Crossfire: Legion aims to be a “classic RTS,” but it’s off to a rocky start

In a year as publisher Smilegate Entertainment tries to bring one of the world’s most popular games to western audiences, Crossfire: Legion feels like a black sheep.

crossfire, the multiplayer first-person shooter, is very popular in Asia – especially in China and South Korea. According to Smilegate, it has 8 million concurrent players and 690 million registered users, as well as numerous multimedia spinoffs. However, the company announced at E3 2019 CrossfireX, a single player campaign developed by control Creator Remedy Entertainment. To bring a multiplayer shooter to the west, it makes sense to do so with a tailored, narrative first-person experience.

Crossfire: Legion, on the other hand, it’s aimed at a more niche area: that of old-school real-time strategy games. It helps that it’s made by Blackbird Interactive, the studio behind the excellent Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak and the coming homeworld 3 – but still I can’t help but feel like it’s a shot in the dark.

During a recent press conference, a spokesman for publisher Prime Matter called legion a “classic RTS”. I then spent several hours playing an early “technical test” and I don’t disagree with that taxonomy. legion is streamlined and simple, focusing more on actions per minute than intentional moves. His units include the usual infantry/vehicle/aircraft trifecta, along with commander abilities that, when timed well, can turn the tide of pitched battle.

I played custom matches against AI bots and switched between the Global Risk and Black List factions. I prefer the latter, which opts for guerrilla tactics over sheer numbers and can traverse the map faster. Borrowing from old school games like Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness and Command and conquer, legion is fast and responsive, and unit pathing is seamless – resource gathering trucks can be stacked without bottlenecks, and soldiers spread out in satisfying arcs before opening fire.

But also fitting for these games, the systemic depth only goes so far. By today’s standards legion feels a bit also old school.

In a recent story about Company of Heroes 3, I’ve written about the grossly exaggerated death of the RTS genre and how, despite a sharp decline in mainstream and esports interest over the last decade, it’s never been more exciting. While the aforementioned WWII game explores nuanced squad tactics, recent entries are like they are billions and Offworld trading company found seemingly endless repeatable depth. Also the brand new one Age of Empires 4, a decided relapse RTS, provided captivating farm building.

legion, however, feels boneless based on my time with its custom matches. Its units lack convincing interactions with the environment; Gathering resources is elegant but boring; Each faction’s power curve rises too slowly to be exciting, and the current roster is too standardized to entice me.

But to reiterate, the demo I played is missing a few key features. Blackbird is planning a map system that will allow players to customize their armies before each game, and I’m still curious how that might shake things up. legion will also include a single player campaign, and if it’s anywhere near as good as Blackbird’s work Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak, My initial concerns were allayed.

But many of me doubt: legion, at least in this early form, not only worships the games that sparked the genre — it seems to be actively hindered by them.

Maybe that’s okay. Not every game has to be a paragon of innovation. But since a spin-off would open up a whole new market for one of the world’s most popular franchises, I was hoping legion could explode the design envelope. Real-time strategy games are close to my heart. I want them all to be successful. But from now on legion feels trapped in the past. If Blackbird is trying to appeal to the RTS fans still pining for the days of early Command and Conquer or the first StarCraft, You’ve got off to a good start. If they’re looking to lure real-time strategy fans who have been following the genre’s recent creativity with rapt attention, they may be on the wrong track.