Elements-of-War posts

Nature cannot be ordered around. Rain, wind, earthquakes and other weather and natural disasters are out of man's control. At least that's the way it is in the real world. In the just released RTS game Elements of War, it is quite different. In the near future, mankind has figured out ways to create tornadoes, earthquakes and other forces of nature which can then be used as weapons.

The game from developer Lesta Studio has made it to the US via publisher Kalypso Media. Big Download chatted with Lesta to find out more about Elements of War's unique gameplay feature.

It's another fairly slow week for new PC game releases but there's still some interesting titles coming out, including the launch of a new MMO, a RTS game with weather effects and an expansion pack for a popular action-RPG game.

Magicka: Vietnam - This is the first mini-expansion pack for the sleeper hit action-RPG from developer Arrowhead Game Studios and publisher Paradox Interactive. Yes for $4.99 the game will add a new campaign where the wizards fight off creatures in the Vietnam jungle with spells and guns while trying to rescure POWs, Rambo style. Look for a new challenge map to be added to the game as well.

Elements of War is exactly what it says on the tin: elements and war. Specifically, the natural elements mixed with modern warfare units. This trailer focuses mostly on the realistic units, such as the tanks and helicopters, but busts out some awesome weather manipulation for the finale. It's definitely got us interested, as new and innovative strategy titles are always exciting to see. So take a look and see if all the lightning strikes and thunderstorms tickle your fancy.

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Elements of War, the near-future RTS game from developer Lesta Studio, has now gone gold according to its US publisher Kalypso Media. Originally scheduled for released this month, the game will now be released in the US on April 12.

Previously released in Russia in mid-2010, Elements of War will feature a mix of modern day weapons like helicopters and tanks alongside near-future weapons such as human-powered exoskeletons and more. Players will also be able to activate weapons that will allow them to change the weather and the environments against their enemies such as creating earthquakes and tornadoes.

While first person shooters, action games and role playing games can cross over from the PC to consoles, strategy games are still mostly on the PC side of things. 2010 brought us some big strategy game releases such as Civilization V and most notably StarCraft II Wings of Liberty. 2011 also has some major turn and RTS based strategy games on tap for release including the latest in a long line of historical RTSs, the return of a major turn based fantasy strategy series and even the latest attempt at an MMO RTS game.

Big Download has picked 10 upcoming strategy PC games that we can't wait to play (in order of their expected release dates) in the next year as part of our multi-part feature on the games of 2011. You can also go back and check out our previous entries on the first person shooter, action and RPG-MMO genres.

About a year ago it was announced that developer Lesta Studio was working on an RTS game called Elements of War. Not much has been heard of that game since then but today publisher Kalypso Media announced that it would be publishing the game sometime in March 2011.

Just a reminder: This game's biggest twist on the standard RTS game is the introduction of weapons that can create and manipulate weather and other natural events on the battlefield. That includes creating earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes. The game, set in the near future, will feature three different factions, over 40 different units, and a 12 mission campaign.

[Via email press release]

Lovers of the Tower Defense genre are having a good month. First, Immortal Defense is released on Impulse, making it even easier to get into the classic indie title. Now comes Elements of War, a tower defense game made using UDK. It's the first tower defense game using Epic's free development kit, but we're sure it won't be the last. After all, tower defense is a very popular casual genre, and it appeals to strategy enthusiasts and action gamers alike!

Elements of War is about the place you live in being assaulted by an alliance of power-hungry nations. You must defend the empire, not out of nationalistic loyalty, but because you want to protect the ones you love. You do this by combining six different basic elemental types into a variety of different towers. It's similar to a tower defense map for Warcraft 3, so those that are involved in the custom maps scene in Warcraft 3 will be happy to know that one of the mods has received a significant graphical overhaul. You can check out Elements of War at the developer's website.

Russia has always been a big PC game market and this week a new publisher in the country announced both its presence and its first game projects. The publisher is Playnatic Entertainment and their first game out of the game is titled Elements of War, a new take on trying to bring the RTS genre into the MMO space.

Developed by Lesta Studio, the game takes place in the near future where folks have created weapons that can create man-made natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes. The game will have an offline single player version along with an online free-to-play MMO version which is fairly unique for this kind of game. Elements of War is suppose to launch the MMO version in the first quarter of 2010.