Multi-Player

Me. You. Play?

I'm pretty big on the multi-player aspect of games, since playing by yourself tends to get boring quite quickly. This is where Ground Control really shines. It boasts some pretty big differences when compared to most RTS games.

Aircraft that fly!

And obliterate!

Aside from the normal multi-player options we have our first ever appearance of drop in games. What's that you say? If you have played a game like Quake you know that you can join in at any time. The server can go from 2 to 20 people within a matter of seconds and it wouldn't make a difference to the game. All RTS games up to this point had closed games. Once a match started that was it. Ground Control changes this, by letting the player count vary from 1-8 over the course of a game. If you have to go out for dinner in 20 minutes you can get in some quick blows and be on your way.

Oh yes

A bit phalic?

We tried this out and it was pretty fun, quite chaotic with an 8 player free for all going. It's not exactly the most conducive to learning strategy but entertaining. Small quick games can be had too. I had one where my opponent was in the all out rush mood. This was not a good idea considering that he had the low ground and some of my anti-tank weaponry was sitting on a hillside. Having half my tanks hiding in the shadows at the lower entrance didn't help the poor guy's chances either.

Not nice at all

Blue spark of death!

I Win!

As far as performance on the net we couldn't complain. Ground Control has an in game server browser and chat rolled into WON. The developers decided to use the gaming site called WON.net (no big surprise - WON is owned by Sierra). Registration was all done while in the game, quick and painless with no extra software to boot.