Conflict Zone

Written by Bill Elder  on June 30, 2001

First Impressions: Ubi Soft just can't get enough of the little gray machine called the DreamcastЕand I don't mind as long as they keep bringing these great titles to me.

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Ubi Soft has been busy working on Dreamcast titles since it's launch way back on September 9, 1999 (oh so long it has been). They've graced our presence with stellar titles like Rayman 2 and Speed Devils, but neither they nor any other developer has provided us with a strong strategy game on the Dreamcast. Well folks, the time has finally come.

Along with the French company, Mathematiques Appliquees S.A., Ubi Soft is working on Conflict Zone, a strategy game set in the near future. When you start the game out you choose from playing as the International Corps for Peace, or as independent dictatorships. Playing as either or, you are confronted with wars and ethnic conflicts from around the world. You can't just go around blowing stuff up immediately though (darn!), there's a little more to it than that.

In Conflict Zone, good feedback from the media is very important. The media's feedback on your decisions impacts your popularity with the public, and even your resources. For example, if I just went and blew up some country because they were causing trouble, then the people here might (and probably would) protest and take away my resources as a leader. Not only that, but how do I know a civil war won't break out in my own country? Ah! Now you know how it felt to be Bill Clinton, well, maybe not.

As you can see Conflict Zone won't just be a strategy game on the battle side of things, but on the political side of things as well. But once you do get into it, battle strategy will be very important. There will be a total of 32 missions within two campaigns, and you will of course have many weapons at your disposal (hehe, boom!).

Sadly though you won't be able to waste all of that ammo blowing up random things. Not that I do thatЕ but anyway, the reason is because resource management will be very important on the battlefield, as well as in the office (or the political part of the game). But what actually defines the term Сbattlefield' for this game? We're going to have to wait to find out, because Ubi Soft is saying that you will be able to delegate key tasks to separate commanders. Which in turn, will allow for multi-site battles.

Mathematiques Appliquees S.A. is being brought in on the development side of things just to work on the title's artificial intelligence; it's their specialty. You can expect a variety of gameplay, even in the same mission thanks to the advanced AI in the game. Ubi Soft is also saying that individual units during battle will show human-like reactions. However, the AI is being built so it's not too tough for rookies, but then again not too easy for veterans. SegaNet support will also be present if you get tired of the games AI. So you can go against my intelligence. Lucky You!