Creative Assembly has used the Game Developers Conference to announce a Total War spin-off game called Total War: Arena, in which players will command three units apiece in 10v10 multiplayer battles (based on my amazing maths ability that means 30 units vs 30 units.) Does that mean this free-to-play title will fall under the ever-expanding ‘MOBA’ (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) heading? Perhaps.
The press release insists it will mix “elements” of both RTS and MOBA gameplay, and for once that seems to be broadly true. If anything, the game is sounding rather like what Petroglyph was trying to attempt with Victory, except with Romans and stuff rather than WWII.
Polygon offers a few more details from the GDC presentation itself, including the information that Creative Assembly is experimenting with things like manual aim and charge commands for the units (to reflect the fact that players will have closer control over them.) There’s also word that the game will not be set in any “fixed” time period; so we may well see Vikings duking it out with Napoleonic Infantry, or something.
You can sign up to be a closed beta tester, here. There doesn’t seem to be a release schedule for the game just yet.
Published: Mar 28, 2013 10:39 pm