Crossfire: Legion emulates C&C and StarCraft, I’m not quite convinced yet

How about we reminisce a bit? Think of the good golden RTS times back then. I was there when StarCrafts, Command & Conquers, Age of Empires’ and many other strategy games conquered the market. That’s when my love for this genre was formed, but for years my RTS heart has been suffering from loneliness, apart from exceptions like the nostalgia-soaked Command & Conquer Remastered Collection or the new Age of Empires 4.

Where’s the love for the RTS genre these days? Developer Blackbird Interactive is attempting such a game, or at least a similar one, with Crossfire: Legion. With the strong Crossfire license and a partner like Smilegate behind you, that shouldn’t be a problem, right? Crossfire: Legion has been in Early Access since May and shows both the strengths and weaknesses of its concept.

Crossfire: Legion sets a high pace

Early access includes, among other things, the first, four-mission act of the later 15 missions-long campaign. There’s more recently thanks to an update, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. A total of three factions from the Crossfire universe come into their own in the campaign. In the beginning you take over New Horizon and fight against the villains of Global Risk. You only understand train station? Exactly that is one of the problems. There is no introduction to this universe. With the very first Command & Conquer, I knew what was going on relatively quickly, so I ask myself why I’m actually doing all this.

Pace, too much of it, seems to be the focus in at least the first part of this campaign. Sure, the good old RTS greats have had their short stints, but all four of Crossfire: Legion’s Early Access missions can be completed quickly. It doesn’t really take longer than half an hour. You don’t need any base building at all for the first two missions, luckily after that he plays a role and makes the following missions a bit better, although not much longer.

Crossfire: Legion definitely needed this world building. Let’s take a game like StarCraft as an example, there you already have visually recognizable differences between the three factions. Everything seems a bit futuristic here and in the end you will recognize your and other units primarily by the different colors with which they are painted. In a multiplayer shooter geared towards competitive gameplay, which is Crossfire originally, this may still play a minor role to a certain extent, a strategy game definitely needs more worldbuilding.

The RTS basics are there, make something of it

Ultimately, that’s a shame, because at its core, Crossfire: Legion offers all the elements that can make a great real-time strategy game. Base building, gathering raw materials, it all reminds me of good times in front of the PC screen. There are plenty of different unit types and they bring different gadgets to the battlefield. The rock-paper-scissors principle also unfolds its effect here and you are clearly shown by symbols for each unit what it is effective against.

At the time of writing this article, there was another major update to the Early Access version, with the developers removing the in-game store. According to the creators, this caused confusion because you could unlock new units or commanders there. According to them, it was never planned to link these unlocks to real money, only to in-game currency, yet it gave a false and mostly negative impression. Therefore, the shop was removed from the game without further ado and it is no longer necessary to unlock game-related content. Good this way!

All in all, Crossfire: Legion, as already briefly mentioned, has a relatively high game speed. You have to think ahead and use your special attacks so the fight isn’t over by the time you trigger them. It’s not something that’s impossible to solve once you get used to it, but cosiness won’t get you very far here. This is especially true for multiplayer, where depending on the match setup you have to aggressively expand in order to secure a sufficient replenishment of resources.

To be honest, multiplayer in games doesn’t really interest me much these days. I’m more of a solo player now, wishing for a good campaign or playing a few matches against the AI. Crossfire: Legion’s campaign hasn’t completely won me over yet. Everything already works quite well in terms of gameplay, but in terms of content… Somehow something special is missing, these reference points that I had with GDI and NOD in Command & Conquer or with Terrans, Zerg and Protoss in StarCraft. Here I’m not really rooting for the particular side I’m playing, everything seems a bit arbitrary and interchangeable. More personality wouldn’t hurt Crossfire: Legion, then it could be a really good RTS.