Unlike its cinematic counterpart directed by Danis Tanovic, the story of No Man's Land does not take place during the Bosnian war but rather propels us into the heart of the conquest of the West, from the arrival of the first conquistador until to the construction of the continental rail. Divided into three distinct campaigns, the game lets you take control of the destiny of six main characters, each from a different nation. You will have the choice between the English, the Spaniards, the Americans, two clans of Indians as well as settlers. Nations that you will take control of respectively during the three campaigns on offer. Each of these nations has its own units, its type of architecture but also their way of attacking and the damage they can cause. Indeed, some will be more effective in hand-to-hand combat (the Indians) while others will not hesitate to abuse gunpowder, I am talking in particular of the Spaniards. So of course, in view of the weapons used, one can think that certain nations are more powerful than others. This is not the case because each side has advantages that others do not have and vice versa, such as the possibility of having riders with more radical attacks than those of simple infantry. The balance is therefore balanced.
Like a little air of Warcraft III
As in any self-respecting RTS, the harvest of raw materials is therefore the first thing to do in order to be able to set up a base and an army worthy of your ambitions. To do this, three resources are needed and that Mother Nature puts in free service. Gold that you will find on the ground and that you will have to exploit by establishing a suitable structure, wood that any peon or other peasant can cut, but also food. An essential element to be able to make your units work but also to be able to create others. Food from grain crops or fishing, if the location allows it. Each built structure plays a major role in the evolution of your camp, thus allowing you to upgrade your combat technologies, your speed in harvesting raw materials or even increasing your firepower. Everything is served by an intuitive interface, which is reminiscent of a certain Warcraft III. Indeed, the various menus and other icons look very similar to those found in Blizzard's hit and for regulars of the genre, it will therefore take no less than two minutes to master everything. The peons are used to collect raw materials (gold, wood and food) but are also used to build all the infrastructure of your base. The resemblance to Warcraft III does not stop there, since even the different infrastructures resemble those of the RTS which has become a reference in the field. And although we can blame No Man's Land for having been greatly inspired by Warcraft III, the software developed by Related Designs remains above all one of the most classic RTSs that use the same ingredients to put this little world into paste.
Rather interesting innovations
But No Man's Land has other qualities by offering us rather innovative novelties in this area. Indeed, some missions during the single player mode (but also in multiplayer) will ask you to prevent the construction of a railway that the settlers will use to continue their conquest of the West. To do this, you will have to invade your opponents and neutralize the peons in order to prevent them from completing the construction of the rails, allowing them to advance into the country. Another novelty, the presence of relics that allow you to increase your combat techniques tenfold. Because once in their possession, you will be able to affect your opponents by casting spells on them such as the appearance of epidemics or even termites, thus slowing down the construction of their infrastructures but also of their units. While the Indian shamans can invoke the forces of Nature, in particular thanks to the presence of animals such as wolves or even bears, the English or the Spaniards have the possibility of using cannons to shoot the enemy at distance. Of course, each nation has its own elite units so as not to favor one side more than another. New features are also present in the many multiplayer modes. In addition to the classic Deathmatch, Team deathmatch, Domination (equivalent to Capture the flag), we can find a King of the hill mode, whose goal will be to capture the only flag on the map and keep it in your possession as long as possible. , as well as a Hero mode where the objective will be to neutralize the hero of each side. To this is added the presence of bounty hunters, specially developed for multiplayer modes. These assassins will aim to eliminate the elite units of the opposing camps with incomparable power and speed. Of course, these headhunters will cost you more than a simple soldier.
2D is dead, long live 3D!
At the technical level and unlike Cossacks and American Conquest, No Man's Land is entirely developed in 3D. The engine used makes it possible to display well-made graphics with colors that stand out wonderfully. The textures are high resolution with scenery and infrastructure that is full of detail. Certain elements of the decor have even been animated, giving more life to the cards. In short, the whole has benefited from very special care and it is a real treat for our retinas to see everything set in motion. Only the characters still accuse geometric shapes and lack conviction with a somewhat robotic animation. It is also possible to zoom in a little more on the action, without however spoiling the visual pleasure. An option that generally reveals graphical weaknesses, forcing us to play with an overview. Here, no problem, you can go free and abuse the zoom without revealing filthy textures. Like its elders, the creation and selection of units is not limited, you will find yourself with a plethora of characters ready to do battle with the enemy. And it is in these moments of epic battles that a recent configuration proves to be useful in order to avoid ending up with slowdowns, not generally playing in our favor. Everything is accompanied by relatively discreet music that won't drown out the sound effects, which are on the whole quite successful. And although each nation speaks its mother tongue (very good choice), the different voices tend to loop and may be able to annoy the less conciliatory.
By installing No Man's Land, we must admit that we did not expect much from this RTS with the theme of the conquest of the West, a scenario already visited in American Conquest. It only took a few minutes to appreciate the software at its fair value thanks to its successful atmosphere, a quick start but also by its exemplary technical quality. Add to that a comfortable lifespan with original multiplayer modes and you'll end up with a title that has taken advantage of the best ingredients of the genre to make it a unique title. A very pleasant surprise.
Test carried out by Maxime Chao
