ULTIMATE GENERAL: GETTYSBURG
Currently UGG (which feels like an almost intentional acronym) is still on Steam as early access, and has to be sought out via the search bar. So whilst it's not a truly finished product, it's still very impressive and well on the way.
Powered by the Unity engine UGG is a strategy game putting players in the role of the Union or Confederate Commander during the battle of Gettysburg.
The menu screen is basic but functional, and definitely in need of some prettying up, which is probably on the final to-do list as the game gets closer to a full release.
Starting up a new game you're given the obvious choice between Yankees and Confederates, in my test game last night I'd given the Confederates a go, so this time I opted for the Union. When you start a battle you are given a choice of AI for the enemy commander. Instead of an Easy - Hard slider, you are given much more detailed choices of what sort of personality the enemy will use throughout the campaign. This is very impressive as it shows me not just that an opponent will be "hard" but it will show me how it will be difficult, and also weaknesses in that chosen AI.
I chose Random.
The first scenario for the Union is a tougher one than the Confederate one I played last night. There I started out with a healthy mass of troops to bully the weak Union positions out of the way and take positions, but on the other side of things, the situation is not so simple.
Starting with only a handful of skirmishers and horse mounted vedettes I first had to delay a great mass of rebel troops from punching through McPherson Hill and taking Seminary Ridge before my reinforcements arrive in dribs and drabs from the south.
Graphically the game looks very nice and clear, and is well presented, even the troops look decent, small sprites that they are. Unit controls are tactile and immediate which is great, and work through a simple combination of selecting a unit and dragging the cursor along the path you want your troops to take or attack orders performed by clicking on enemy units. More complex orders like Hold, Fall Back and Charge are all given from pressing their relevant button. It's a simple system the does what it needs to do without being over complex, and would be ideal if they wished to do a Tablet port of this game.
As the battle continued my reinforcements arrived to stiffen the line at McPherson, at which point the Confederate reinforcements arrived, not least in the form of General Pettigrew and his final boss styled regiment of 2500+ men. The man would continue to be my nemesis for the next three battles, even as it shrunk to more and more manageable sizes with each of my wins.
Luckily the last of my own reinforcements arrived to relieve a beleaguered Seminal Ridge before 1400 confederates could consolidate after displacing my Artillery corps in the town. These reinforcements then pushed on to envelop Pettigrews formation that had overextended itself.
The AI for this game seemed to be one of the easier ones, as whilst it showed great aggression, it often failed to defend it's flanks and to stop his troops from pursuing troops too far, allowing them to be enveloped, assaulted from multiple sides and taken apart piecemeal. Two of the enemy regiments, not least Pettigrew's fell to this.
Upon winning the battle I was given a choice of what to do next, which of these I chose would lead me to a different scenario with my troop numbers in place from the previous battle. This branching campaign structure is very interesting and gives me options based on my performance, instead of just dumping me into which ever scenario and makes the player feel more involved.
Choosing to retreat from McPherson and reinforce Cemetery and Seminary Ridge, I dug my troops in to defend my key positions.
Using my line units I was able to rush the enemy advancing onto me from my relinquished McPherson ridge and push them back. Heady thoughts of retaking my voluntarily lost gains and finishing off Pettigrew once and for all filled my head as I pursued, at which point the main body of the enemy reinforcements arrived from my now almost undefended north.
Against the giant press of southerners my skirmishers couldn't hold and I was forced to pull back, calling in my reserves from Culp's Hill, ceding Gettysburg to the enemy, hopefully temporarily. Enemy troops lanced in against my fractured lines, seeking to take Seminary Hill from me. Thankfully they pushed too far ahead in taking the position and I was able to sneak a unit of artillery behind them and gave them a full volley of Canister from point blank, breaking them instantly.
At which point the game told me that Cemetery Hill was being contested somehow. But who could possibly be that far sou... PETTIGREW!
But the game is not without faults: Aside from the current lack of presentation, I feel that it really needs a minimap, or a final level of Zoom that lets me see the whole battlefield. As battles are often huge and sprawling over a large area with many regiments on each side and it's very difficult to keep a handle over what is going on, and the scale of is sometimes quite intimidating. It also needs a tutorial ingame, as at the moment the closest to guide we get is an online forum entry at the developers website. These are all problems that I would expect to be rectified as the game gets closer to a proper release.
Ultimately, the star of the show for UGG is the AI, it actually feels intelligent and capable. It also, more impressively, feels dumb to tactical mistakes that the AI difficulty selector says it to be. It is able to spot weak points in my defenses and strike at them, it is also unable to recognise when it's advance is going to cut that regiment off from the rest of the army. In other difficulties it is able to be more methodical, grinding down carefully and continuously my forces, but not moving with any initiative, allowing me to juggle my line forces and my reserves, and to strike at his flanks with skirmishers.
All of this isn't entirely surprising given that the game creator is Nick Thomadis, better known to the online modding community as DarthMod. Who prior to this, his first game, made a name for himself creating highly celebrated homemade AI patches for Creative Assemblies well known Total War games.
VERDICT
8/10
Excellent quality strategy with the AI as the highlight. Some niggles and missing elements will have to be addressed before full release.
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