Game Title - World in Conflict
Developer - Massive Entertainment
Publisher - Sierra Entertainment
Genre -[/i] Real-Time Tactical
Release Date - September '07 [360/PS3 version in Fall '08]
Platforms - PC [360/PS3 Unreleased]
Game Overview
In 1989 the Cold War was supposed to end, but in the alternate reality, it didn't. Nope, those damn Reds, fearing certain collapse, launched an attack on Western Europe. So NATO goes in and pushes the Soviet invasion to a standstill. While NATO is fussing over Europe, the Russians send an attacking force the other way. Yup, you guessed it, straight onto American soil. America pulls most of their troops out of Europe to hold off the invasion on the West coast, but the Russians wont have it. They're just owning up all over the place. Anyways, in Single Player you play as First Lt. Parker in the US military. The first mission places you in Seattle, where the Russians land first. You have to do some recon on the dock to see what you're up against. Then you save some troops by blowing up a couple enemy jeeps. Next, you move up and retake a supply depot. This is all seamless with amazing graphics and sounds. It makes you feel like you're right up on the dock. The missions shift back and forth from the past to the present. You get to play as the NATO in some missions, when it shifts back to the battle in Europe.
The AI is really intelligent. They feel almost like real players. They quickly adapt to a changing battle and they are smooth and glitch free. Occasionally they'll do something stupid, like send all their infantry into a barrage of tank shells, but other than that they are pretty awesome. When setting up a skirmish you can add these AI players and select how they should act and what role they should take on. So you can add an Infantry agressor or a defensive Support AI.
The controls are mapped like a shooter, which takes a bit of getting used to. But once you get the hang of it it really adds to the imersion because there's minimal clicking and dragging and you just zoom around the map using WASD. The interface is also minimal, featuring two closeable sidebars: The tactical aid and the reinforcements, which I'll get into later. At the top middles it shows who's winning and how bad their losses are by a sort of tug of war looking bar. One side is the USSR flag and the other USA. Whichever is winning takes up a bigger part of the bar. The flags get tattered and torn as the fighting goes on to show troop losses. At the bottom it shows what troops you command and a minimap. World in Conflict also features an in-depth fullscreen map showing major incursions and where you and your allies troops are. [You can also play off this map, ordering troops wherever, if you so choose]
The most stand out thing about World in Conflict as an RTS is the fact that it doesn't revolve around base building and micro-managing shit. Rather, you parachute soldiers, tanks, and a variety of other vehicles straight onto the battlefield to whichever side of the map your team is on. With those units you capture yellowish circles called Command Points. Each key location on the map has one or more command points that all need to have your teams units on them to capture it. You have a certain amount of reinforcement points to spend on units. There are different roles to play as on your team. The roles base you on a certain set of units. Units in your role cost less than buying from other roles. The roles are armor, air, infantry, and support. Armor handles tanks and ground transport. Infantry is basic foot soldiers. Air is attack and transport helicopters. Finally, support is artillery, anti-air, and repair tanks. Almost all of the units have a special ability that recharges. These range from smoke screens to hellfire missiles. Onto the Tactical Aid points which come from capturing command points and killing enemy soldiers. These give you the ability to parachute troops anywhere on the map, launch artillery barrages, napalm enemy troops, drop a fuel air bomb, or fuck part of the map with a tactical nuke. The amount of TA points needed ranges on how powerful the TA is. Dropping a squad of paratroopers would cost about 5 points, while a nuke costs 80.
The graphics and physics of the game will make you shiver with ectasy. With DirectX10 and the graphics cranked up all the way is just amazing. Truly, truly amazing. The enviroments act like enviroments should, with smoke and debris flying, tanks leaving tracks in the dirt, to the minute details like God's Rays when the clouds move out of the way of the sun. The tree's even sway with the wind, as does the smoke. The physics are also incredible. When a helicopter explodes it leaves a trail of smoke and flies into several pieces, all flipping and dlying different directions. Same with tanks and infantry. Now if you don't have DX10 it's not quite a realistic feeling, but is still really nice. The physics are still good with a lesser graphics card, but you don't get as big a rush from watching a nuke tear apart the enemie's ground and air troops. You can tell the put A LOT of work into the enviroments and how you affect them.
Multiplayer is the fucking shit. You can play with up to 15 other players or you can LAN it up with your friends. You can play a few different styles of maps. Domination, where players fight over command points to win. Assault maps where teams take turns defending command points against the other team. And Tug of War maps, maps where players fight over a set of frontline command points. The frontline shifts as command points are captured or lost. Multiplayer is invigorating whichever map you play. I've NEVER has so much fun on an RTS multiplayer. It is absolutely excellent. It's all handled by Massive Entertainment's MassGate which keeps track of your friends and lets you chat with them, ect.
Audio - 10
The sounds are equally excellent. The sounds of battle can be heard all over the warzone. But when all the shooting stops it goes dead silence, adding certain suspense of what's going to happen next. There is no in-game music which, for me, adds to the immersion. Every explosion and gunshot sounds authentic.
Graphics - 10
Incredible! You never feel like you're playing a video game because it's so beautiful. Even with DirectX 10 it's incredible.
Controls - 9
Though they aren't the usual RTS controls, they fit the game perfectly. I don't think WiC would be quite as good without this new control system. The only problem is the somewhat steep learning curve of them.
Content - 5
There really isn't a whole lot to do in it. Single player is really the only thing besides Online. There isn't a map editor or anything, so I'll give it a 5.
Replayability - 5
There is no reason at all to replay the campaign, unless you just want to do some of the more bad ass missions again.
Multiplayer - 10
If I could give multiplayer a 12 I would. It's that great. It's practically pure fun, even if you lose.
Story - 10
Incredible. They really thought about the what if scenario. They also gave you're character a name, unlike a lot of other RTS's where you are just a rank with no face. The cutscenes between levels are well told and narrated.
Innovation - 9
Although the USSR attacking America idea isn't quite original, they brought new ideas into it considering NATO and the diplomatic aspects of it. The abstract control system and overall difference from the usual RTS breaths new life into the genre. This is Massive's masterpiece.
Getting Into It - 10
Oh boy, it's so easy to get into this game a spend hours playing it. It's hard to get pissed off and quit playing, because it's so much fun. Replaying levels you fail never gets old because it's just so damn fun.
Game Length - 8
It's not super long. The campaign is like 10 missions and each one takes about an hour to complete, so about 10 hours. But the single player isn't the strong point of RTS's anyway.
OVERALL SCORE
-- 8.6 out of
10
Final Comment
If you are more of a shooter fan you will definatly enjoy this more than others in it's genre. There is something in it for everyone. So if you have a good computer or want to wait a couple months for the 360 version this is a must buy.
Baker
