Stormrise

Stormrise also does a terrible job of giving you information.

Stormrise as a RTS will probably not appeal to everyone, it's complicated and frustrating at times, however there is a fun and strategic game lurching underneath

Stormrise produces an odd sensation: the ideas it proposes are very good for the most part, and its approach could have caused a new milestone in the genre, and set the way for the others to follow, taking advantage of its control. But the execution hasn't resulted so convincing.

We don’t know if the concepts of Stormrise will be followed in the future of the RTS genre in consoles, but now it is a game pumped with great ideas though these are not well executed. Strategy hardcores can find in it an interesting entertainment, but as precursory of a new IP this first effort is disappointing.

A decent but unpolished strategy game built around a technological concept that only sort of works in any practical sense. An amiable attempt, but a far cry from victory.

Stormrise is, overall, a good game. Great ideas that lack the depth users expect from this genre, along with a whole new gameplay that requires a lot of experience and practice. make up for a game that only the hardcore RTS gamers will be able to enjoy.

This is a game with plenty of good ideas and a decent enough storyline that keeps you interested, but it all gets far too bogged down by the cumbersome camera and twitchy controls.

Some truly neat ideas made ugly and fiddly.

The premise behind Stormrise is pretty decent, commendable in fact as there are some good ideas on offer, yet the execution leaves little to be desired.

The imprecise controls, bad AI and a completely missing overview make this game more hassle than fun. Stormrise raises a storm – of frustration!

Stormrise is the perfect example of good ideas not always translating into good games.

Not what you expect from the makers of Total War: a flawed real time strategy, with zero thrills. [June 2009, p.74]

Innovation and frustration tango before your eyes.

With so many better RTSs to play there’s no need to even look at Stormrise.

The controls prove to be the game's worst aspect, and the single-player campaign is additionally marred by a pedestrian storyline.

The frustrations that come from playing it outweigh the game's few positive elements.

The game's worst enemy is the clearly rushed production time. You can feel a decent idea inside Stormrise, yearning to get out.

It looks good – the game world and the models fighting in it, despite some lacklustre opening cutscenes – but the means to get anything done is too painful to recommend. This has been, without a doubt, one of the times I found it hard to face going back again for another go. Which is a shame, because how this game design went through Creative Assembly’s processes and came out the other end mystifies me, and on that basis, this is almost impossible to recommend.

Certainly, releasing it so close to Halo Wars suggests deliberate commercial suicide - that it’s genuinely progressive ideas will be ignored and lost as a result is a minor tragedy. [Apr 2009, p.118]

Stormrise doesn’t suffer simply because it’s on a console. In trying to introduce a new, supposedly user-friendly unit selection system, developer The Creative Assembly instead destroys almost all of the game’s playability.

Creative Assembly deserve a fair amount of praise for at least attempting something new (the whip select system could have worked well with a smaller Full Spectrum Warrior-type army) and for some of the neat ideas lurking beneath its derivative post-apocalyptic trappings – most notably the ability to command units on different levels, as opposed to a flat playing area. But unfortunately, Stormrise quickly degenerates into a war of attrition.

Stormrise is caulk full of good ideas that don't amount to much. RTS innovations alone can't save Stormrise because thinking great thoughts doesn't always equate to a good game. Any redeeming factor is marred by sloppy construction and ideas that sound much better on paper.

Stormrise, and more so the Whip-system, could have pushed the boundaries of the consoles RTS to a higher level. Too bad it failed during the process. The game lacks a decent overview and you have little control over your units, making the game difficult to play. The game makes up for lost ground in multiplayer, but why would you settle for a mediocre RTS-game when there are so many others games that offer a lot more.

Although the game is a good try, it does not accomplish what you expect. Only real RTS-gamers should consider buying this title.

If the end of the world is anything like that depicted by Stormrise, we can expect our siblings to lose their sense of direction and choose extraordinarily complex systems to order themselves around with. Lord have mercy on our souls.

One of the worst games of the first quarter of 2009. Strategic aspect is poor, the whip selection system is a total failure, Hud is complicated. Ugly unit design, and a creepy graphical engine. Creative Assemply should focus on Total War and forget other experiments.

The developers are to be saluted for their valiant stab at innovation and that is very admirable, but when the core gameplay just isn't fun, all the innovation (and men with compensatory robot exo-skeletons) in the world won't redeem a title.

Stormrise is an example of a good idea gone horribly wrong. It almost feels like Creative Assembly, the developer, became so enamored with the novelty of the Whip Select mechanic that they neglected to even attempt to make the game enjoyable.

Considering Stormrise was created by The Creative Assembly who has crafted some of the best strategy titles in the history of strategy games; this game is an incredible and ultimate disappointment in almost every single way. At best it is a rental for those who are interested in console RTS games and for the rest of the gamers in the land, the game is just something to stay away from.

A simple design idea for controllers created a massive chain reaction in how the game is played, and frankly, it’s for the worst.

Stormrise innovative controls are its major fault too, making selecting troops a very unpleasant experience. Add it to buggy and obsolete graphics, and all you've got is a very bad attempt at making a console RTS.

In light of the game's ambitiously advertised, but ultimately disastrous technology, one has to wonder just how many hours were actually spent on testing this shambles of a game.

This frustrating, broken mess is one of the worst strategy games in years.

What little tactical challenge commanding these brain-dead battles presents still manages to overwhelm the game's signature whip select system.