I saw this article at rock paper shotgun and its got me pretty excited. Of course any article with the words ‘Covert Action’ and ‘Remake’ would. The game I see discussed here is bringing back memories of an old game from Clancy’s Redstorm Ruthless.com. It was an incredible game very board gamey with lots of fun things to do as you managed a software company to market dominance. Sounds boring until you factor your security teams kidnapping rival executives while your hacker cadres infect rival networks with viruses. Awesome features, horrible AI. The AI pretty much breaks the game as it doesn’t understand at all how to use the tools available. So broken I can’t vouch for any balance issues because the AI folds so easily no matter how I attack it.
This kickstarter Net Gain seems to take some of that and goes on to build on it. The game has you as a corporation managing a group of operatives as you strive for dominance. The page explains it much better then I can but this looks interesting. It’s a kickstarter indie so the graphics look a little rough but here’s hoping good things.
Holy crap. I come here to pimp out the AOEII HD release, and I get a Ruthless.com shout-out. What an odd world we live in.
Thank you for your kind words. The game does shine best in multiplayer. I’d also recommend playing some of the other scenarios that can increase the time before the AI’s limitations become too apparent.
Man, I remember that game. I was HORRIBLE at it, if I recall, so don’t worry, the AI was capable of beating SOMEONE! It was a really sweet idea, though.
I forgot that we have a lot of developers here. So thanks a lot for Ruthless.com it was a pretty awesome experience.
I liked the whole idea of the power plays series being turned into games. Politika (is that right?) lost me but I loved Ruthless and Shadow Watch. Wasn’t there supposed to be a bio-war game too? I wanted to see that. It would be great to see on PC game form just look at the popularity of the board game Pandemic it’s a captivating subject. I could see some hesitation about the idea of being in the ‘weaponizing’ side of it but a research sim could have been something that I would have played. Granted I might be the only one.
We did start work on a fourth title around biowar, but dropped it due to development troubles. It was sort of a blend of Shadow Watch and ruthless, with some twists.
You can’t tell me that. It sounds awesome! You should say it was purely a 2d sidescrolling platformer arcade game then I wouldn’t have cared ;)
Also I think Brian Rubin might know more but wasn’t there a capital ship game too? Unrelated to the power plays series. Man you guys had more going for you then just rainbow six. Those were some neat concepts.
Decker (A hacking roguelike more similar to uplink than ruthless)
Shadow Watch (Corperate espionage xcomlike)
Covert Action (Spy game from the golden age of Microprose although you were one agent and your job was to foil and not enact plots)
I’m sure more will come to me. I’m trying to put in procedurely or at least dynamic games. Else, I would have put the Neuromancer adventure game in. Please add I look forward to other suggestions. And if there are questions I love to share information about these old gems as well.
