Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

Order of War

1. Official Site
2. Platform: PC
3. Publisher: Square Enix
4. Developer: Square Enix
5. Release Date: 09/22/09
6. Genre: Strategy

by Mike Repella

Throughout time mankind has waged war. History books will tell you that humans have been fighting even before we started recording history. Over that time war has constantly evolved and intensified. Ancient Rome and China, Napoleon’s France, Native Americans and even modern Western Civilization all have interesting war stories. With all of this history and variety at one’s disposal, I am utterly amazed when a developer decides to make yet another video game set during World War Two. I realize that it was the biggest and most historical war of modern time, but there are only so many times one can storm Normandy or take part in the 101st airborne assault before it gets old. Unfortunately, when developer Wargaming.net decided to make a new RTS they went for the obvious bait and chose World War Two as the setting for Order of War.

Order of War is being published by Square Enix. You may remember last year Square Enix announced an initiative to branch out and publish more games in a wider variety of genres, much like Electronic Arts. Order of War is a beneficiary of that initiative. So when you see Square Enix on the box, don’t get excited and think that the same development team that made Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest has now made a Real Time Strategy (RTS) game. Order of War was actually made by a small UK based development house called Wargaming.net, whose biggest game prior to Order of War is called Massive Assault.

Gameplay

In many ways, Order of War plays just like your average RTS. The game is viewed from the top down and the mouse wheel helps you to zoom in and out. You can move around the screen by moving the pointer to the edge of the screen in the direction you want to go and you select units by clicking on them in the field or in your HUD. You can assign platoons by box dragging over them and then hitting ctrl-# just like in virtually every single modern RTS. This about as complex as the controls get in Order of War and it is apparent that the developers really tried to streamline and simplify the standard RTS controls as much as possible.

It is also apparent that Wargaming.net wanted to make the gameplay streamlined as well. Order of War is not a complex game by any means. The actual gameplay feels a lot like World in Conflict. At the start of each campaign you are given a set type and number of units, there is absolutely no base building or resource gathering in the game. Instead, you are slowly given resource points that can be used to call in reinforcements. Eventually you are also given the ability to call in mortar strikes and bombing planes to help soften up the enemy. If this sounds exactly like World in Conflict it’s because it is almost exactly like World in Conflict. Only I would argue that there are less options and actual tactics available in Order of War. Most fights boil down to assigning platoons and then ordering them to advance to a certain position and look in a certain direction. The end result is an RTS game that is very light on strategy when compared to other RTS games. The upside is that Order of War may be a good starting point for gamers new to the genre.

Unit Leveling

One nice feature that does add some strategy and difficulty is the unit leveling system. Throughout each mission you are evaluated based on how well you are doing and the number of side missions you complete. At the end of each mission, you are given points based off of your performance which can then be used to level up the attributes of your soldiers, vehicles, and cannons. Each unit type has several attributes that can be leveled, like machine gun range, hand gun range, armor, speed, etc. Deciding which attribute to level depends on your style of play. I usually use a slower defensive style, so I decided to put most of my points into armor and range. Dumping your points into offense obviously requires an offensive style of play.

The game contains two main campaigns, each with nine missions. The missions can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to complete. One campaign features US forces, and surprisingly enough, it starts with a beach invasion and then progresses through the retaking of France. To say that this campaign is refreshing and new is a misstatement. The other campaign features the Germans and their attempted invasion of Russia. I will actually compliment the developers on their choice to feature the German’s and their side of the conflict instead of the typical English or Russian viewpoints that we usually get. The German campaign proves to be the better campaign too, since the German’s weapons and tanks are so much cooler than the Americans.

Beautiful View

Graphically, Order of War really shines, especially if you have the hardware to run it. The world is extremely detailed and filled with trees, swaying grass, buildings, fields and so on. Explosions look fantastic and smoke will fill the area surrounding large battles. The camera can be pulled back really far, enabling the player to get a good look at the various battles going on. At the same time, the camera can be zoomed in to ground level, which will reveal that the game looks just as good up close as it does zoomed out. To really drive this point home the developers have included what they call a dynamic camera, which essentially attempts to zoom around the battlefield presenting the game in a cinema like fashion. The affect is visually appealing, but it is impractical to use during large battles because you won’t be able to effectively coordinate your troops.

The voice work in Order of War is not good, the German campaign in particular features some truly bad acting. I can’t tell if the German commander is being voiced by a British guy who sounds like an American guy attempting to do a bad German accent or an American guy just trying to do a military sounding voice. Either way it’s bad. Somehow they also managed to make General Patton sound whiney. Voice acting aside, the sound effects are up to snuff and shouldn’t cause any complaints. 

Order of War does offer online multiplayer. Since there is no resource gathering or base building, multiplayer matches are usually very quick and boil down to capturing various waypoints prior to the enemy. Every match I played was over within 20 minutes. Gamers who like their multiplayer games to be quick should like what Order of War has to offer. The game uses Steam for its multiplayer match making, so finding other players and joining games is easy.

There are two potentially game killing areas that I need to address. The first is that the game is buggy. I had to reload several missions on account of completing an objective but not getting credit for it. When this happens you won’t be able to progress any further and your only option will be to restart the mission from the beginning. I also noticed that the framerate tends to drop dramatically during the cinematic moments. This is really strange since the game runs fine for me during the actual gameplay. The one other potential game killer is the fact that Order of War requires a Steam account in order to even finish the installation process. This means that the Steam haters out there will have to either skip Order of War or give in and get a Steam account and install the software on your computer.

Bottom Line

Order of War isn’t a bad game, it’s just not a very good game for the typical PC RTS gamer. Order of War features gameplay that doesn’t require preparation or even any heavy planning prior to completing your objectives. Fans of games like Call of Heroes, Total Annihilation, and even War Craft will be left wanting more strategic options. On the flip side, newcomers to the RTS genre or gamers who can’t stand resource building will probably really enjoy Order of War. The game does have outstanding graphics, fast multiplayer and a lengthy single player campaign.

Gaming Trend Score

77

1. Graphics: 90
2. Audio: 65
3. Controls: 85
4. Gameplay: 70
5. Value/Replay: 80
6. OVERALL:77