[Uprising Join Or Die Game
Eliora Shopbell
Uprising: Join or Die, also known as simply Uprising, is an action real-time strategy video game by American developer Cyclone Studios, released in North America on October 14, 1997 and in Japan on July 24, 1998 for Windows. The player controls a powerful combat vehicle known as the Wraith that transports rebel units onto the battlefield, fighting against the military. For the first few months of its development, it had no script written for it and as the release date neared, gameplay videos were created to demonstrate its support for the 3dfx graphics card. It received a port to the PlayStation as Uprising X, which was released in December 1998; and before that, a sequel, Uprising 2: Lead and Destroy, was released for the PC on December 9, 1998.
Upon release, it garnered generally favorable reviews. It was praised for its graphical presentation and gameplay as well as its online multiplayer support, but drew some criticism for its overly difficult computer-controlled enemies and control schemes. It was awarded the title of 1997's best action game by Computer Games Strategy Plus. The game received a GOG and Steam rerelease in March and May 2016 respectively.
Missions in Uprising's single-player campaign are structured around building and fortifying bases in order to amass enough offensive capability to attack, defeat, and claim enemy bases. Unlike many RTS games, bases must be built upon predetermined points on the map. By positioning the Wraith over a claim square, players can call down a Citadel, which allows for additional structures to be built at that location. The number of structures that can be built at any one control point can vary, and the resources that can be drawn from them are likewise finite. In order to augment resource generation and building capacity past what is currently available to them, players must scout and claim additional base locations, often by force. A scenario will typically end once all base locations are under player control, though occasionally missions will have other objectives as well. After each mission, the player is granted currency with which to upgrade units, structures, and their Wraith.[3]
At the beginning of the single player campaign, the player has two weapons (a Gatling laser and heat seeking missiles), though these can be upgraded to weapons such as heat seeking missiles, landmines and mortar bombs - these weapons, along with the Wraith's armor, are upgradeable. All structures are available to the player at the start of the game and like the weapons and the Wraith's armor, can be upgraded to varying levels.[3]
When the ability to travel through space was discovered, the people of Earth were split along ideological lines. Though some predicted that man's newfound ability to explore the stars will bring the world's population together for the greater good, for the most part the various factions and ideologies of Earth began to claim and settle worlds for their own purposes rather than cooperate as a cohesive group. One fateful day, however, the entire human population of the planet Albion was wiped out by an unknown force, and humanity joined forces to create a vast military government organization to seek out and defeat this mysterious aggressor. They encountered a belligerent race known as the Swarm, and reports sent from the front lines painted a picture of a successful war effort against alien aggressors.
But third-party reports - all vehemently denied by the military - told of usable alien technology being recovered from Albion, and along with the entire planet being placed under quarantine (allegedly due to radioactivity), these reports caused many to begin questioning the authenticity of the military's version of events. Some wondered if the war was truly still being fought, while others wondered if it ever was. Many who spoke loudly against the military's behavior disappeared. Eventually, the military (who would come to be known as the Imperium) granted its general Caston the title of Emperor and despite a huge public backlash, was able to quickly put down anyone who openly rebelled against them.
The player character of Uprising is a young man from the planet Caliban who successfully managed to avoid conscription by the Imperium through a combination of intellect and combat prowess. His actions eventually brought him to the attention of an anti-Imperium rebel group, who, recognizing his potential, decided to give him further training. It was precisely because of this training and instinctive competence that the player character was chosen to pilot the Wraith, a highly advanced Imperium weapon and command vehicle appropriated by the rebels. With only one Wraith known to exist, the rebels plan to use it as a spearhead in their fight against Imperium, believing that they have a technological advantage over their opponents for the first time.[3]
"...all we had was a 10 page memo describing some simple tenants [sic] and images we thought the game should have - for instance, seeing hordes of troops laying siege to an enemy fortification but getting cut to pieces by [a] rapid fire ground cannon; or seeing a low-altitude bomber drop its payload as it's shot down by enemy SAM sites or watching a squad of futuristic gunships dog-fighting overhead."[2]
Late into development, several more features were implemented - mainly to lower the learning curve of the game - which included training missions, tips and voice cues, among other improvements. A contentious subject among the developers was whether to make the game's use of arrow keys consistent across its first person view and its map; however, according to the producer Don McClure, he and Kobler decided to keep the controls inconsistent, as it made the map "more intuitive" for first time players.[2]
As development was finalised, support for the 3dfx chip was also implemented, and according to McClure, the development team was "stunned" by the results - so much that they delayed the release until October to create gameplay videos for the game, and made them available on Uprising's main site.[2]
The mix of action and strategy elements in Uprising generally garnered praise[12][14][13][8][10] - GameRevolution wrote that the game offered an "interesting twist and mix" on the genre;[10] PC Gamer US stated that Uprising managed to combine "two crowded genres" and to be "a very refreshing break from both";[14] the game was praised by Edge for "drawing [strategy and combat] together" and as a result, making it a "satisfying whole";[8] and according to GameSpot, it was set to carve out a niche in the real time strategy market.[11] However, one of the lone critics of the action-strategy mix was PC Gamer UK, with their criticism being that Uprising was "trying to please all of the people all of the time by making [the player] do everything at once" and instead wound up only satisfying "some of the people for some of the time".[13]
The game's graphics were generally commended by critics[14][10][11][12] - GameSpot considered the graphics to be "excellent",[11] they were described by GameRevolution as "clean and smooth",[10] and they were also complimented by PC Gamer US - however, one side effect they named was that it required at least a 200Mhz Pentium CPU with a 3D accelerator to run the game smoothly; even then, it would "crash and burn" unless they had the latest graphics drivers installed.[14] Next Generation said the graphics boast "z-buffered explosions and fire, nary a polygon out of place, and some cool lighting effects. It supports 3Dfx's Glide API directly, and those with 3Dfx-based accelerators can expect a high-resolution, high-frame-rate experience that has to be seen firsthand."[12] Edge opined that the game's soundtrack was "as convincing as any Hollywood sci-fi music".[8]
According to the demonstrators, Israeli universities, particularly Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, have been involved in developing weapons technologies used in Gaza and in training military personnel in cooperation with the Israeli army.
Finnish higher education institutes should follow those in Norway, where five universities cut ties with Israel in February, protesters say. They have warned the demonstration will continue until their demands are met.
In Denmark, students have also set up a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Copenhagen. About 45 tents have been reportedly installed on the lawn outside the Faculty of Social Sciences campus.
The pro-Palestine students had built their encampment to join thousands of students across the world who are demanding immediate accountability from their universities to divest from Israel and to cut ties with Israeli educational institutions.
Regan Holt, formerly an advancement services leader at Northwestern and the co-founder and CEO of Uprising, has joined EverTrue! (You can read our announcement, or better yet, just listen to this podcast where Regan and I sit down for a fireside chat.)
If you are passionate about environmental law, the policy-making process and advocating for environmental justice, then this is the branch for you! One of the ways you can join our branch is by becoming a volunteer. In order for our branch to assist environmental law cases or policy proposals, we need volunteers.
We highly recommend you read info about our branch, which can be found on our website, before applying. If you have any comments, questions, or concerns feel more than welcome to email our law & policy directors: Marlen Garcia (mar...@earthuprising.org) and Sherif Elrefaey (she...@earhuprising.org)
In order to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the largest, most heroic act of armed resistance by Jewish people during WW2, follow the two ambssadors in joining the daffodil campaign to mark the occasion today!
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