Iron Dignity preview
Andy Spence previews the major new release from Artex.
Note: with the screenshots, you can click on them to see a full-size version. Adjust-click will open them in a new window in most browsers.
Note the detail in the land textures and the water reflections.
The year is 2050. China and its surrounding countries have merged to become a Great Asia who are at odds with Europe and America. Astonishing technical advances in battle units are causing major havoc throughout the world. As the special forces you must attempt to save survivors and try to bring some sort of order in Europe ... this is the legacy that is Iron Dignity.
This ground-breaking new game is from Artex/Frank Föhl (Artex being the creators behind Exodus and Ankh), and is a joint RISC�OS/PC game soon to make tremors in the gaming market. The pictures around this page are from the PC version 800x600 taking advantage of the latest Voodoo 3D accelerators, but the bad news is that you are probably going to need something approaching a Risc PC with an Imago board just to reach 640x480 for the RISC OS version.
Transparencies for the lighting and missile trails.
The action takes place in Carpathians, France, Germany, Siberia, and (strangely) Ireland. Mission briefings are short and precise, details during the mission will be reported as and when command send them. You will send your units on many dangerous missions, technical espionage, hostage rescues, outpost attacks and many more. Later on your leaders' commands can conflict with your common sense (perhaps killing innocent people is wrong), so you will have to ask yourself whether to save lives or just obey orders. As you are in hostile territory, being discovered could lead to global conflict, and you'll be pleased to know that if you fail the mission the same will happen.
Carefully placed units to intercept enemy scouts, radar posts or cargo lines are needed to proceed deeper into hostile countries. The use of natural advantages like hills, valleys, rivers, cliffs and even huge underground caves is vital for those surprise attacks and successful targets. Choosing the right units to take on a mission is vital - do you take the two light hover bikes or a heavy mech?
Good smoke effects but the bit-map plan in the corner isn't so impressive.
You control up to 15 units, in which can be fighters, wheeled vehicles, battle mechs and ground gliders. The snapshots here are of old units; the new ones are more technically advanced. You can control the battlefield from a tactical bird's-eye view for large scale co-operation. The main view of play is cockpit mode, where you can take part in the action from a first person view. You can also change units with a single keystroke. There is the usual small radar for vision and a unit list with numbers. One of the best features is the ability to open additional camera windows showing other units, letting you see different views. You control the various vehicles by mouse and keyboard, so aiming and movement are free from each other as in Quake.
A first person view with a nice lens flare
Communication with your units is important, again operates by a simple key stroke with selected units. You can give out orders of attack, defence, form groups or even hide. These are selectable from both tactical and cockpit views. Your units communicate with text and speech. This enables the you to keep track of everything during tense battles. The AI in the game has been a main feature since the engine was made, so units should react correctly to attack or defence.
The landscape textures all look very detailed down to small rocks, but sorry Artex, the ship is Descent all over again!
As far as graphical features go it is evident to see that there are detailed rendered landscapes, with man-made features such as radars, outposts, command stations, turrets and bridges. There are smooth night to day effects and weather changes during missions. These create beautifully atmospheric scenes using light sources and lens-flares.
Acoustics in the game should be excellent, as past demos have had impressive music and sounds. With unit speech and 2 different story plots which branch off in various directions, things are sounding pretty pleasant. A quick mention must go to deathmatch modes and co-operative missions with up to eight players, the first 3D strategy game on RISC OS to do so.
Iron Dignity is looking to be the next RISC OS gaming show piece, but does the fact it requires future technology show development or just catering for the PC platform? We will have to see when the snapshots from the RISC OS version are released. We will keep you informed...
Andy Spence
