crazy-m-tz reviews World in Conflict (PC)

World In Conflict is an all-out R-T-S (Real-Time-Strategy) that takes place in 1989 with a different history. The mighty red Army of the Soviet Union remains strong; after WWII, the Berlin wall was never taken down.

The story of the game then follows on (*SPOILER ALERT*): USSR invades Europe (Read: Implausibly), NATO tries to defend Europe but are obviously on the losing side. It changes when USA forces jump in and aids Europe, pushing the Soviet Union back slowly and forcing them to fight harder. Soon after, the the almighty power of US and NATO forces put together, crush the Soviet Union defences and break through to their borders; this is when your battalion (or you) is re-dispatched to the East of America in New York, after you encounter enemy intelligence in one of your previous missions and find out that they plan to invade that city of course. Your stay in New York is short-lived due to the fact that 3/4 of the US Forces are lining up defensive positions all along the east coast of America, and again the USSR is defeated with ease. This is when you are given a one-week leave to your hometown in Seattle due to your successful commanding efforts in Europe and East America. Coincidentally, however, the Soviet Union mounts a surprise attack on the East Coast and you are forced to fall back along with the civilians, and meet up with your battalion halfway into central America. After a few battles you eventually (i'm not going into detail here) push them back and win. In other words, you win 3 battles and save the world from WWIII.

Now let's get to the real part of reviewing and see to the "bits and bobs" in the game. We've just reviewed the story, now let's review the campaign. In World In Conflict singleplayer, there is only one campaign; and you play as the Americans in it. One campaign you say?? "WHAT'S GOING ON?? Isn't it supposed to have one good faction, and one bad faction like the Command & Conquer series have??". Well, yes, but the missions are entirely fulfilling with textures that are so incredibly realistic, and the units so carefully detailed, that they are so flashy in this age of RTS graphics, that you can't help but just zoom in during every one of your battles. The unit's movement and firing accuracy are incredibly real; unlike in other RTS games, tanks, infantry, helicopters and all sorts can miss their targets depending on their rank and distance. Another element that makes W.I.C distinctive from the rest of the R-T-S genre is that its camera control is controlled from the mouse and WASD keys, which actually feels very comfortable using; they introduce a support tab, similar to that of Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, but this time you earn points from achieving certain goals during a match instead of paying for it using credits - Which brings to another point. W.I.C doesn't use money to purchase units, it uses "reinforcement points" where there is a limit on spending them, units that are destroyed will return their "points" and it will be stored to call upon other units or the same at your will.

Multiplayer/online is where W.I.C's strong point is; although the single player campaign may be slightly short for some, the multiplayer will keep you on your toes for hours on. Not just because it is fun, but the experience you encounter during gameplay is absolutely overwhelming as you hear players talk through their headset, commanding their teamates where to go. You can also talk back to them and co-ordinate attacks like never before in an R-T-S game which adds more to the experience. The servers have a really excellent signal, they have servers based in nearly every major city of the world so expect many servers to have pings of 30-50 (that's a good range). Whats more is that there is a ranking and Global Leaderboard Position system; which is mostly what keeps you playing. Your rank increases by the total score you have accumulated since you started the game. But your Global Leadership Position (and you can also gain ranks faster if you have a higher Global Leadership Position number) only counts the amount of score you have obtained within the past 21 days. It may seem easy, but it is in fact harder than it looks, harder in a way that it takes an awfully long to get there. As the game is for 12+ there are many grown-ups who enjoy playing this game; the point is, school children who are completing courses and schoolwork may have trouble trying to do both at once, this is because to get the top rank (on average) you have to play 800 matches, also counting that you have at least spent more than 15minutes on it and have collected more than 800 points on there, which is a lot of work to do.

W.I.C. also contains a variety of different FMVs sequences, one being in-game and the other created by the latest computer technology, which obviously, creates movies that looks very realistic; like the FMVs in the Final Fantasy series. The story is told through a narrative perspective duri