DarkPlanet: Battle for Natrolis
$19.95		(Win95/98/Me/2000/XP) (Small Retail) (DARKPLANPR)

Publisher: UbiSoft

Game: Adventure

Blood , Gore and Violence

3 Powers- 3 Instincts- Infinite Battle!

For eons, the planet Natrolis was controlled by the magic of the reptilian Sorin race. But when a fleet of tech-powered humans arrives to colonize the surface, they awaken the unimaginable - the Dreil, a hyper-evolved insectoid warrior race hibernating deep within the planet's core. Now, all three forces collide in a mortal struggle for domination.

Features:

• 3 unique races to play with different strategies for success: Colonists - High Tech (a sci-fi mechanized army), Sorin - Swords and Sorcery (a fantasy army with magic powers), Dreil - Monsters (use brute force and hive and cocooning behavior)
• Highly detailed 3D world with day and night cycles, plants that sway in the wind, and ambient creatures that have their own life cycles
• AI.* Realistic weather that effects your strategy. Rains will slow down movement, wind patterns change, nighttime brings darkness.
• True 3D engine with fully adjustable perspective, zoom, and viewing angle
• Classic RTS Gameplay with brand new concepts. Easy to learn, but a challenge to master
• Robust multiplayer options with several different modes, including Domination, Capture the Flag, and Campaign.
• Explore the extensive technology trees of the Sorin, Colonist, and Dreil forces. Each collects a unique resource.
• Feel the persistent effects of combat, like destroyed structures, scorched earth, deformed terrain, and more.
• Create and control some of the largest 3D units ever seen in a strategy game.

Sample characters from each of the 3 races that are playable in Dark Planet

Dreil

The Dreil cannot remember from which planet they originally spawned, nor do they care. What is certain is that for millions of years their race has expanded across the stars, leaving many thousands of inhabited worlds lying dead behind them. They are voracious and mindlessly efficient. Now the Dreil have landed on Natrolis, a world rich in life and resources. The native species are strong warriors, and the vibrancy of the planet has caught the attention of another powerful expansionist race. The battle for dominance on Natrolis will be hard fought, but the Dreil will consume all.

DRONE Primary unit in the Dreil hive structure, not important enough to the Queen to warrant tough protection, as they are quick and easy to breed.

BLOCKER The Queen needs protecting at all costs, and one of the most effective Dreils who can stop anything from happening to her is her devoted Blocker. Huge eyes allow it to see the enemy in good time, and huge arm-like features stop and crush them more often than not. When in range, the Blocker can devastate most units with its massive strength and bad attitude.

COCOON SUCKER The Cocoon sucker is the unit that takes the entombed enemies back to the Queen. It does this by straddling over the Cocoons created by fallen or captured enemy units and digesting them temporarily into its stomach, then it can head back to the Hive where it deposits them for later consumption. Having little in the way of self-protection it's worth sending these units out with a protection party - the energy the Dreils get from the cocoons is well worth the effort and risk

Sorin

The warden's heavy footsteps echo through the temple passage as he brings the old priest a pot filled with fresh blood. The offering of blood and the tale of his brutality on the battlefield will, he hopes, assure him further glory in the afterlife. He bows his head as he enters the old priest's chamber and places the pot on the table. The priest's tongue flickers out for a moment to taste the air, then he shuffles forward and laps greedily at the contents of the pot. The taste is unique and exquisite. Dizzy with pleasure, he slithers back to his chair and signals for the warden to begin. The story will be a fine tale of savagery and the slaughter of the soft-bodied creatures from the stars. On a planet that endured no catastrophic impacts, the Sorin are the ultimate expression of life and evolution. Their society and their intelligence have developed over tens of millions of years. They are the absolute rulers of Natrolis, the very top of the food chain.

ARCHER The first of your Archer units, this unit uses a bow so it can fire basic wood-based projectiles over a distance. Because of this, against even much stronger enemy units and armed with only a bow and arrow, it is still extremely effective. The armor on the Archer is standard leather edition, which is enough to stop basic attacks from significantly affecting its energy, unless sustained attacks continue to hound him. Archers are most effective when firing from a height. This allows him to fire slightly further and with greater damage than if he were on the ground.

PRIEST PROTECTOR The Priest Protector is, just like the Warden, a defender of the Sorin tribe. Primarily focused on defending vulnerable Priest units in the open, the Protector uses its speed of attack to best effect when confronting an enemy. If you can get it close to the target, you know it will hit it almost every time, causing major damage. Protectors in general are important military personnel. They make up the midground in the race, protecting the magical combat personnel by defending those units as a priority over others. Although they may not be the decisive factor in any of the tribal battles, they are a very important part in any calculated ambush or backup strategy, which may be deployed by any of the enemy races.

HAMMER SLAVE The Slave is the single and most basic element of the Sorin civilization. Slaves are absolutely necessary for performing your basic commands, and are the only units that can effectively stockpile your resources needed for survival. It is better to have excess Slaves, than to have too few in your ranks.

Colonist

After 6 years of talks, the conference spokesman unveiled to the world the Expansionist Charter. Rich countries were to pour billions into exploration and colonization of the neighboring solar systems. Poorer nations provided the many cheap lives needed for the early extreme-risk missions. Now 300 years later, the Colonist Corps High Orbital Support Vessel (HOSV) Ganymede enters 6Hubley-21 on its way to the system's fourth planet, Natrolis. Four years previously, all contact with the seed-ship Natrolis Blossom abruptly ended only days after it landed on the planet. Final transmissions told of colonist security being swiftly overwhelmed by a savage, lizard-like species. Most dreadful of all was the report that Dreil scouts had been spotted observing the battle. If this is true, then the Colonist Council's worst fears have been realized... The pestilence that is the Dreil empire is spreading toward the Homeworld. The Colonists have been ordered to purge the Dreil from the planet, and to neutralize any further threat to colonization.

GUNNER Similar to the Marine but armed with a medium-range projectile launcher. As a mid-squad unit, the Gunner can be slightly slower to react and fire, but causes much more damage when finally catching the enemy on target. This is particularly effective when you need to take out an installation, as the continued projectile assault creates much better collateral damage.

SENTRY To withstand an assault of any sort of scale, you need a unit that can stand in the middle of battle, trading blow for blow. The Sentry is the unit in charge of the defense of the Colonist area and is well equipped for the task, coming armed with a Polyresin shield that can deflect bullets and withstand attack with acid. When used to guard important installations, these units are extremely effective in getting rid of the enemy attacking the installation.

JETMARINE A Lightweight mobile infantry unit, which is equipped with a jetpack to quickly move around the land. The Jet Marine is equipped with a Plasma Laser rifle that has a rapid rate of fire, stopping enemy units on the land in their tracks. Jet Marines attack by flying to the target, landing and shooting, as the recoil from the Plasma rifle would put them out of trajectory. This attacking method leaves the Jet Marine vulnerable when on the ground.

Requirements:

Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP: Pentium III 450 or AMD K6-3 500 ( Pentium III 800 or AMD K6-3 800 recommended) 64MB RAM ( 128MB RAM recommended), 3D video card w/16 MB RAM, DirectX 8 compatible (32 MB RAM recommended) Sound Card ( DirectX 8 compatible) DirectX 8 or higher (included on CD) Internet or LAN connection for multiplayer.

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