The RTS games have been pretty much the same over the years, the same controls, same interface types etc. But it’s only been the same because it works, and the small changes that have refined RTS games over the years have made things better not worse. Just look at Supreme Commander for instance, and the map features it introduced when it was released back in 2007.

However, one cannot say the same about Stomrise, an RTS in a post-apocalyptic setting. The developers, Creative Assembly — makers of the successful Total War franchise — have tried to create something new, most noticeably the camera system and controls. A new control scheme called “Whip Select” was designed for the consoles, however, Creative Assembly tried to carry the controls over to the PC version of the game (which we are reviewing). Bad idea. Very bad idea.

You see, PC is the natural home for RTS games. Sure, some have tried to make console RTS games for ages, but they’ve never matched the PC counterparts — the controls were always slow and never really worked as well as a mouse and keyboard (mostly mouse). If someone would take the sluggish console controls and use them on the PC, some would say it was insanity. Others would simply cry “blasphemy!”. This is exactly what Stormrise brings to the PC, sluggish controls that were meant for the consoles. And a lot of other bad things.

Wait, let’s back up a bit. Here’s the story: A series of firestorms wage over the world and destroys most of it. Some people hid underground and went into a cryogenic hibernation, thinking they’ll just pop back in when things cool down.
While others stayed above surface and were exposed to the storms, and eventually mutated and became powerful beings called “Sal”. Yes, “Sal”. This of course sets up the two main factions of the game, which duel it out.

Now back to how much Stormrise sucks: first, it’s not really an RTS, as you don’t have a bird’s eye view, you don’t build a base, and you don’t control a lot of units. You control a group of soldiers through a series of battles, but your view is limited to being a camera just above the units, which in and of itself, is not really RTS. One could even argue that the game would have worked better as a third person shooter with some decent squad features. As for the controls, which I mentioned earlier, well, not only were they designed for a console game, but they also happen to suck on the console game. So when you port something like that over to the PC, it’s so bad that it’s almost funny. For the RTS fanatic though, it’s outright insulting. On top of that, you have a horrible camera system that is worsened by the rather tight level design, where your units don’t have much room to move, especially the bigger ones. This usually forces the camera to get stuck behind a wall or place where you can’t see anything.

I won’t go into detailed gameplay mechanics here, because, honestly, it’s pointless. With controls that are so bad, and with a constant frame rate stuttering, even on a high end PC — the game only runs on Vista and DirectX 10 graphics cards, by the way — and the overall buggy release, it doesn’t really matter what else the game has to offer, it’s still ruined. Oh, and it doesn’t have much to offer, in case you’re wondering.

The Good:
Decent voice acting

The Bad:
Horrible controls
Bad camera
Missing a lot of RTS elements
Buggy
Frame rate issues
Boring story
Downright unplayable at times
Vista/DX10 only

Overall score: 1/10