With most RTS games stuck modeling ancient warfare or retelling World War II, it’s odd to see one that focuses on… the eighties. World in Conflict has a little more going for it than an endless parade of Reagan and neon spandex jokes. It actually has the gameplay to back it all up.

Sleepless in Seattle

All is quiet in Seattle. That is, until the Russkies decide to launch a full-on invasion by stowing the entire soviet army aboard (get this) cargo ships. Before you can shout “Wolverines!!!” the Pacific Northwest is overrun with godless communists. In fact, while pesky Ivan has been getting all uppity in Western Europe for quite a while, no one expected him to invade the motherland. With all the crazy fun that revisionist history has to offer, World in Conflict doth commence.

While many stock elements from other RTS games are present here, the developers took a page from their previous interactive efforts (AKA Ground Control) and completely ditched the base-building and economic facet of the genre. As a huge fan of both, I wasn’t sure how I’d take to World in Conflict. But for what the game sets out to achieve, it works wonderfully well.

Instead of punishing the player for picking the “wrong units” at the beginning of a mission, the game allows you to fly in additional reinforcements should the battle go south.  This keeps the action moving along nicely and stops the game from becoming all about building up a huge army at your base and then steamrolling over everything in your path.  Instead, players generally have less than a dozen units at any given time.  And even though you can call for reinforcements, you’ll probably lose valuable territory if your defending army gets all chewed up while you wait for your next batch to arrive.

Going the Distance

To spice things up a bit and to add one more layer of strategy, players can call in artillery and air-strikes.  These are absolutely devastating when properly utilized, but do require a bit more finesse than you might expect.  There are lots of attack choices and part of the fun comes in figuring out the best one for a given situation.  For example, some strikes have a huge attack radius but take a long time to deploy, while other less powerful ones will execute more quickly.

All of the military mayhem comes across beautifully on-screen provided you have a beefy enough machine.  With all the bells and whistles turned on, you’ll get a breathtaking birds-eye view of the battle.  Nearly everything in, on, and around the terrain is destructible, meaning that quaint little village you’re defending will likely resemble a pock-marked parking lot by the time the mission is over.  Less powerful machines can turn down a number of setting to get a smooth frame rate, and things will still look pretty good as long as you don’t zoom in too close.

Alec Baldwin is our greatest asset

The single player missions try to very hard to evoke the gravitas of a modern war movie, but most of the cut scenes, especially the ones between the missions that attempt to show the player a “slice of life” during wartime fail to resonate at all.  Interestingly, Alec Baldwin’s narration during the loading screen is the most convincing bit in the game. It’s a testament to an actor’s ability to deliver quality despite the dubious source material.

World in Conflict is a good, solid single player game.  It’s also a fantastically innovative multiplayer game.  Unlike nearly every other RTS game out there, World in Conflict sports the ability for player to drop in and out of the multiplayer matches at any time.  Instead of your standard 1v1 or 2v2 matches, World in Conflict encourages 6 or 8 players on a team. 

Matches are designed much like a first-person shooter with each player on a team commanding a limited number of units that you can replenish by calling for reinforcements. Since there’s no screwing around for an hour while everyone builds up their bases and armies, matches are much, much shorter.  It’s not uncommon to play several games in one sitting.  The game also has a matchmaking service that will quickly pop you into a match with an open slot.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend

The big caveat here is one that’s common for nearly all team-based games.  It’s really only as good as the people you’re playing with.  World in Conflict requires a high degree of coordination and to the game’s credit there are plenty of ways to effectively communicate with your team.  But if you happen to join up with a bunch of idiots, you will be dominated by the other side.  One great player can not compensate for team full of losers.

Conflict Resolution

With that said, World in Conflict is a truly refreshing change of pace.  It takes a lot of the waiting out of RTS games, but does so without sacrificing sound tactical decision-making. Even if the single player game leaves a bit to be desired, there’s lots of fun to be had in the multiplayer arena.  Who’d think that reliving the cold war would be so much fun?

Review by: Greg Bemis
Video Produced by: Scott Robison