Preview: Fate of the World - Preview
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 06 November 2010 / 3,739 Views
Fate of the World is a unique game that blends real world science with role playing strategy. The entire game is based around our planet’s ecosystem and reducing our impact on it. This truly can be a very strong learning tool for ourselves and our children, to show what could happen if we do not change our ways.
Our preview copy only contains one unlocked campaign, which is based around oil depletion. What happens when we use too much? How do we change our ways and lower our impact on the environment? This is where you come in. You are the head of an environmental agency seeking to prevent the destruction of our planet within 90 years, starting in the year 2020. The tools at your disposal are technology, politics, and public relations.
The gameplay is very simple. You can hire agents in the various regions of the world, if they haven’t kicked you out, in order to provide help. Once you have an agent in an area you can pick from a set of cards which will affect the region in various ways. There are news clips and data that will help guide you to make the correct decisions. The more agents you have in a region the more help you can provide. Due to a limited budget, there are limits to the amount of help you can provide at any given time around the world.
Each turn counts as five years. When you end your turn the computer determines if you have successfully accomplished what was needed to move on to the next five years without penalty. If you failed at accomplishing a task, or were banned from a country, you will see the effects of your actions. War, famine, and death await failed tasks and failing countries.
Victory is probably the hardest part of this game. In the oil crisis campaign, the only way to win is to make it to the year 2110 while slowing down climate change. Losing conditions consist of virtually everything else. If global warming increases, you lose; get your organization banned from too many places, you lose; the entire planet erodes away, you lose. This is probably the hardest strategy game I’ve played because while I have managed to make it to 2110, I failed to slow-down climate change and prevent the extinction of many animals around the world. Out of playing the campaign well over ten times, I really haven’t won. Hopefully the other campaigns are easier to beat.
The music is probably the most annoying part of the game and I hope it changes before the game’s release. It’s elevator music. Yes, it’s mellow and it fits the game, but it just drives you nuts after a while. Another tune or two would be fantastic.
Since this a strategy game based on mostly text and 2D images, there aren't any amazing visuals to be seen. The spinning globe in the background does look pretty snazzy, but it would be nice if the world could change as environmental disasters and wars break out, rather than little targets appearing where breaking news happens. Some news reports do have a little video, if that’s what you want to call it, but it's never anything more than a cartoon face and some random images rotating in the background.
This game is a unique experience. There is a lot of promise behind it, so long as the developers at Red Redemption work out some minor issues. Adding new visuals and more music are two things that definitely would help improve the overall experience of the game.
