I shouldn’t be disappointed in Chronostorm: Siberian Border. I had a sneaking suspicion it was going to be terrible. But despite these suspicions, I’m still disappointed.
I’ve owned this game for 10 years, and for the entire time, I’ve been trying to get it to work on my machine. Every time I tried to launch, it would crash on me. After hours of modding this game, delving into its quirks, I finally got it running.
This wasn’t just about the challenge of getting something to work that wouldn’t work. It was that this was a Ukrainian-made RTS about a near-future war between Russia and China over Siberia. Now that’s the premise for a good game.
Sadly, what I’m left with is a really bland RTS. I mean, you build bases and send out military units. And there’s generic missions – and that’s pretty much it.
On paper, this game should be more interesting than it is. What should make it unique is the manipulation of time. For example, you can call up Russians armies from World War II or mech from the future to assist you. But I don’t really feel that does very much in terms of making something fun.
The only thing I really like about Chronostorm itself is the cell-shaded graphics. That gives this game a little bit of personality. Even now, the environments and animations look great. However, graphics can only take a game so far.
What’s more interesting to me about Chronostorm is who made it. Ulysses Graphics is a Ukrainian firm that makes concept art, characters, and environments for many AAA games. Projects they’ve worked on include Mortal Kombat 1, Dead Island 2, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. However, they’ve stopped making their own games long, long ago and are pretty much a contractor for AAA studios.
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