World in Conflict

Set in 1989, World in Conflict tells the story of what might have happened if the Russians invaded the USA. Most of the time with strategy games there is a simple formula. Give a single page of explanation, maybe a paragraph on what your objectives are, and that’s it when it comes to a mission story. After Command & Conquer: Tiberium Wars reawakening the story telling idea in strategy games, WiC gives its own way of shaking things up.  Where C&C relied on telling a story using live action scenes due to the engine and not being able to give the quality required, WiC uses in-game rendered scenes, pained scenes, CGI scenes and strategic maps using a voice-over by Alec Baldwin (Hunt for Red October) to tell its story. While some might think it’s overkill, all are used and done well, with one used after another and all between each mission used once. The in-game renders are the soldiers on the battlefield talking about their plan of attack for the mission. The CGI is used for major action scenes such as choppers over Liberty Island, New York in a fire fight. The painted scenes are a soldier’s story and the strategic maps are the Alec Baldwin parts as he speaks as a soldier talking about the mission you are just about to undertake in the past tense. All give an incredible amount of story that put other games to shame.  Playing, there are a number of locations all looking very different including a Russian shipyard and Seattle. The maps take place both during the day and during the night. A great example of map building is a small town with Christmas lights up and tanks going through the snow outside. The graphics quality on units is high and you can zoom right in to them. There are a number of vehicle classes from Artillery to Air with Armour and Infantry also included. You can select a few units from the list, all having a spawn cost to deploy them with only a set amount of credit given to you. While you don’t control all the units on the battlefield, your 2-6 or so normal amount of units is enough to keep you busy. There are also tactical support options that gain power as you destroy enemies allowing more options. You gain the points needed to use tactical support by destroying enemies and capturing set locations giving you enough credit to use air support and even a nuke strike capability if you have enough. All buildings are destructible too. There are a large number of missions in single player which should take a few hours to complete and then you have the massively enjoyable multiplayer giving endless fun.  World in Conflict is well worth trying as one of the few examples of how to make a strategy game. The only downside is the short single player, but let’s hope an expansion or two is going to be considered.