Recently released on August 29, 2011 on PC and Mac platforms by Hazardous Software, Achron is an RTS with an unusual twist: Time travel. This mix sets the basis for a very well thought-out puzzler of an RTS title. So get the Back to the Future puns out of the way now, while you can, and get ready for the future of military combat.
As soon as the player begins, they are greeted by a solidly acted monolog mission-statement. The voice recording of Captain Holloway gives some background on his current situation as the drifting debris of a destroyed ship floats through deep space.
In the distant future, the human race discovers the Remnant system; a far-off galaxy that would change everything. Within this system, scientists found three inhabitable candidate planets for human expansion. Yet years after this discovery, and upon the sleeper ship’s arrival in the system, they discovered much, much more. Alien ruins, thousands of years old, were found on the surface of many of the planets. Ruins that later led to the discovery of instantaneous teleportation. Using this new technology, the human race was able to expand far beyond their wildest dreams. Yet danger lurked in the darkness of space. Upon experiencing communications losses in multiple border colonies, a cruiser is dispatched only to find ash.
Now, with a third colony lost and an entire fleet destroyed, Captain Holloway must stop the incoming alien threat before it’s too late. Each mission briefing is accompanied by a fully voice-acted story sequence followed by a listing of dossiers and character background files for the player to read through if they wish. This gives the player a very detailed and thorough idea of the world of Achron, further immersing them in the experience.
The player is initially sent to Segura to locate a research facility and rescue the civilians inside from the incoming alien attack. Here they are greeted with the basics of troop movement, combat, and the hierarchy system. The hierarchy system is a fantastic gameplay element, allowing the player to single out one unit as a “leader” of sorts and control groups of units, both large and small, by issuing a single command to their respective leader – a great feature that comes in very handy.
After this brief tutorial level, the player is thrust into the world of Achron and given brief hints as new gameplay elements arise, like the inclusion of time manipulation. This is one feature Achron brings to the table and in fantastic fashion. Time travel is a concept found in so many forms of media, but never has it felt so real. Being able to see actions in past, present, and future tenses leads to a truly amazing level of control for the player.
While time travel is amazingly fun and very well implemented in-game, the player’s learning curve after the tutorial level is a very steep climb indeed. While the concept is briefly described to them, the player is still left with the task of learning how to manipulate their newly acquired chono powers, and sadly, this is not a concept that is slowly introduced. If it had been, perhaps, slowly spread across two or three levels instead of one, it would have been more easily received. Despite the slightly higher learning curve, Achron‘s controls are perfect for what they are designed to do. They feel natural and you will instinctively pick them up with ease – especially if you’re a veteran RTS player.
The visuals of Achron, while maybe not the best seen in RTS games to date, are very well designed. Units are easy to distinguish from others and the controllable units are numerous and varied both in design and animation. The HUD is as simplistic as it can be with so much to keep track of, but Achron does a great job of keeping a crisp, clean, feel to it. In fact, the time wave effects are downright cool to watch. Story sequences are displayed in an almost comic book style with a classical RPG undertone, making the process familiar to most players immediately. With everything going on at the same time, Achron does an amazing job of keeping things clean, uncluttered, and moving along smoothly.
The multiplayer found in Achron is where it truly shows its greatness. It’s solid, fast paced, and focuses heavily on utilizing your resources and chono powers wisely. A misuse of time manipulation could have you at a loss when you return to the future and your opponent has taken full advantage of your mistake. Focusing primarily on the complete and total destruction of your opponent’s attack units and unit-creating structures, the combat, while seemingly straight-forward in theory, is far from simplistic. In the off-chance you can’t find anyone to play against online, the guys over at Hazardous Software have shipped Achron with a very challenging AI system. This also makes for a great way for new online players to learn the ropes before taking on a human opponent. The menu systems are simple and easy to navigate to get your game going, but these pre-designed options are not where this game ends.
Achron sports one very welcomed feature: a level editor. This editor is incredibly user-friendly, allowing nearly anyone to make a map. In a matter of minutes, I had created a fully-working, and downright fun, map to play without any prior experience with the editor. This feature not only extends the life of the title exponentially, but gives the player the ability to manipulate the game and create worlds they truly want to explore with their friends or potential online opponents.
While the timeline races and the battles blaze across your screen, Achron does an amazing job audibly. From small, but distinct, sounds to signal spawns or enemy attacks to the destruction of important units, the game keeps the action at the forefront of the sound. The soundtrack admittedly seemed a bit too relaxing for the game at times, but the larger battle sequences always brought much harder and faster music into the mix. These tracks definitely helped to keep the larger battles engaging and frantic in nature.
Ultimately, Achron is a fantastic RTS for anyone looking for something a little beyond the standard. Hazardous has done an amazing job delivering a very unique take on the concept of both time-travel as well as military RTS combat, and the end result is a very enjoyable title. The learning curve may be too much for some players, but the experience is well worth the time investment.
