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Rating:
Last week, while surfing the internet in search of the "definitive" strategy game (a sort of personal Holy Grail), I managed to find this one, specifically by typing the keywords "strategic intricate realistic complex" on Google. Well, I can't call it definitive because I imagine the cool games my kids will play in the future, but this game is truly impressive. By far the best tactical RTS with a modern setting I have ever seen. After a few days, I went to buy it and tried it with a friend of mine, and we really got hooked on this game like crazy.
Features:
- The setting is quite standard, World War II, including the final years of the war, when the first missiles (technically rockets) and the most advanced technologies were developed. As far as I know (I still have to finish it), the plot (very marginally) follows the story of two Russian boys, catapulted into the war while Nazi Germany was breaking through the Soviet front. The controllable factions are Germany, Russia, the USA, and the Allies (plus Japan in multiplayer matches). Over 50 vehicles available.
- The graphics are impeccable. The level of detail in men, vehicles, and explosions is very high, the environments are beautifully crafted, and every object is proportionally to scale (which I personally highly appreciate in an RTS). The destructibility of the scenarios is high, but not ostentatious. For example, it will sometimes be helpful to knock down the wall of a house, just to get a line of sight inside it and prevent enemy infantry from hiding there. Zooming in (with a 3D freelook view), you will feel like you're really in a classic WWII shooter. The firepower of vehicles (e.g., tanks) is truly well represented by the graphics engine, and it will make you repeatedly jaw-drop at the destruction and chaos they can cause. A small detail, death animations are really well done and can sometimes be quite violent (for the more sensitive), but they never fall into gore or splatter. It's a habit to say so.
- The ballistics of every bullet are calculated. This is one of the game's foundations because it ensures frantic action during some battles and maximum realism in combat dynamics. We will often see shots missing the target and hitting the wall of the house behind. This is the fundamental difference from virtually every other RTS, which fundamentally possesses a 2D core.
- The point where units are hit is crucial. You can order which part of a tank to aim at, for example, and you can get different results depending on the impact point. We can have different types of damage, each with two levels (medium and severe): turret damaged, main cannon damaged, track damaged, hull damaged, and engine on fire. Each of these obviously leads to the immobilization of the part in question, and sometimes to the destruction of the tank. As you might expect, tanks have thicker front armor, while the side, roof, and rear armor are weaker. The angle of incidence also matters, determining whether the shell can penetrate the armor (perpendicular hit) or is deflected by it.
- Infantry can find cover behind every object: when selected, by moving the cursor over any object in the scenario (even tank wreckage, barrels, windows, or open doors), you can order them to take cover behind the object, also selecting the best position to stay. Infantry animations are really well crafted and fluid. Obviously, micromanagement is very important in this game, but that doesn't mean we'll be limited to controlling just a few men; actually, sometimes we really have to control a huge number of units. It's worth noting that micromanagement never falls into complexity in this title. Also noteworthy are the numerous options available, ranging from the positions the character must assume (prone, crouched, and standing) to fire modes (do not shoot, fire at will, return fire), various attack modes, suppressive fire, and additional options like grenades, mines, and so on. Each unit also has an inventory that can be enriched by searching boxes or corpses present on the map. All these features in the infantry control system allow the player to perform even sabotage or stealth missions with a few men within the campaign, very well executed. These partially recall the more famous Commandos II, but maintain their own specific schemes of this game.
- Note also that each unit can be controlled in third person, with keyboard arrows and the mouse to shoot. Inside tanks, the choice varies, for example, from using a hull-mounted machine gun, coaxial, behind the turret, and main cannon, obviously, with high-fragmentation or high-penetration shells of your choice. This title truly lacks nothing...
- On these bases, the tactical aspect becomes the game's best experience. Infinite action modes, infinite tactics depending on the situation, the game will repeatedly require you to devise a complex battle plan even just to eliminate a simple machine gunner, holed up behind some wall or sandbag, blocking your way. Thanks to the calculated ballistics, no advantage is an advantage just because indicated by some game script, but for reasons related to physics (e.g., elevated position).
- Realism is truly pushed to the maximum. Devoid of those cumbersome elements that we've seen excessively, for example, in The Day After, the control system does not prove particularly difficult, also aided by the customizable interface. One thing you will have to deal with is that in MOW, to select a unit, you must first deselect the previous one; otherwise, it will start moving to the location of the one to be selected. It's a small difference that needs to be accepted, and in my opinion, it should be appreciated. Mission briefings are also seriously developed, in front of a map of the place, and often provide insights on some tactics that could be implemented (without taking away player freedom). Furthermore, enabling it in the options, it is possible to have a realistic fog of war, so that the player can only see the enemy in the classic "cone" of sight in front of the units. The AI has it by default, so for pure fair play, it should be activated. Anyway, it increases realism and also allows the enemy to set ambushes or take you by surprise. However, it's not as annoying as in many other games, and it can be used pleasantly.
- The AI is very well developed (I think I read that it is the result of several years of work), it rarely makes mistakes and even more rarely gets stuck. Really excellent. For the rest, the game is very clean, bugs are practically rare, and when they occur, they can be pleasantly accepted, given the complexity of the graphics and game engine on which it is based. Dubbed in Italian, both audio and video, it has no dubbing errors and is appreciable. The multiplayer mode is also good, which also includes cooperative play between players.
-In conclusion, truly a great game on all fronts. The only criticism it faces is that the videos between missions are unconvincing, but saying so would really seem like nitpicking, especially when faced with such a good title. The cost is around 30 euros, and I guarantee that it is really money well spent. As for the requirements, it is not excessively demanding, the game engine is well optimized, and you should manage even with a decent PC. With a good PC, it runs really well and rewards the buyer. What can I say... faced with such a masterpiece, I am forced to put it second on my personal RTS podium. Again: it is truly impressive. It would leave any RTS lover speechless.
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