Details about Military Madness: Nectaris for consoles developed by Backbone

[handygrafx]

UPDATE:  New website is now online! http://www.militarymadnessgame.com/


Military Madness: Nectaris is a remake of the original game being made for Xbox 360/XBLA, PS3/PSN and Wii Ware.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/08/04/military-madness-nectaris-coming-to-psn/#more-14169

I am extremely excited to be here today to re-announce Military Madness: Nectaris to the world! I say “re-announce” because the game was first brought to the public eye several months ago, but at the time, the game could only be talked about in terms of bullet points. Now, I’m the lucky guy that gets to blow the lid off of the latest incarnation of the greatest turn-based strategy franchise of all time.

Believe it or not, the original Military Madness (called Nectaris in Japan) was released all the way back in 1989 for a magical little system called the TurboGrafx-16. While the system wasn’t all that successful, the game itself became a cult hit. Why? Not only did it introduce gamers in the States to the exciting turn-based strategy genre… but it was both really fun and really deep (and thus ends our three sentence history lesson).

As mentioned above, Military Madness is a turn-based strategy game. This means you and your opponent(s) take turns moving your squads around the battlefield and having them attack each other. There are over 20 different types of units that can make up your squads, each with their own unique advantages and disadvantages. Also, there are over a half-dozen different terrain types, which can drastically alter a squad’s defensive properties and mobility. So, knowing the terrain is just as important as knowing your troops.

In Military Madness, there is no economic system. No money. No unit production. You can capture factories to steal squads and use those same factories to repair damaged squads, but should a squad be completely destroyed… it’s gone for good. Military Madness isn’t about resource management. It’s about tactics. It’s about decisive military action. It’s about making smart decisions and punishing your opponent for making careless ones.


Another thing Military Madness: Nectaris is all about: value! We’ve got tons of content that should keep you busy for dozens of hours. In fact, it’s like you get two games worth of content in one!

First off: the single player experience. The game comes with all 32 classic missions from the original TurboGrafx-16 version of the game (that’s 16 missions for the normal campaign and another 16 for the advanced campaign). The single player component of the game is essentially a remake of the spectacular original game. Of course, we’ve got the prerequisite spiffy new graphics and built-from-the-ground-up AI. While the first missions will go quickly, I feel comfortable saying that you can expect to spend 20 to 30 hours in the single player campaign alone.

And then there’s the multiplayer! I wish I could go into more detail about this here… but there’s just no room (in this post, anyway). For now, you’ll have to settle for a quick overview. We support (deep breath): online and local play (where players can share a single controller or use separate controllers) for up to four players!; 10 original multiplayer maps, designed specifically for either 2, 3, or 4 players; AI-controlled opponents; scoreboard matches with competitive settings; 10 Vehicle Upgrades and 10 Support Abilities for the brand-new and highly versatile Commander squad; free-for-alls and team games; and all the other bells and whistles you’d expect from a modern online game (voice chat, invites, etc.). Even after putting well over 100 hours into the multiplayer game, I’m still having tons of fun with it and I can’t wait to test my skills online against all of you!

Finally, we’ve got the most comprehensive manual you’ll find on a downloadable title that will help you understand all the ins and outs of the game. And, of course, trophies (yay)!

previews and media:
http://wii.ign.com/articles/965/965235p1.html
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/strategy/militarymadness/images.html?sid=6207092&part=rss&tag=gs_all_games&subj=6207092
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/48241.html
http://www.411mania.com/games/previews/102234/Military-Madness-%28XBLA%29-Preview.htm
http://www.thebitbag.com/2009/03/23/hudson-to-serve-up-summer-fun-with-diner-dash-military-madness-water-warfare/
http://xbox360.gamezone.com/gzreviews/p29902.htm
http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/2264/Military-Madness/p1/
http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=62328
http://www.cinemablend.com/games/16-Bit-Classic-Military-Madness-Comes-To-PSN-XBLA-WiiWare-16556.html
http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=84720
http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Android/Military+Madness/review.asp?c=13464

[handygrafx]

Neo Nectaris (1994) PC-Engine Super CD-ROM²


Nectaris: Military Madness (1998, 1999) PlayStation


Military Madness: Nectaris  (2009)  PSN - XBLA - Wii Ware

[esteban]

I have yet to sift through all the links in your post, but it seems I'll be getting this for PS3 / Xbox to check it out.

We support (deep breath): online and local play (where players can share a single controller or use separate controllers) for up to four players!; 10 original multiplayer maps, designed specifically for either 2, 3, or 4 players; AI-controlled opponents; scoreboard matches with competitive settings; 10 Vehicle Upgrades and 10 Support Abilities for the brand-new and highly versatile Commander squad; free-for-alls and team games; and all the other bells and whistles you’d expect from a modern online game (voice chat, invites, etc.).

Question: This sounds nice, but I wonder how folks will feel about TBS online? Do they get bored waiting for the other player to move? Personally, I don't mind waiting, since I play a lot of turn-based stuff (Scrabble, chess, Risk), but what about all those ADHD kids out there....



Thoughts:
1. I am repeating myself, but I can't help but feel that the developers should have incorporated at least a HANDFUL of new maps into the single-player mode. Hopefully additional content is coming in the near future?

2. 10 new multiplayer maps? OK. Hopefully they beef this up with additional maps, ASAP.

3. OK, I'll stop there, for now, because, honestly, I'm glad this is being released and I hope it does well

4. I am curious to see what the "flow" of this game will be like. Many strategy games (RTS, TBS) are great on paper, but lack a nice, smooth experience when you are actually playing. There is an art to taking complex, multi-step workflows and making them streamlined and fun instead of tedious. I don't think the Nectaris series excelled at this, so even minor tweaks would be welcome.

5. You know when you feel disconnected, emotionally, from the events in a game (strategy or otherwise)? Too many games leave me feeling "flat" during the battles, especially battle animation in RPG's and strategy games. Sometimes things are too sterile, too contrived, uneventful, uninspired, generic etc. etc. I hope this game delivers a visceral payoff. The PlayStation 1 version did not deliver (ambitious goals, poorly executed). The Gameboy version did not deliver (a little bit of spit and polish would have gone a long way to making the battles more enthralling). Perhaps there should be a third option in games--a median between "full-fledged cinematic battles" (which can grow tiresome when the novelty wears off) and "cancel cinematics completely"  (which speeds up the game, but can be too spartan). Add a bit of finesse and glitter to the bare-bones approach to create a third option.


UPDATE: WiiWare, why do you suck? Behold:



So, for those not keeping score... 10 maps are in the Xbox/PS3 version, but only half (5) are in the WiiWare multiplayer.

10 is __________. 5 is even more _________ .

[handygrafx]

I'm not happy with the fact that the Wii Ware version is getting the short end of the stick, but because I like the series so much, I'll buy both the XBLA and Wii Ware versions (I don't own a PS3 yet so no PSN ver for me).

I do hope the new console download versions play fast like the original 1989 game did. This is something that really discouraged me about the PS1 version, it was too slow, because of the CD-ROM media. loading took way too long.
I suppose Neo Nectaris on PCE SCD suffered from this too, but I don't remember it suffering as badly as the PS1 version did.

[esteban]

I'm not happy with the fact that the Wii Ware version is getting the short end of the stick, but because I like the series so much, I'll buy both the XBLA and Wii Ware versions (I don't own a PS3 yet so no PSN ver for me).

Well, I don't have a Wii, but I do have PS3 (well, my brother does). So we'll compare notes.

I do hope the new console download versions play fast like the original 1989 game did. This is something that really discouraged me about the PS1 version, it was too slow, because of the CD-ROM media. loading took way too long.
I suppose Neo Nectaris on PCE SCD suffered from this too, but I don't remember it suffering as badly as the PS1 version did.

100% in agreement with you. The PCE SCD didn't have any lag prior to the battles. The PS1, though, had poorly executed cinemas: the camera angles should have been better, the panning could have been more interesting at times, there seemed to be a lag prior to all cinematic battles, etc. etc.

[Black Tiger]

I think that the number of maps is an obvious cash grab to sell the rest as separate "map-pack" downloads.

I'm disappointed that the suits aren't modeled after either Nectaris or Neo Nectaris and look lame in comparison.

Having made those statements, I have no shame in admitting that I'd buy downloads that restore the styles of the original games.