TS: Another World Review (HOLY MAGA!) blog - SteamsDev

Been a while, hasn't it?

This isn't much of an update blog, to be sure, but I just got done with the Story Mode for the English version of the RA2YR mod, TS: Another World. I would have posted some videos on my YT but I couldn't get my recording software to work so I played blind without recording. I just finished it tonight and am ready to give my thoughts on it because, well, I figured I should let you know what I've been playing and what I think of the mod.

And first off, I have to say, THIS MOD IS ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT! I have never imagined what a true cross between a visual novel and a C&C game would look like, and this one puts it all into perspective. This mod excels in the story aspect, maybe not as much with the missions themselves, but the cutscenes and amount of thought put into this makes this one of my favorite RA2YR mods in terms of story. I will love this for days to come.

Now before I get too overwhelmed by it, let me take you through this mod's features and what I think of them:

1) Story

There is only one word that can accurately describe my thoughts about the story: priceless. This goes far beyond what I'd expect for a spin-off of TS and it is so special to me I see it as invaluable in the C&C community. It was excellent through and through.

Without spoiling too much, here's a summary of the story itself: This takes place during the events of Tiberian Sun: Firestorm (or thereafter, probably). A young technician is working for the Brotherhood of Nod in R&D. She gets a special request one time which leads her on a trail of mystery, and risks her stance in the brotherhood to solve it. She soon would find out she is a part of something bigger and... well, I'll just leave it at that. We can't go too much further without getting into some real spoiler territory. Still, you can view the cutscenes separately if you want to view the story without the gameplay. Speaking of which...

2) Gameplay

Overall the gameplay is fantastic. I'd say it's pretty well-balanced between the two sides as well as the subfactions. And yes, there are subfactions in this mod - three for each side, to be exact. They seem to reflect the sides from C&C3: Kane's Wrath, which is to be expected and, to be honest, I quite like it. The mod itself focuses on the Brotherhood of Nod, which I would say are the best when it comes to gameplay, but I did do an AI game with GDI and they're really fun, too. If you ever get a chance, play in Skirmish Mode and try out the different subfactions. Then come back to the story because it's too good to pass up.

3) Detail

Knowing this is a TS mod, I do cut it a little bit of slack but overall the detail isn't that great. The units use RA2 normals like they're supposed to, but in some cases, it just looks... not good. The Tiberium Harvesters used a sprite which does not have an unloading variation, I'm confused as to why the creator stuck with the original TS buildings, seeing as I'm pretty sure there were some cleaner ones out there, and the terrain is literally straight out of TS, which is again to be expected. I can still forgive it, though. It is hard to make a perfectly working TS mod in RA2, but this one does it well even with a few setbacks.

Overall...

The mod overall is something that is almost too good to describe in words. My last little pet peeve is with the cutscenes themselves - having lived in the United States my entire life I can say that the localization was not as good as it could have been, however that was something I saw as a minor setback. It does not take away from the emotion, the fun, or the overall thrill of the mod at all. I did play through the entire campaign on Normal, and then just watched the other two ending cutscenes through the Cutscenes program (because I was definitely not going to be able to top that last performance... Yeesh), and thus I can say with confidence that this was absolutely brilliant. Many thanks to the people who were involved for making the mod, and I hope to see more from you in the future.

One mission, one purpose.