechless. Just like "Red Alert," there was no logic at all. How could a bunch of grunts with machine guns blow up his tank? Was the tank's armor fake?
The internet-addicted youth next to him chuckled. "Newbie?"
Chen Mo nodded. "Yeah, newbie."
The youth said, "Tanks in this game are pretty crappy. You either mass-produce infantry early on, or save up for air units or super weapons in the late game. Going heavy on tanks in the mid-game is an easy way to lose everything."
Chen Mo was baffled. "Shouldn't tanks be the main force in a modern war?"
The youth said, "Hey, I wonder about that too, but that's how the game is designed."
As he spoke, the youth also opened "Legion Conquest" and started searching for an online match.
The matchmaking was pretty fast. He found an opponent in less than a minute. It was a four-player map for a 1v1.
The youth didn't have time to chat with Chen Mo anymore. He quickly focused on building structures and mass-producing units.
Chen Mo paused his own game and started watching the youth play.
Mining, building structures, producing units, scouting... The youth played methodically and seriously.
In the early game, the opponent launched a surprise attack with mass-produced infantry, catching the youth off guard. But luckily, he had built enough defensive structures to hold off several waves. Then, the youth successfully saved up over thirty Lightning Flying Soldiers, snuck into the opponent's base, and turned the game around.
"Yes!" the youth said excitedly.
Chen Mo frowned. "This game has pretty bad balance."
The youth glanced at him. "This is bad? This is already the best real-time strategy game out there."
Chen Mo said, "Three tanks losing to over twenty infantry? That just doesn't make sense no matter how you think about it."
The youth said, "There's nothing to be done about it. This is already the most balanced RTS. Once you accept the setting, it's not so bad."
Chen Mo asked, "Why don't you play role-playing games?"
The youth said, "Those? Too tiring. Those games don't have much skill involved. It's all about grinding time. Whoever has more time is stronger. Not like RTS games, which are about skill."
"Hmm." Chen Mo nodded.
The youth added, "If you really want to play role-playing, VR is the best way to go. That includes shooters, adventure games, etc. VR games are the king now."
"But games like real-time strategy and simulation management are mostly on PC, because converting them to VR is a thankless task. Plus, these games don't take much time. A match might only be twenty or thirty minutes. You can rest after it's over. They're not as exhausting."
Chen Mo asked, "Does this game have a ranked mode?"
The youth was taken aback. "Oh, yeah, it has ranked mode. I was just playing ranked mode."
Chen Mo asked, "So, ranked mode is the core fun of this game, right?"
The youth nodded. "Yeah. You play the campaign mode at first, but later on, it's all about ranked mode. You have to play against skilled players for it to be fun. It's like real troop deployment. That's what RTS is all about. It has depth. You can study it for a long time and still not master it."
Chen Mo asked again, "Are there offline tournaments?"
The youth said, "Of course there are. For offline PC tournaments, RTS games are the most popular right now. Every major club has a few star players. They're all top-tier pros."
They chatted for a few more minutes, and then the youth went back to playing ranked matches.
Chen Mo continued studying the various stat settings of "Legion Conquest" before leaving the internet cafe.
What surprised Chen Mo a little was that RTS games, which had been dead for a long time in his previous life, were actually quite popular in this world.
Thinking about it carefully, it made sense.
VR games had dealt a huge blow to PC games, but not all PC players had switched to VR. Compared to role-playing games, RTS games were more fragmented and had better strategic depth. So in this parallel world, they were still one of the mainstream game genres.
As for MOBA? It didn't even have a prototype yet!
Chen Mo had been a bit hesitant before. For him, making a role-playing game right now would be a bit too demanding. But now, he had found a very good transitional product.