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Draft:Beyond All Reason (video game)

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  • Comment: Pretty much the same reasons as discussed by Zx; the coverage on this game doesn't seem to meet the notability guidelines. No real significant coverage beyond the PC Gamer page. Maybe wait until the game fully releases and see where we go from there? λ NegativeMP1 22:53, 26 September 2024 (UTC)
  • Comment: The added PC Gamer source is solid. Unfortunately there are still too few reliable sources to establish notability, even with that included. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 10:08, 27 July 2023 (UTC)
Beyond All Reason
EngineRecoil
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, Linux
Genre(s)Real-time strategy
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Beyond All Reason (BAR) is a free, open-source science fiction real-time strategy (RTS) video game currently in development.[1], available for both Windows and Linux[2][3]. Built on a fork of the SpringRTS Engine known as Recoil, BAR draws heavy inspiration from classic RTS titles like Total Annihilation (TA) and Supreme Commander[4]. Although still in its alpha stage, the game is fully playable and can be downloaded via the project's website[2]. In current state, BAR features single-player skirmish and scenario modes and multiplayer PvP and co-op modes. The development team plans to release the game on platforms such as Steam once key milestones like campaign and matchmaking are achieved[5]

History

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Beyond All Reason (BAR) has evolved over the years from a lineage of community-driven projects within the SpringRTS Engine. The engine, released under the open-source GPL license in April 2005, was designed to recreate the gameplay style of Total Annihilation, a classic RTS by Cavedog[6]. This sparked the interest of developers and RTS enthusiasts, leading to the creation of numerous projects that expanded the SpringRTS community's portfolio of games[7]. Among the notable titles developed within this engine was Absolute Annihilation, a game rooted in the UberHack mod for Total Annihilation. A later fork of Absolute Annihilation, called Balanced Annihilation, served as the gameplay foundation for Beyond All Reason.

Initially, BAR began as an effort to replace all content tied to Total Annihilation's intellectual property and gradually developed into an entirely original game. The first artwork was showcased in 2010, and development continued sporadically until 2013, when the project lost momentum and was abandoned. In 2019, a new generation of developers, along with the original creators of BAR, revived the project, bringing it into a playable state. Since then, Beyond All Reason has been in continuous development, improving various aspects of the game and its infrastructure.

Over time, a sizable community has formed around the project. BAR gained widespread international recognition and earned 20th place in Rock Paper Shotgun's favorite strategy games of all time ranking[8][9][10]. BAR has earned praise from prominent gaming influencers and RTS veterans, including Day[9][11], WinterGaming[12], and uThermal[13].

Gameplay

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The game offers the choice of two distinct factions, Armada and Cortex. The former focuses on speed and stealth tactics while the latter focuses on brute force tactics. Each faction has it's own set of robotic infantry (bots), vehicles, aircraft, and naval units. The game is played by starting with one unit, The Commander. Similarly to a king in chess, the player who eliminates their opponent's Commander unit first wins the game. Beyond All Reason features multiple game modes including 1v1, team games up to 8 players per side, horde modes against computer controlled opponents as well as single player scenarios for offline play.

BAR features two different resources, energy and metal. The player can acquire the energy resource by building windmills, solar collectors or nuclear power generators. Metal can be acquired by building extractors over metal deposits or by reclaiming the metal in the wrecks of defeated enemy or allied units. In contrast to many other other real-time strategy games, Beyond All Reason features a streaming economy where resources on the map are not finite, but instead can be scaled up infinitely with resource production buildings and units. This is intended to afford players the use of increasingly destructive units over time which are more expensive and effective at their roles.

Physics and terrain play a role in combat and strategy. All projectiles are simulated in real time, for example, a unit that fires rockets may be able to see an opponent's unit on top of a cliff, but can't actually deal any damage due to the cliff blocking the rocket shots. However the unit on top of the cliff has no obstruction and can fire down without being impeded, thus heightening the importance of positioning. Additionally, the different unit types interact with terrain in different ways as well, whereas bots could scale a large hill, vehicles would have trouble on such a steep incline. This allows for a choice trade-off between maneuverability and firepower when choosing what units to build.

Comparison with Total Annihilation

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Beyond All Reason descends from Total Annihilation, and as such, many of the core gameplay elements are similar. However, there are many differences that define BAR as a distinct game. The new 3D engine allows for a much more complex fully simulated and larger scale game, while interface improvements simultaneously increase the ability for a player to micromanage the orders of individual units in the game. In giving his first impressions of BAR, Chris Taylor (video game designer) stated the seeing BAR was "surreal", and how his original work inspired further projects to go on to "become [their] own institution".[14]

On top of the improved engine is a customizable interface framework written in Lua, that modernizes the original interface. For instance, orders to a group of units can be dragged in a line, given over a circular area, and/or also cycled or put on repeat. Many of the UI features, such as the ability to line drag units, significantly change the original gameplay.

Recoil Engine

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The Recoil Engine is a fork of the SpringRTS engine with numerous performance and other improvements.[15] For example:

  • Additional multi-threaded pathfinding
  • Remastered textures, effects and lighting
  • New modern GL4 renderer

Reception

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BAR has been both well received by the community[16] and in reviews. Reviews note the game's large amount of strategic depth, difficult learning curve, engrossing large scale battles featuring hundreds of units[17], and its high level of polish.[4] PCMag summarized it glowingly, "A spiritual successor to 1997's Total Annihilation, Beyond All Reason is a free-to-play, community-driven, open-source strategy game that is shaping up to be the best RTS release in years."[18]

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References

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  1. ^ "Beyond All Reason". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  2. ^ a b "Beyond All Reason ★ RTS". www.beyondallreason.info. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  3. ^ "Beyond All Reason aims to revive the RTS style of Total Annihilation". GamingOnLinux. 2020-11-16. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  4. ^ a b "Beyond All Reason is looking incredible for fans of Total Annihilation / Supreme Commander". GamingOnLinux. 4 January 2023.
  5. ^ "Steam Release ★ Beyond All Reason RTS". www.beyondallreason.info. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  6. ^ Contributor, Ellie Gibson (2005-04-28). "Free Total Annihiliation remake". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 2024-09-25. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  7. ^ "Games - Spring". springrts.com. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  8. ^ Editor-in-chief, Katharine Castle Former; Castle, Katharine (2023-02-23). "These are your 50 favourite strategy games of all time". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2024-09-25. {{cite news}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  9. ^ Francis, James (2022-03-25). "Beyond All Reason: the (free) return to total annihilation warfare". NAG. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  10. ^ "Beyond All Reason - Gratis rts in de stijl van Total Annihilation". Tweakers (in Dutch). Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  11. ^ Day9TV (2023-06-08). Day[9]'s Day Off - Beyond All Reason (Community Made RTS) P1. Retrieved 2024-09-25 – via YouTube.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ WinterStarcraft (2023-03-19). Beyond All Reason is the best RTS you've never heard of. Retrieved 2024-09-25 – via YouTube.
  13. ^ uThermal (2024-08-22). Beyond All Reason Is The Best RTS I've Played Since Starcraft 2 (By Far). Retrieved 2024-09-25 – via YouTube.
  14. ^ Chris, Taylor (May 8, 2023). "Beyond All Reason 4v4 Tournament Featuring Chris Taylor! May 2023" (video). youtube.com. Beyond All Reason.
  15. ^ "Beyond All Reason is shaping up to be a truly massive RTS". GamingOnLinux. 18 November 2021.
  16. ^ Castle, Katharine (23 February 2023). "These are your 50 favourite strategy games of all time". Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
  17. ^ "Beyond All Reason - Gratis rts in de stijl van Total Annihilation". Tweakers (in Dutch).
  18. ^ "Beyond All Reason Preview". PCMAG.
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