Changes: Dark Horizons Lore: Invasion

	Dark Horizons Lore: Invasion;
Release Date	2005
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Linux
Developed By	Max Gaming Technologies
Published By	GarageGames
Genre	1st/3rd Person Shooter /Mech Simulator
Gameplay Modes	Single Player, Online Multiplayer
Series	Dark Horizons Lore
Engine	Torque 3D
Support Discontinued	November, 2008
Preceded By	Dark Horizons Lore
Followed By	Lore: Aftermath

Revision as of 01:20, 14 November 2010

Dark Horizons Lore: Invasion (often abbreviated to DHL:I or simply Invasion) is a Mech Simulation / shooter video game, developed my Max Gaming Technologies. It was first released in 2005 as an update to the previous game: Dark Horizons Lore. The game runs in the same engine as Lore does, though with many updated graphical and multiplayer features.

Online support for the game was dropped in November 2008, in favor of the game's sequel - Lore: Aftermath, however on early fall of 2009, the Skunkworks team had announced that they are working on an online-playable build of the game, which will also include many of their custom maps, weapons and many other new features.

On July, 2010, Adrian Wright announced his intention to create of port of Invasion for the Xbox 360, that would be released as an independant arcade title. Plus, a new version of the game titled Lore Invasion 2 was announced to be under development, for the Unreal Engine.

GamePlay

The game largely plays just like Lore, with a few differences, mostly in the graphics and some additions: the Eastern Confederation MAVs got Spider Homing Missles as an additional weapon and Scout class MAVs can now use cloaking, to hide from enemies. MAVs could now use a "Torso Twist" ability, which lets the player move the torso of the MAV separately from the feet, allowing the player to walk in one direction, whilst aiming in another.AI Bots had been added as well, for Single Player and Multiplayer matches. Invasion also featured Refit Stations - red stations (similair to the repair and ammo stations in Lore) which lets the player change his MAV selection in the middle of a game. Some new maps were added as well.

Single Player

One notable change from Lore to Invasion was the changes in the Single Player feature of the game. Instead of a single-player campaign, the game now has "Instant Action" which allows the player to simply set up and play a single-player match with AI bots, that plays like any multiplayer match. (Although in the new skunk versions it is called Single Player.)

Multiplayer

The multiplayer lobby remains largely the same as the one in Lore, with the addition of the "Tech Room" section, which contains detailed information on the factions, MAVs and weapons in the game. Another new feature added was Managable Squads, which are usegroups created by the players (similair to clans in other online shooters). The squad's statistics would also be recorded on the game, and the squad itself was managable in-game.

The gametypes were changed slightly, for Invasion. Free for all was removed completely, Capture and Hold was renamed to Assault and a new gametype was introduced - Arena, which plays just like Team Deathmatch, but in small, arena-shaped maps.

After MGT shut down multiplayer support in November 2008, both the dedicated servers and the IRC server were shut down. And Due to an unforseen problem, without any IRC server to connect to, players couldn't even join the lobby to host their own servers, which eliminated all chances of playing Invasion again, online.

However, early fall of 2009, Adrian Wright launched playmech.com, as the new official website for supporting both Invasion and Aftermath, and he announced that there will be a new build of Invasion, created by the Skunkworks team, which will support online play.

Infantry

Ever since the early releases of Invasion, MGT had made plans for an update to the game, that would allow players to also play as smaller infantry soldiers, having access to the buildings in the maps, and able to use vehicles. A working infantry mod was even shown off in LoreCon 2005. However, they were never able to officially release this update.

The skunkworks build of Invasion, however, does feature the Infantry soldiers, playable, and able to spawn vehicles for use.

Appearences

MAVs
The MAVs from Invasion Federated States: Hunter Scout Shaddrack Liberator Abolisher Eastern Confederation: Locust Mantis Predator Juggernaught

Factions
Federated States Eastern Confederation

Maps
Coastal Flood Plains Crash Site Danger Pass Island Thunder King of The Hill MAV Arena Range River Fortress Sector 2

Weapons
Federated States: Eastern Confederation: Skunkworks Build:

Equipment
Cloaking Device MAV Satelite Uplink

Vehicles
Skunkworks Build: Jetbike Buggy

Units
Skunkworks Build: Federated States: Federated States Infantry Soldier Eastern Confederation: Eastern Confederation Infantry Soldier

Locations
North American Sector No Man's Land

Development

Development of Invasion was meant to implement many new graphical and technical updates to Lore. During early stages, the development title for Invasion was Lore Gold. The addition of the Synapse Lighting Pack allowed for better visuals, which lead MGT to completely redesign the MAVs to work with the new lighting. Another new visual addition to the game were modular weapons for all the MAVs - each weapon would have its own model that would change on the MAV, instead of each MAV having the same model for all of its different weapons.

A build of Invasion was show off at 2005's Game Developer Conference (GDC). Lore even made it to the finals of IGF (Independant Games Festival).

On November, 2008, multiplayer support for Invasion was officially dropped in favor of MGT's new sequel to Lore - Lore: Aftermath.

On July, 2010, Adrian Wright announced his intention to port Invasion to the Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade.

Skunkworks

The Skunkworks is a modding team formed by Lore community member - Slingshot. The team had released a map pack and some mods for Invasion, during it's life span, while working on several more, that never got released.

When official online support for Invasion was dropped, the team began work on a new build that would incorporate their maps and mods, an be completely online-playable.

Reception

GameShark.com:	B
GameTunnel.com:	9/10
Computer Games Mag:	3.5/5
PC Zone UK:	70/100
The-Junkyard.net:	9/10
Gamespot.com (User rating average)	7.9/10

Invasion has received mainly positive reviews from several critics and websites. Reviews praise the fun and the fast pace of the Multiplayer, and the focus on head to head fighting, as opposed to other more popular mech online games. Also praised, is the customization option, for changing your MAVs stats, for personalized style of gameplay, and the implementing of ComCent for recording stats. Though, criticized was the lack of variety in MAV types, since there are "really only 2 different types of vehicles" and the fact that the game was lacking in Single Player, with no real campaign, only InstantAction which is simply playing a match with bots.

Sequels and Adaptations

Aftermath

See full article: Lore: Aftermath

In March, 2008, with the launch of InstantAction.com, MGT had finally released a true sequel to Lore and Invasion - Lore: Aftermath. It was released on InstantAction as a browser game, but it runs in an updated version of the Torque 3D engine, thus it is still a full 3D game, simply playable in a browser.

Xbox 360 Port

On July, 2010, Adrian Wright had announced on the PlayMech forums, that he is working on a version of Invasion for the Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade.

Lore Invasion 2

See full article: Lore Invasion 2

On July, 2010, a new project was announced on the Playmech forums - a version of Invasion built on the Unreal Engine. The project was just titled Lore Invasion 2, and so far only one image has been released.

External Links

Website

Interviews

Interview with The-Junkyard.net - on Invasion
Interview with GameShark.com
Interview with GameTunnel.com

Reviews

@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 ==='''Single Player'''===
-One notable change from Lore to Invasion was the changes in the Single Player feature of the game. Instead of a single-player campaign, the game now has "Instant Action" which allows the player to simply set up and play a single-player match with AI bots, that plays like any multiplayer match.
+One notable change from Lore to Invasion was the changes in the Single Player feature of the game. Instead of a single-player campaign, the game now has "Instant Action" which allows the player to simply set up and play a single-player match with AI bots, that plays like any multiplayer match. (Although in the new skunk versions it is called Single Player.)
 ==='''Multiplayer'''===