Iron Aces Heroes of WWII

Iron Aces Heroes of WWII is one of the first PC games to be able to work in real time.

While the developers promise that players will be able to immerse themselves in the impressive graphics as they progress through the game, there will be a few sequences in which the Aces squad will first have to dispatch targets using unconventional weapons.

The real-time strategy title is being developed by Cobra Interactive, which is also behind the long-running Command & Conquer series, and has been part of many major PC gaming events over the past few years.

“We’re extremely excited to be working with iGames on the WWII RTS” says Jon Hare, creative director of Iron Aces Heroes. “Having been in the industry for more than 25 years and creating games for almost twenty years, we have a real grip on the gaming industry.”

While most developers use fixed keystrokes or indeed mouse buttons, the type of control scheme available for Iron Aces Heroes has always been its most distinctive aspect.

The implementation of multiple real-time and turn-based combat in the game was developed by several different companies, including the Middle Eastern Coalition, the Eastern Coalition, the Fuyan and the Turks.

“Our mission is to redefine how you can get a real strategic game with each of these branches,” says Hare. “The result of this is that the formation of strategies and game mechanics is much closer to that of real-time strategy games, which means a lot of little things like jump attacks and use of units are also integrated into the combat.”

While the strategic depth of Iron Aces Heroes is admirable, it has a number of negatives.

One of the biggest is a lack of a third-party interface option. Kalypso suggests there will be no question about it, with the company suggesting they’ll implement a similar one to create a third-party interface.

“The interface is designed around a combination of keyboard and mouse and we’ll have to see whether or not they adapt well to the way we design and implement it.”

As Hare says, “for us, it’s just that we need to make it as friendly as possible, making it accessible and intuitive to the player. It also gives us a higher degree of control over how fast you move your troops.”

While several other RTS developers have employed third-party interfaces in their games, none have the clout or influence of Peter Molyneux’s beloved Populous series.

To create a third-party interface for their own game, however, Kalypso has gone about it in a very different manner. Instead of attempting to re-create the nuance of Populous, the team instead created an app that offers a surprisingly in-depth tutorial for anyone new to the genre.

In the same way that Populous and its sequel implement touchscreen controls, Fata Chang explains, “it also encourages players to play the game in order to better understand the new things that they can do.”

Speaking to TechRadar, Chang explained that while Populous, Populous and Fata may have the technical prowess to design your own games using this interface, there’s no guarantee that they’ll be able to make the same kind of game as those games do.

“We certainly believe that we could create an application for any device with a simple application like the Populous framework,” he said.

“A game like this that is so much fun, is built using the functionality of the application. It’s the same mechanism as a level editor for your game. You can do some things like this, but you need to actually develop it, otherwise you’ll end up with bugs.”

When asked if you were ever going to see Populous at any point, Chang said, “We can’t say we’re going to. If we wanted to see it.

“No, we won’t. We won’t. We can’t say whether it’s in the future. We’re not going to discuss that.”

It’s clear that the Populous 3 team aren’t satisfied with the core of the title.

“No,” they said. “It’s not what we’re happy with. We feel it’s a more appropriate fit. It’s just a request. It was never the goal of the game.”

“We love it. We don’t want to give you something to dislike. I don’t think anyone would want to see it.”

The developers of the game have now decided to speak on the social media platforms they’re using to solicit their ideas.