Imperial Glory E3 2004 Preshow First Look

Pyro Studios has long been known as a quality developer of squad-based strategy games (the Commandos series) and more conventional real-time strategy games (Praetorians). The Spanish studio is now hard at work on a new strategy game for the PC that is similar in scope to the Total War series with a turn-based meta-strategy layer, and a real-time tactical layer for combat. Titled Imperial Glory, the game will let you control the fate of one of five 19th-century imperial powers: Great Britain, France, Russia, Prussia, and Austria-Hungary. Eidos will exhibit Imperial Glory at the 2004 Electronic Entertainment Expo.

Each of the five imperial powers starts off with certain historical strengths and weaknesses, but depending on how you manage your empire, your chosen country's strengths may evolve over time. The game will let you control your country's development in its military, politics, diplomacy, economy, and technology as you vie for control of 51 different provinces and 29 maritime regions across Europe and North Africa.

With other empires looking to expand, conflict is just about inevitable, so the game will let you control historically accurate units, such as hussars, lancers, and dragoons. Weaponry is also carefully modeled. As in most games of this type, troop control is done at the company level, so you don't have to worry about moving individual soldiers; rather, you give orders to units of troops all at once. The environment and weather both play a factor in battles, so when you're commanding your forces, you must take terrain into account. Buildings, forests, and elevation can serve as an advantage if you choose to use these elements wisely.

Naval battles played a huge role in this time period and will also be modeled in Imperial Glory. As you control your fleets, you'll be able to order your ships to simply sink enemy vessels or to attempt to immobilize, board, and capture them.

Those who get tired of playing against the computer will also be able to challenge a friend to some head-to-head action over LAN or online. Imperial Glory will ship in early 2005 for the PC. Stay tuned to GameSpot for more information on this game as it becomes available.