Games Thursday : Iron Grip : Warlord Demo Impressions
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Previously, I wrote about the distinctive concepts for the retrofuturistic world of Iron Grip. With the free demo at Isotx’s official site for Iron Grip : Warlord, gamers can experience that same world in what Isotx describes as a first person shooter/real time strategy hybrid.
Cooperative multiplayer is supported and playing with a group of close friends is probably the best way to experience this team-oriented game. That said, I don’t play multiplayer so I’ll describe my experiences with the single player games instead.
Each level (at least the first one, since the demo only includes a single playable level) essentially comprises a defence scenario where each player takes the role of an Atelian militiaman and works together with the other players in an attempt to stem the tide of Confederate invaders.
In the first level Spiral, players try to force an Confederate retreat by targeting the officers while keeping the endless waves of Confederate infantry and armour at bay. Officers of the Confederate Armies are no mere lightly-armeed pushovers with pistols as they’re armed with man-portable gatlings and are more than a match for any Atelian militiaman in individual combat.
In-game posters extorting Atelians to rise up against Confederate aggression bring the world of Iron Grip to life.
The Atelians have the advantage of fighting in home territory and hence have the ability of building and upgrading machinegun nests, turrets and supply stations to counter the invaders’ superiority in numbers and firepower. By killing their hated foes, the Atelians obtain the power required for these constructions as well as to upgrade their armoury and personal abilities.
Yuo see, unlike most team-based FPSes, Iron Grip : Warlord does not force you to pick and roleplay a class. Therefore at the start of each level, each Atelian militiaman arrives with the same ineffectual single-shot musket and pistol. By purchasing extra weapons with power gained from killing enemies, militiamen can eventually acquire an arsenal of deadly heavy machine guns, flamethrowers and recoilless rifles.
While specialized anti-tank turrets can be built to take out Ontos tanks supporting the Confederates, 40 RTE recoilless rifles are a more cost-effective anti-armour option. Turrets are of course more reliable since attacking an armoured car frontally or with Confederate infantry in tow with a 40 RTE is usually suicidal.
Victory in the each level is measured in morale – the first side whose morale drops to zero automatically quits the field. The Atelians usually lose when they are unable to rebuild a destroyed stronghold to restore morale whereas the Confederates retreat after suffering enough casualties, especially officers.
Each dead Confederate officer is another step to Atelian independence.
Playing solo in Iron Grip : Warlord essentially feels like a playing a FPS fused with elements of tower defence games. Set up machinegun nests at chokepoints (press G), sprinkle some mines for good measure and then camp somewhere with a heavy weapon (or take potshots with a musket 
). In a nod to realism, the Praetorian heavy machineguns require you to deploy them before firing and can only cover a limited field of fire.
After purchasing enough weapons, your tactical options expand from stalking high value targets like officers with Falcon sniper rifles, frying stragglers with Salamander flamethrowers to hunting tanks with recoiless rifles.
You can even stick around the turrets and machinegun nests and repair them with the almighty wrench / toolkit.
Unfortunately, your AI team members are quite a letdown in Iron Grip : Warlord – either they have absolutely no sense of self-preservation or they are fanatically zealous about restoring Atelian independence by charging at groups of Confederates and rushing at tanks with muskets Then again, being the ill-trained and poorly-equipped rabble that they are supposed to be, you can’t really blame them 
The bottomline is that if you always wanted to play as the underdog, you have to try Iron Grip : Warlord. While multiplayer isn’t a must, it’s definitely recommended to fully experience the full breadth of tactical team-oriented gameplay options that can only be realized by an all-human team.
Download the Iron Grip : Warlord demo.
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Iron Grip : Warlord Concepts
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