Cyberstorm 2? I don’t even remember Cyberstorm 1!
Cyberstorm 2: Corporate Wars is yet another one of the many generic strategy
games filling up the market today. It incorporates all the aspects of a successful
real-time strategy game, but executes them in an average manner. Translation:
There’s nothing extremely horrid about Cyberstorm 2, but there’s nothing
extremely good either.
First, let me start off by giving the one aspect of Cyberstorm 2 that separates it (at least a little) from other, mediocre RTS games on the market: the ability to play in either real-time or turn-based mode. Is this really useful (or necessary)? Well, not really. The game’s essence is RTS, so anyone looking for a turn-based strategy game should look somewhere else.
Like most other strategy games (real-time and turn based) on the market, Cyberstorm 2 does have depth. Basically, the player must choose to play one of eight corporations, all of which are fighting each other for the “Typhoeus system”, a jumpgate that will allow massive expansion and wealth to whoever controls it. Extremely generic you ask? Why, yes it is. Each of the eight corporations has advantages and disadvantages, including varied funds, research speed, and different units.
Cyberstorm 2: Corporate Wars basically plays like all other RTS-style games on the market with a few, small exceptions. The player has a home planet. From here, he/she can build units, research, etc., and later choose which missions to engage in. The usual clicking, grouping, moving and mining operations are, in general, similar to others of its kind. Also, the single player game itself has a decent amount of depth, through its large number of units, vehicles and weapons.
One area where Cyberstorm
2 seems to fall behind is its graphics. At first, one might be slightly
impressed by all the pre-game (also pre-rendered) graphics – the research facility,
the bioderm facility (used for building units), etc. all look good. Then, the
actual game starts. Using the common 2D sprites over a 2D tiled world, the game
appears average at first, as all units have a decent number of frames of animation
and everything seems relatively detailed. After only a few minutes of playing,
the player will recognize the game’s graphical shortcomings. For example, the
“fog of war” looks like complete garbage (Warcraft
2, which came out a number of years ago, looks much better), and the attack
of some units are incredibly basic (a line = laser, a line!!). In the end, Cyberstorm
2 can hardly compete with the big-name strategy games on today’s market.
One area where Cyberstorm 2 seems to shine is its multiplayer support. The game allows up to 8 players, and is supported by the WON network. There are six supported modes of play, including free for all, race, recovery Mission, destroy base, tag and capture the flag. Due to its complex single player and commendable multiplayer, the actual playing of Cyberstorm 2 should keep gamers somewhat interested.
Overall, while Cyberstorm 2: Corporate Wars does have its high points,
but they are overshadowed by many of the game’s faults. In the end, there is
nothing truly spectacular separating it from all the other, good strategy games
out there. If you’re a huge RTS gamer and can look past the graphical defects,
you might want to take a look. Otherwise, there are plenty of other turn-based
or real-time strategy games out there.
