Fate of the World: Tipping Point

Fate of the World: Tipping Point is the sequel to Red Redemption’s Fate of the World. The goal of the game is to take control of the world as the President of the Global Environmental Organization and to stop the world from destroying itself, either by global warming, natural disaster, overpopulation, and world hunger – the list goes on. Sure enough, saving the world from utter destruction is no easy task, and Tipping Point makes that abundantly clear. The game is an RTS at heart, but not in the traditional sense that I’m accustomed to. You don’t directly control units, telling them where to go, who to attack, or what resources to gather. Instead, you “recruit” people in several different areas of the world to be your representatives, setting up technology centers, building political offices, crafting welfare offices, committing to nuclear power and helping to stop deforestation. The more recruits you have in any given area of the world, the more cards you’re able to play each turn. These cards are what allow you to do all of these various actions in order to save the world. By paying close attention to what news reports tell you about “growing civil unrest” and “air pollution,” it is up to you to make these decisions, in the form of cards that you play, in order to save the world, at least for one more turn (a turn equals five years).

Each turn, you’re prompted with all sorts of graphs, data, and news reports about what has happened in the past five years, according to the cards you played your previous turn. After sifting through the abundance of information given, you must spend your time reading cards and looking for specific ones that will aid in the problems the world is encountering, at the moment. For example, if one area of the world is starting to become overpopulated, it might be a good idea to implement a one-child policy. However, that choice may solve the immediate problem of overpopulation, but don’t think that the people will be entirely accepting of this new policy imposed on them that dictates how many children they are allowed to have. It is decisions like these, these double-edged swords, that make the game interesting to contemplate for hours, while you pick the option you best think will take care of the present problems. This is much like how political leaders of our own world have to make their decisions. Without being able to predict the outcome of your actions, how are you to make these globally, life-altering decisions?

Each area of the world is allowed a maximum of 6 representatives.

Red Redemption’s development team is fairly small, but this comes as no surprise considering this is their second title and they are referred to as an independent studio. The most notable part of the development team for a game like Fate of the World: Tipping Point is Professor Myles Allen from the University of Oxford. Professor Allen is known for his research into how people have affected the world’s climate changes throughout history. His work with the Climate Dynamics Group, which he leads at the University of Oxford, works hard to study how human actions have affected climate changes and how to predict what the climate will look like in a the future and what actions are needed in order to produce the best possible outcome. Sounds like the perfect man for this game!

Another member of the team that deserves credit where credit is due is the team’s music composer Richard Jacques, who is also known for his work on Mass Effect (if you haven’t heard of Mass Effect, get the fuck out). The music constantly sets the tone of what is occurring in the game as it is occurring. The cinematic intro that plays at the beginning of every new game, or scenario if you prefer, has musical melody that perfectly sets the tone for a world that is on the brink of chaos and that is unsure of its future and those deemed responsible for it. I’m no musical genius or a disciple of Kanye, but I’d say that Red Redemption would be lucky (and smart) to have this man producing the music for any future games they decide to work on.

You can play one card per recruit in each area.

Fate of the World: Tipping Point’s gameplay is very straightforward, as you can ascertain from what I mentioned about it earlier. You are presented with win conditions and lose conditions, as well as bonus objectives in any of the scenarios you choose to play. Pay EXTREMELY close attention to the former two. In most scenarios there will be more loose conditions than win conditions so keep your head up and pay attention to the needs of the entire world. Daunting, I know, but this game wouldn’t have earned its challenging reputation if it were not for the unforgiving manner the world seems to take on you every time you hit that Play Cards button. It was that challenging reputation from the first game that warranted the developers to create an ‘easy mode’ that the player can enact if they so choose. However, as I write this review, I am currently playing out a scenario in easy mode, but I can tell you know, I have already lost one of my recruits in the Middle East and am so short on funds that I believe I’ll be losing the support of a few more nations. Either I am the worst world ruler ever or this game leaves no room for a learning curve.

Were it not for my intensely crammed schedule of school, homework, regular work, and social obligations, I could have played Fate of the World: Tipping Point for hours and hours without stopping (unless, of course, my digestive system thought otherwise). And I will be honest; I didn’t believe an indie game, so unheard of, could produce something so worthwhile. While there are no celebrity voice actors, flashy, action-packed cinematics, or a rich narrative, Fate of the World: Tipping Point offers a refreshing style of gameplay that I have not had the pleasure of tinkering with in a long time, if ever (mind you, point-and-click PC titles were a bit before my time, and this game plays much like that given that the entire game is controlled by a mouse). Too few are games that repeatedly make you stop to think before you act. We live in a world where quality of graphics and amount of action make up a majority of the highest-selling titles’ content. Fate of the World: Tipping Point abandons what I like to call twitch-action gameplay that most games, both in and outside of the RTS genre, rely on today. It blends the pacing of a traditional RPG with the gameplay of a turn-based RTS, a winning combination.

Michael Fossbakk

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