Overview
Ground Control II: Operation Exodus is a real time strategy game developed by Massive Entertainment released for the PC in 2004. It is a sequel to Ground Control and much like its predecessor it focuses on unit strategy and tactics forgoing the usual base building and resource gathering. Ground Control 2 is classed as a real-time tactics game by its creators due to the lack of base building.
Unlike Ground Control, Ground Control II does contain a resource system of sorts. By capturing Victory Locations and killing enemy units Acquisition Points are earned. These allow the player to call for more reinforcements, use support weapons and upgrade the dropship used to call reinforcements. The game is much faster paced than the first game and focuses less on unit preservation and more on capturing victory locations. The game features 3 distinct forces, only 2 of which are playable, these are the Northern Star Alliance and the Viron Nomads, the Terran Empire is an NPC faction that are the main antagonist to the campaign storyline. Between the two playable factions there are 33 units available, all of them are deployed to the battlefield via dropships however unlike the predecessor units are not customizable but each unit does have a secondary function.
Factions
Northern Star Alliance
The NSA is a conglomeration of democratic colonies of the now non existant Crayven Corporation. The NSA celebrated prosperity and peace thanks to its hard working citizenry until the war with the Terran Empire began. The NSA utilizes conventional ballistic weapons along with wheeled or tracked vehicles. Their military technology is a direct descendant from the technology used by the Crayven Corporation over 300 years ago and it is just as effective today. The NSA forces are generally slower but more durable than Viron or Terran forces. NSA forces are led by Major Douglas C. Grant and players play the role of Captain Jacob Angelus in the NSA campaign.
Viron Nomads
The Virons are bipedal intelligent creatures that use organic technology along with powerful nanotechnology. They were first discovered by the rouge Sarah Parker after she ventured into their territory in the 26th century. Every attempt to establish communication with the Virons was met with hostility, the Virons are traditionally a very xenophobic and keep to themselves, culturally their society is divided into clans and are based on a strong code of honor. What happened between the events of Ground Control and Ground Control II is not known, however the Viron are potrayed as being the slave army of the Terran Empire. The Viron depend on a trace gas known as Zethane in a similar way to humans' dependency on oxygen. Thanks to the organic nature of their units the Virons are capable of regenerating health and also capable of a unique process called melding. Melding allows two units to combine into a single more powerful unit. This gives Viron units huge flexibility in combat although units are defenseless during the melding process.
Terran Empire
Formerly known as the Draconis Empire, the Empire of Terra or Terran Empire fights to unit humanity under a single sovereignty, unfortunately the method of uniting the people has been less than moral. The emperor of the Terran Empire, Marcus Augustus has put Vlaana Azleea in charge of forcing the NSA to join them. The Terran Empire contains the most advanced military technology of all three factions, they use specialized combat hovercraft, called hoverdynes. These are faster and more mobile than the units of other factions. They also use Strider units, large bipedal mechs armed with autocannons and missiles. Their units are typically armed with energy weapons that are the equal or even superior to other factions weaponry. On top of their technological advantage they also boast numerical superiority.
Availability
The game is available at gog.com.
Minimum system requirements
- Windows XP or Windows Vista
- 1.8 GHz Processor
- 512MB RAM (1 GB recommended)
- 3D graphics card compatible with DirectX 7 (compatible with DirectX 9 recommended)
- 4GB HDD
- Mouse
- Keyboard.
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