Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Jerome Koehler

With a multitude of World War II games smothering the real-time strategy genre, it was a breath of fresh air to see a game set in the Cold War. By itself the Cold War doesn't have the massive battles you could base a game around, but if the history is carefully altered, many possibilities exist. What would have occurred if a peace treaty was never signed by Russia? What if Russia would have projected its forces onto our front lawn? If you are curious in figuring out what I am babbling on about, you will have to read on or experience the game for yourself.

World in Conflict is one of those games that looks good during the development but once you dive into the gameplay of said game, you truly see how enjoyable the experience is. The single player portion of World in Conflict has you playing the American troops that are stationed back in the homeland as it is secretly assaulted by the Russians. I don't want to spoil any of the plot elements, so I will leave you with just this tidbit of information on the storyline. The single player campaign only lasts around 7-10 hours, depending on the difficulty, and is there to prepare you for the slaughterfest that is online play. Lets not forget that is game is a deviation from the usual science fiction or world war 2 deluge of games that have been released as of late, and this freshness definitely has an appeal to any gamer worn out with the before mentioned genres. So, why does this game deserve your gaming dollars compared to any of other RTSs out there? Read on to find out the startling truth.

Test Rig: Core2Duo E6300, 4 gigs of Ram, 8800GTX, and running Vista Ultimate.

Collector's Edition: History Channel Video, Piece of the Berlin Wall, Making Of Video, Game on DVD, sadly all packed in paper sleeves.

It doesn't matter if you are using DX9 or DX10, World in Conflict looks amazing. From the exquisite detail on the units to the nuclear explosions that rock the battlefield, World in Conflict delivers. I was surprised when I zoomed in on one of the helicopters and saw the pilots going about their business. Panning the camera around the nuclear explosions made me shudder as I would never want anyone to witness such destructive power...it becomes even worse when the max of three explosions go off. All of these explosions and units would account for a pretty generic RTS if it weren't for the deformable terrain.

Imagine a pristine mountain village in America...birds chirp, trees and human constructions leave peacefully among each other. Then the the fighting starts. A nuclear weapon detonates in the middle of a stronghold in the center of the town. Buildings are flattened. Infantry loses its hiding spots and tanks cannot hide behind the buildings for cover. Not only nuclear weapons, but regular cannon fire will slowly take its toll on the landscape. Everything from laser-guided missiles to carpet-bombing leaves a swath of destruction in its wake. As the battle progresses, not only does the terrain change shape, but the weather slowly begins to morph into something more sinister. There might have been sunlight and happiness at the beginning of the battle, but this is slowly consumed by the darkness that is war.

To run this game at full capacity, you will need some decent hardware, though. On our forums, we have had gamers who have everything from a 6800GT to a 8800GTX run the game successfully. Having lower end hardware doesn't allow for the luxury of turning on all of the bells and whistles and you will have to more than likely sacrifice some of the visual quality. Also, if you are interested in the DX10 graphics effects, you will need both a DX10 capable video card and Windows Vista. This might be a slightly high investment depending on what kind of hardware you are running.

A battlefield might look nice, but without proper sound to accompany the game, it is lacking a huge part in what makes a game successful. Luckily, World in Conflict delivers in spades. The voice-overs in this game allow for a rapport with the characters as they are read with emotion and it sounds like real actors behind the digital characters. You could compare it to watching an A-class movie. If more games would take certain cues from the World in Conflict in voice acting, we wouldn't have some of these horrid translations and soulless voices in games. Not only do the cut scenes have high quality voice overs, but also during battles the chatter can be heard over the comm channels.

Nuclear explosions...artillery...machine gun fire...it all sounds spectacular. It sounds as if you are part of the battle as the music of battle plays its symphony. Again, the nuclear missiles sound as good as they look. The buzz of broken communication channels, the geiger counter responding to the sudden increase in radioactivity...all are the hallmarks of such a blast. You have to experience the game to see what I am talking about.

If you have experienced other RTS games, you should feel right at home with World in Conflict. As always, the mouse provides the most input capability with the keyboard allowing you to set easily selectable teams and provide input to the menus. The most important improvement that has been added to the RTS genre is the intuitive camera panning controls. Once you experience the ones that are included in World in Conflict, you will wonder why other games haven't adopted the same control scheme. The ease at which you can zoom around the battlefield is a definite asset to making the game playable. Disappointingly enough, plenty of games still cannot get the camera panning controls right.  Also, I would like to mention the VOIP that is included with the game sounds crystal clear and definitely helps teamwork along. Both the singleplayer campaign and the multiplayer portion of the game are enticing and have their pros and cons. Luckily, the complete package is one masterpiece that will not release its grip on the player even after the singleplayer campaign is finished. The Massgate service allows for an enjoyable online service with some small hiccups that have been reported and hopefully will be fixed soon.

The singleplayer campaign in World of Conflict might be short, at about 9-10 hours, but that time was one of the most hectic and satisfying experiences I was able to play through in a while. As mentioned previously, the game's premise is based on the idea that the Soviet Union never agreed to a treaty thus never ending the Cold War. The campaign takes you from the mainland US to Russia and back as the beleaguered US defenders attempt to rectify the issue of the Soviet Union on their home turf. In the singleplayer campaign, you never have access to all of the units and special powers that are available online as it is supposed to be a “training tutorial” to get the player accustomed to the frantic pace that is present throughout the game. There is not one second of reprieve during the whole campaign as you are constantly struggling to retake a point, push forward, or help keep your troops alive. Not only the gameplay but also the characters are so vividly presented that you grow attached to them. Sadly, I cannot share the events in this review, but I felt a whole spectrum of emotions while playing World in Conflict. This shows that with potent characters, the player will become attached to them and actually care what occurs to them. Also, if you are not interested in constructing a base and having to mess around with a plethora of different resources, this game is your cup of tea. Resources are set at the beginning of the mission and are raised throughout the battle. Once a unit is destroyed, the resources are slowly injected into your pool of available resources. The multiplayer portion functions the same way, but you are instead tied to a single branch versus having almost all the units available to you.

While the singleplayer campaign is a superb construct in its own right, the game takes off blazing in the online arena. Through their Massgate online service, everything from account management to clan management can be conducted through the interface. The player has the ability to create a game, quick join a random game, or search the servers to find one that fits your needs. The only issue with the online service is that sometimes it is a little flakey and laggy. I personally did not experience some of the extreme issues that have been reported by my other teammates from the forums, but they seem to be present as enough people report them. As always, take this information with a grain of salt, as it can be anything from a hardware to a software issue on the player's part. The multiplayer battlegrounds allow you to take a specific branch of the military while still giving the flexibility to recruit units outside of your branch (at a significant price hike). Just like in the singleplayer campaign, killing enemy units adds points to your tactical resource counter. Once you hit a certain amount, you can call in devastating air strikes or tactical nuclear missiles. You can also share the resources amongst your teammates, boosting them up if they are close to a breakthrough. World in Conflict multiplayer DOES need teamwork though. If someone attempts to be a Rambo, the player will quickly be put into its place. Coordinated attacks will allow for the best chance at victory.

The only downside to the gameplay is the somewhat simple AI that is included. The AI does its job well, but even an average gamer will be able to tackle it. The best bet is to go online and play against humans, as that is where the challenge is at, not defending against the unlimited waves of tanks that are sent by the AI that attempt to break through your forces. They do use tactical aids, but again, humans use them to a much better advantage.

Once the single player campaign is finished, there will not be a real reason to return to it unless nostalgia hits. The meat is in the multiplayer and it shows, as the game is already part of the Cyber-Athlete competitions. The multiplayer portion does such an amazing job, though, allowing people with limited time to jump right in or allowing a dedicated clan to use this as their main game. In my opinion, this game will be around for quite some time till another game dethrones it. It looks as if nothing similar will come along for some time though.

Even after having played the beta fanatically, this game still has its claws sunk deep into me. With the graphics, the online play, and the engrossing singleplayer campaign, this game is definitely worth your gaming dollar. If you are looking for a quick fix or an extended stay, World in Conflict can satisfy both worlds. Lets not forget that Alec Baldwin does the narration for the game, bringing out a story book quality during the cutscenes. Even if you own Company of Heroes, both of these games fill a different niche in the RTS genre, so it wouldn't be considered heresy to own both.

Gaming Trend Score

93

1. Graphics: 96
2. Audio: 93
3. Controls: 95
4. Gameplay: 89
5. Value/Replay: 93
6. OVERALL:93