Creative Assembly Reveals Free-to-Play Total War: Arena

[StewShearerOld]

Creative Assembly Reveals Free-to-Play Total War: Arena

Total War: Arena will mesh traditional RTS mechanics with MOBA-style gameplay.

The Total War series is one of the gold standard of the strategy genre, masterfully executing the feeling of commanding vast armies in titanic battles. Even a small engagement in Total War is likely to involve hundreds of highly detailed soldiers locked in a bloody combat. Excitement was palpable when Total War's developer, Creative Assembly, unveiled the next entry <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118221-Total-War-Returns-to-Rome>in the franchise, Rome: Total War II. Now Creative Assembly has announced another new game to take up the series' banner: Total War: Arena.

Though details for the game are still few, Creative Assembly has revealed some tidbits about Arena, namely that it will be free-to-play. More important, perhaps, is the brief description Creative Assembly has offered of Arena's gameplay. "ARENA will focus entirely on online multiplayer, mixing elements of RTS and MOBA gameplay," they said. While multiplayer online battle arena titles (or, less awkwardly, MOBAs) can certainly require a lot of thought and strategy, they're still stylistically quite different from Total War, which is more a hybrid of turn-based kingdom management and real-time strategy.

That being said, only a few details about what Arena will actually be have been provided and, while Creative Assembly seems to be taking a few pages from the League of Legends handbook, it's still promising "the chance to pitch history's greatest commanders and their armies against each other in massive team-based battles." Massive tends to mean big, and considering the scale that Total War fans are used to, you can assume nothing else will be satisfactory.

Gamers interested in participating in a closed beta for Arena can visit the game's website to sign up.


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[Fappy]

This has huge potential if they take the best parts of what LoL and Dota have done and make it completely their own thing. I mean, fuck lanes, fuck towers, make this the first truly different MOBA. Also, pick some truly unique and varied leaders. Not just the greatest of the greatest. Pick small timers like William Wallace and Joan of Arc as well as bigwigs like Washington... assuming of course that this is "all eras go" warfare.

 

[itsthesheppy]

"ARENA will focus entirely on online multiplayer, mixing elements of RTS and MOBA gameplay," they said.

Speaking as someone who will buy almost anything with Total War written on it, the quote above grants this one a pass from me. The last thing the world needs is yet another "me too" grab for the MOBA scene. Face it guys. League of Legends won that one. Try something else and stick to what you're good at.

 

[Kargathia]

This has huge potential if they take the best parts of what LoL and Dota have done and make it completely their own thing. I mean, fuck lanes, fuck towers, make this the first truly different MOBA. Also, pick some truly unique and varied leaders. Not just the greatest of the greatest. Pick small timers like William Wallace and Joan of Arc as well as bigwigs like Washington... assuming of course that this is "all eras go" warfare.

Heh, just saying, but in military terms Washington would be hard pressed to make the top 100. If you're talking bigwigs, then that'd be people like Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Nobunaga, Djenghis Khan, Timur the Lame, Julius Ceasar, and Rommel - generals that didn't merely win some battles, but pushed the boundaries past what anyone thought possible with an army.

That said, this has the potential of being something really unique and interesting. Definitely keeping my eye on it.

 

[Fappy]

This has huge potential if they take the best parts of what LoL and Dota have done and make it completely their own thing. I mean, fuck lanes, fuck towers, make this the first truly different MOBA. Also, pick some truly unique and varied leaders. Not just the greatest of the greatest. Pick small timers like William Wallace and Joan of Arc as well as bigwigs like Washington... assuming of course that this is "all eras go" warfare.

Heh, just saying, but in military terms Washington would be hard pressed to make the top 100. If you're talking bigwigs, then that'd be people like Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Nobunaga, Djenghis Khan, Timur the Lame, Julius Ceasar, and Rommel - generals that didn't merely win some battles, but pushed the boundaries past what anyone thought possible with an army.

That said, this has the potential of being something really unique and interesting. Definitely keeping my eye on it.

I know someone would call me on that XD

I'm speaking strictly from an American perspective of who would be "popular" choices. Wasn't really talking about who were the best/most successful military leaders.

 

[Little Duck]

You know, I always have concerns about where total war should go as a series. It still has a lot of wars it hasn't covered (see everything in china) but we're getting to the point now where there is only 1 of it's main titles (empire) without a major sequel. I want to see this series diversify. I want to se mythology total war, where I lead an army to kill Poseidon or Anubis. I want to see Game of thrones total war, where the diplomacy matters as much IF NOT MORE than the battles do.

I'm happy this game exists but i want to see more from these guys as I love their game and I don't want to play medieval 3.

 

[Artemis923]

I want to see Game of thrones total war, where the diplomacy matters as much IF NOT MORE than the battles do.

I've played the Westeros: Total War mod for MTW2 to death. It's a nice illusion that lets me crush the Starks under my crimson Lannister boot.

 

[Cecilo]

Well. The makers of Total War were given the right to make a Warhammer Fantasy game. Assuming they don't half bake it like the people who made Mark of Chaos did. Then you may get your wish. Giant battles with demons, dragons, undead, orcs, goblins, Dwarves, Vampire Counts, Egyptian styled Undead Tomb Kings, Elves, Skaven (Ratmen) Beastmen, Lizardmen, all a possibility if they actually make it into a total war game.

 

[Monsterfurby]

God damn, EVERYONE is jumping on the MOBA bandwagon.

Do we really need 20 fucking games in such a narrow genre?

And with every MOBA they create, they feed the "I played MOBAs back when there was ONLY Aeon of Strife!" crowd. People like me. Mwahahaha!

But seriously - erm... Not a fan of this idea, but on the other hand - as long as it makes money for CA which then allows them to make the core games better, sure, why not.

 

[Xdeser2]

Im a HUGE fan of the Total War series, but......Really CA?

Do you really want to be known as one of THOSE Devs who just try to latch on to something popular to make a buck?

I've dabbled in multiplayer battles here and there, but Total War has always been a strictly single player thing for me :/

 

[Gitty101]

Well, you really don't lose anything with the free-to-play model, so may as well try this one. I'm quite perplexed as to why they chose to do this though, considering the studios' pedigree.

 

[Yelchor]

So, this will be like League of Legends/DOTA, but with more depth if I understand correctly.

All I can say is "Why?".

Am I to assume this is an independent decision on Creative Assembly's part, and that it does not take away resources and manpower from the development of Rome 2? Even if they say that is the case, I will have little cause to believe them.

Considering how SEGA demanded Aliens Colonial Marines to be modified for the appeal of the "mainstream market", this seems like a repetition of that story. This time trying to compete with DOTA 2 and similar products. And SEGA wants a company with no real experience in that frontier to be in the vanguard? Just to be clear, I think Creative Assembly is competent, in their own way. To trust them in developing a game to a market where tight-knit, responsive controls are paramount wouldn't be the best choice.

I don't know what the majority of the sudience thinks, but personally I want them to stay with developing deep, continent-spanning experiences that can last for months. If this was a decision made on Creative Assembly's own accord, then nothing should stop them. But as said above, I don't think that is the case.

And I wonder how much DLC they will add to this one (I have a feeling they will make core factions from the first Rome separate purchases).

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

Maybe we could wait to see a little more about it before we all start screeching like a horde of bats?

 

[Barciad]

God damn, EVERYONE is jumping on the MOBA bandwagon.

Do we really need 20 fucking games in such a narrow genre?

But, Hannibal, and lots of elephants backed up by Sacred Band cavalry

 

[ron1n]

God damn, EVERYONE is jumping on the MOBA bandwagon.

Do we really need 20 fucking games in such a narrow genre?

This x 1000

Everyones jumping on the moba F2P microteansaction cash cow.

I really do wish they made this into something awesome,but more likely ot will be a mediocore cash in on the CA name.

Also if warhammer totalwar doesnt happen, they are dead to me. -_-

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

God damn, EVERYONE is jumping on the MOBA bandwagon.

Do we really need 20 fucking games in such a narrow genre?

This x 1000

Everyones jumping on the moba F2P microteansaction cash cow.

I really do wish they made this into something awesome,but more likely ot will be a mediocore cash in on the CA name.

Also if warhammer totalwar doesnt happen, they are dead to me. -_-

Already has happened.

Call of Warhammer: Total War [http://www.moddb.com/mods/call-of-warhammer-total-war].

Check it out. It's awesome.

 

[ron1n]

Already has happened.

Call of Warhammer: Total War [http://www.moddb.com/mods/call-of-warhammer-total-war].

Check it out. It's awesome.

Yeah played it and it was a commendable mod, but also severely limited due to the engine.

If CA is intending on making Warhammer Totalwar, and they want to do it justice, they'll need to make some serious changes to the existing game formula.

Magic and flying units for example would surely be a must to properly distinguish it.

I'm worried by how the campaign map would work too given the Totalwar series' emphasis on economy and trade. Not sure how well this will work in the warhammer universe where there's only a small handful of typical alliances/trade partners.