Software:Ground Control: Dark Conspiracy

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Ground Control: Dark Conspiracy
Developer(s)Massive Entertainment
High Voltage Software
Publisher(s)Sierra On-Line
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Release
Genre(s)Real-time tactics
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Ground Control: Dark Conspiracy is an expansion pack to the real-time tactics video game Ground Control released in 2000, developed by Massive Entertainment and High Voltage Software,[2] and published by Sierra Studios. The expansion pack was included free for new purchases of the original game; existing owners were also entitled and merely needed to apply via online form, and was also included as a hard copy in specially-marked boxes.[3]

The largest additions are a new faction, the Phoenix Mercenaries, and a 15-mission single-player campaign that expands on the original storyline. Other changes include extra multiplayer maps, a few more units for the existing factions and more terrain types. Also of note are the changes in the full motion video cutscenes; the parent game had all of its pre-rendered in the game engine. In contrast, the expansion's cutscenes were done by Blur Studio.

Plot

The Phoenix Mercenaries

The campaign begins a few months after the events of the original, with Major Sarah Parker and her comrades looking to get a way off the planet Krig-7b, on which they are stuck. Battling through Order of the New Dawn stragglers and newly arrived Crayven Corporation forces, the initial missions focus on getting deep space communications working, at the end of which Deacon Jared Stone is apparently killed. Sarah avenges his death, but feels the situation is lost as the communications array was also destroyed.

Help arrives in the unlikely form of an Order the New Dawn battlecruiser that suddenly drops out of hyperspace and destroys its Crayven counterpart. The cruiser then dispatches dropships to the planet surface for Sarah and company.

The onboard superior, Cardinal Kila Balor, explains the reason behind the rescue: she would like to hire the aid of Major Parker to destroy a splinter faction, the Second Dawn, which is not recognizing the Order of the New Dawn's authority and is involved in a "dark conspiracy", but the official Order forces cannot move against the faction directly, fearing open civil war. By supplying Major Parker with untraceable information and finances, she can fight the Second Dawn on their behalf in secret. Major Parker accepts and contact is made with the new faction, the Phoenix Mercenaries.

After an eventful campaign across three different planets, Major Parker and her new allies finally destroys the Second Dawn and slay its leader, only to be engaged in a new adventure: amongst the spoils of war, Major Parker finds an imprisoned Enrica Hayes, former director of Crayven forces on Krieg-7b and an antagonist of the original video game. In exchange for her life and freedom, Enrica Hayes reveals that Deacon Stone is still alive and is being held in a prison facility at Calliope's moon.

Major Parker and her mercenary forces invade Calliope's moon in an attempt to liberate Stone. Cardinal Balor and her forces, who want Stone killed for treason take this opportunity to invade at the same time. Thus, a three-sided battle between Crayven Corporation, Order of the New Dawn and Phoenix mercenaries takes place, during which Major Parker rescues Stone. Cardinal Balor herself enters the combat zone but is killed.

In a short scene that takes place afterwards, it is revealed that the mysterious "dark conspiracy" was simply a lie invented by a mysterious person called "M" who has mysterious agendas. The game ends abruptly in a cliffhanger.

The Phoenix Mercenaries

The game manual gives them a brief background and history. They are Crayven outcasts that were relocated to the planet Crim-12, former employees that dissented the corporate structure. The planet had already been mined thoroughly before and was considered worthless in that sense. Left to themselves, the outcasts built a new society using scavenged parts, seized from leftover Order and Crayven holdings.

Others sick of Crayven also joined them, and soon they grew large enough to draw the attention of their original company. Rather than risk hostility, a deal was worked out: Crayven would leave them in peace, and they in turn would take mercenary contracts. The lack of natural resources also led to another peculiarity: they accepted scrap as payment. Under the leadership of a former soldier, they were able to build a rough-looking but effective military.

Within the game, their ground vehicles are hovercar-like (similar to Order ones), characterized by high top speeds and low acceleration. True to their "Phoenix" moniker, a good portion of their inventory consists of incendiary devices, ranging from various plasma-based weaponry to purpose-built vehicles like the Pyro-Dyne flame tank or their white phosphorus artillery units.

Gameplay

A Swarm group bombarding ground targets

Although their units largely parallel their counterparts, their unique ones are of note. For instance, their Plasma Grenadiers are the only infantry equipped with a mortar-like weapon. Their artillery unit also operates differently; Crayven and Order artillery both fire in bursts of three, while theirs fires one at a time. Although not as quick at destruction, the more regulated firing rate allows for faster target changes.

Additionally, they are the only faction with an aircraft choice that can effectively take on both air and ground targets (excluding infantry), the Swarm. Visually, each squad consists of six very tiny aircraft, each individually weak. The Swarm as per its namesake works best when the squads are clustered into large groups, allowing for massive guided missile barrages.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic77/100[4]
Review scores
PublicationScore
GameSpot7.9/10[5]
GameZone8.5/10[6]
IGN8/10[7]

The game received "favorable" reviews according to the video game review aggregator website Metacritic.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "GameSpot: PC News: Ground Control: Dark Conspiracy Now Available". 2002-02-21. http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2660313,00.html. 
  2. ↑ Walker, Trey (August 31, 2000). "Ground Control: Dark Conspiracy Announced". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ground-control-dark-conspiracy-announced/1100-2622680/. Retrieved December 6, 2015. 
  3. ↑ Walker, Trey (October 18, 2000). "Ground Control: Dark Conspiracy for Free". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ground-control-dark-conspiracy-for-free/1100-2642129/. Retrieved December 6, 2015. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Ground Control: Dark Conspiracy for PC Reviews". Metacritic. https://www.metacritic.com/game/ground-control-dark-conspiracy/critic-reviews/?platform=pc. Retrieved December 6, 2015. 
  5. ↑ Kasavin, Greg (January 5, 2001). "Ground Control: Dark Conspiracy Review". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/ground-control-dark-conspiracy-review/1900-2671583/. Retrieved December 6, 2015. 
  6. ↑ Lafferty, Michael (January 2, 2001). "Ground Control: Dark Conspiracy Review - PC". GameZone. Archived from the original on July 23, 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20090723093439/http://pc.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r16008.htm. Retrieved December 6, 2015. 
  7. ↑ Adams, Dan (January 17, 2001). "Ground Control: Dark Conspiracy". IGN. http://www.ign.com/articles/2001/01/18/ground-control-dark-conspiracy. Retrieved December 6, 2015. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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