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A last minute release by Dreamcatcher Games for 2002, Hegemonia: Legions of Iron is an extremely solid Real-Time Strategy title that will impress avid fans of the genre. The games' graphics are not only brilliant and highly detailed, the gaming engine is well developed, providing one of the best formats of 3D RTS gameplay we've ever had the opportunity to experience. For more information on Hegemonia, read our full review right here at The Laser. From the makers of the award winning Imperium Galactica series of games comes the epic Real-Time Strategy title, Hegemonia: Legions of Iron for the PC gaming platform. Set in the year 2104, players are thrust into an interplanetary conflict between Earth and her colonies, after an apparent political assassination takes place during a crucial set of peace negations between the two powers within our home Solar System. After weeks of deadly combat and rampant destruction, one of the bloodiest chapters in human history begins to close as the war finally begins to subside…just in time for the arrival of an invasion fleet from opportunistic Alien race. The once divided denizens of Earth and her Colonies must now join forces in hopes of surviving and ultimately defeating this new threat to the entire human race.
Not unlike games such as Homeworld, Star Trek: Armada II, and O.R.B., Hegemonia is a 3D RTS title that incorporates standard strategy gaming elements into a sci-fi/space theme. Player's battle for control of key strategic locations such as celestial bodies, single planets, and entire solar systems in order to gain access to resources and other raw materials needed for building units (starships, mining facilities, space stations, etc.). Players can also research new forms of offensive and defensive systems and devices, delving into a robust technology tree that contains over 200 items that can be created as the game continues its course. Over 50 different ships can be found in Hegemonia available from the three different races found in the game, including variations of fighters, corvettes, cruisers, and battleships: each ship can also be upgraded with different forms of weapons and defensive capabilities. Hero units that gain experience points during conflict and other critical situations can also be found in the game, adding a bit of the RPG element to this title's overall gameplay. Hegemonia starts off with two separate single person campaigns (from the Mars/Colonies or Earth perspective) each with multiple levels of difficulty, and also contains several different modes of Multiplayer gameplay for the Internet or LAN connections. Although Hegemonia contains the base elements that make up your standard space 3D RTS game, this Digital Reality creation is far from average. This fact becomes apparent in the game's opening sequences, where a well developed story unfolds before the player via well produced and visually stunning cinematics. The intriguing plotlines continue throughout the course of the game, keeping the attention of the player with a mix of gaming engine and cinematic cutscenes that weave their way through the various missions that make up the gameplay of Hegemonia.
As we've said time and time again, no matter how the game looks the real test of mettle for an RTS title is in its gameplay. The control aspect of a title is always the first thing a player experiences, and most of the RTS command structure surrounding Hegemonia is reminiscent of previously released titles. Most experienced RTS gamers should be able to get the hang of the games' controls after some time: however, newcomers to the genre might find the game slightly baffling. This is because Hegemonia doesn't contain your traditional separated tutorial mission pack that stands alone from the overall game. Digital Realms have opted to set up a form of 'trial-by-error' tutorial-like gameplay within the first couple of missions, literally forcing you to read into the help files that are accessible from the in-game menu in order to complete the levels. This drastically added to the learning curve of the game, frustrating us on several occasions. Even the dreaded printed manual didn't help us out, save for the quick key command list printed on the back page. The only way to learn the game's controls is to actually play Hegemonia, read the in-game help and tip files, and do a lot of game saving. Fortunately, the introductory missions are quite simple, giving players ample opportunity to try out various gaming controls without too many consequences. Beyond the steep learning curve of the control systems, every other aspect of the gameplay in Hegemonia was solid. The combat and tactical options of the game were easy to operate, though slightly condensed when compared to other 3D RTS titles. Simply put, Hegemonia relies on the grand scheme of the battle instead of settling in on single unit combat scenarios: not exactly a bad point if you're looking for fast action instead of intense tactical scrutiny. The research/development and production aspect of the game was also fairly simplistic in operation, allowing players to manage their resources and unit building capabilities without losing themselves in the mire of micromanagement that can wear down the patience of even the most avid RTS gamer.
Once again, Dreamcatcher Games has given PC gamers another solid title to enjoy with Hegemonia: Legions of Iron. Fans of space 3D RTS games will no doubt enjoy the robust graphics, intense action, intelligent opponent AI, and the RPG elements of the Hero Units and Spying systems. Newcomers to the genre might also find Hegemonia to their liking with its simplistic research/development tree and resource management scheme, its well scripted storylines, and simple combat action command system.
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Once in awhile (though not always, thankfully)
a PC game will slip under the radar here at the offices of The Laser. That fact
is especially true during the hectic days leading up to the Christmas Holiday
season, where literally tons of games are sent out for reviewing purposes.
Because of this Holiday backlog, we weren't able to get to Hegemonia: Legions of
Iron as quickly as we would have liked, playing and reviewing games that had
arrived prior to its release. So when the time finally came around to load up
and play this latest release from Dreamcatcher Games, we found that we could not
tear ourselves away from this interesting and extremely fun RTS title, and
actually wound up putting other games off, just so we could waste hours upon
hours of our precious gaming time on Hegemonia.
Even more stunning that the film-like
cinematics found throughout Hegemonia are the games outstanding graphics. Every
object and map found in the game was extremely vibrant and highly detailed,
right down to the weapons fire, planet surfaces, and even celestial bodies. Each
map found in the game is built around an impressive solar system, with planets
orbiting a brilliant (and sometimes dangerous) sun, black holes, asteroid belts,
merchant traffic, and even wreckage. Hegemonia is truly one of the first RTS
games for 2002 that really seems to take advantage of out high end computer and
monster nVidia GeForce 4 video card we installed mid year: the renders were
smooth, and everything visual about the game had an extremely life-like and
realistic quality to it. Even the game's displays used to bring up 2D overview
maps, research modes, and other in-game options were extremely well designed,
giving a smooth and futuristic feel to the other visual aspects of the game. The
price of these graphics is high, however, with a recommended system of a 1GHz or
faster CPU, at least 256 MB of RAM, and ate least 32 MB Direct #D compatible
Video Card with acceleration. Players with older and slower machines might want
to think twice before jumping into Hegemonia: Legions of Iron.
When all was said and done, the execution of
the game was mostly flawless. The combat scenarios and missions found in the
game were varied and exciting, following along the scripted path of the games'
overall storyline very nicely. We did have some problems with camera control
during intense combat situations of the game, but that is a common problem with
almost all space themed 3D RTS titles. The biggest problem that we found with
the overall game was in the dialogue/mission set up screens. The objectives for
each mission didn't always come across as clearly as we would have liked, making
it very difficult to complete many of the missions properly. On several
occasions, we wound up losing the game for no apparent reason, forcing us to
restart the mission and scrutinize the objectives list carefully in order to
figure out what went wrong (thankfully, the game has a large amount of save
slots for players to use). After learning what to look for in a mission, this
problem was easily avoided in future situations, thankfully.