World in Conflict- Excellent Story, Excellent Graphics, and Excellent Gameplay

Immense destruction, beautiful graphics, and a chillingly plausible storyline. You want this in a Real-Time Strategy game? Massive Entertainment’s World in Conflict delivers all this and so much more. World in Conflict (WiC) takes place in 1989, after the Cold War turned into World War Three. The single player plot puts you in control of a company of American troops trying to control a Soviet invasion of Seattle. I won’t go into the story too much, but it is excellent, and more than once gave me goosebumps. However, multiplayer shines above even that, making for a very well-rounded game. WiC deserves its title of 2007 Strategy Game of the Year.

The camera is excellent, allowing you to go from a view of the entire map down to looking over the shoulder of your units, and is completely controlled by the mouse

Single player puts you in the role of a Lt. Parker, just as the Soviets invade Seattle. The campaign is of average length, but involves good mission variety. WiC is not so much a typical RTS, with no base-building or resource management. Instead, the player gets a set amount of reinforcement points, which can be used to bring in different units. Once units are destroyed, their points eventually return to the pool, allowing you to repurchase additional units. Most units also have an offensive and defensive ability, giving them an extra push when needed. The other big point to the game is Tactical Aid. As you fight the enemy and take over control points, you gain TA points, which can be used for radar scans, artillery barrages, and airstrikes. It is extremely fulfilling to watch your artillery fall upon the enemy forces, or watch them walk right into your tank buster’s line of fire. All portrayed in the most beautiful way I have ever seen in an RTS, with every object being destructible, and every artillery round leaving a crater.

A before, during, and after look at the level of destruction in a single level of play. Mind you, this is only single player, and multiplayer gets much worse (or better, as some would see it).

As I said, multiplayer is where WiC comes into its own. Most servers are dedicated, not personally hosted, so there are always servers to be played on. When you enter a server, you can choose between the US/NATO or the USSR, and also a certain role. Multiplayer revolves around fulfilling your role, choosing from infantry, armor, air, and support. Infantry and armor are self-explanatory, air allows you to control helicopters, and support gives you powerful artillery and anti-air units. Different game types are also available: domination, which is taking more control points than the enemy; assault, where one side attacks the other’s control points and then switches to defense on the same map; and tug-of-war, where one team must take a row of control points to push a frontline forward. The level of destruction is unprecedented, with up to 16 players throwing in dozens of air and artillery strikes upon the beautifully rendered scenery. Tactical nuclear weapons are also seen occasionally.

An example of Tactical Aid, a Daisy Cutter bomb dropped from a cargo aircraft, and no where near as powerful as the tactical nuke

I will not lie; when I first saw WiC I was not overly excited, because it did not seem to reach the veteran RTS player. But after playing it for many hours, I can tell this will be one of my all time favorite RTS’s. I love the story, I love the multiplayer, I love the graphics, and I love the gameplay. This is simply an awesome game. If you are looking to get into the RTS genre, then this is a great learning game for beginners. If you are an RTS vet and looking for something more, then WiC will deliver its great content in good fashion. I highly recommend World in Conflict, and will be playing it for time to come.

Star Wars: Empire at War- Epic Space and Ground Battles

If you are a fan of Real-Time Strategy games, and a Star Wars buff, then Star Wars: Empire at War is the game for you. Created by LucasArts and Petroglyph, Star Wars: Empire at War (further abbreviated as SW:EAW) is an operational strategy game which allows players to fight on the ground and in the space above over forty planets in the Star Wars universe. While the main focus is on tactical control, players also get a grand overview of the galaxy from which you can control and purchase new units and buildings. Overall, SW:EAW is the best RTS of its type.

Galactic Overview allows you to produce units and create a strategy

The game focuses on conflicts between the Empire and Rebel forces just before the fourth movie. Each side has its own units, although both have the same types generally. Both sides also have a campaign, which gives the player missions complete, although you can control what units to purchase and where to attack. SW:EAW's other main element is Galactic Conquest, an open campaign where the player selects which scenario (which sets the number of planets), starting money (called credits), and technology level. Tech levels are also important, unlocking new units and building types. Finally, SW:EAW is rounded off by an instant action mode, also available on multiplayer.

Large space battle as viewed by a "cinematic camera," which makes the game play like a movie

The greatest action and fun to be had is in the space battles. Everything a Star Wars fan could hope for and more can be found in these epic battles. Every ship present in the movies is present, from small fighters like Tie’s and X-Wings to capital ships, like Imperial Star Destroyers and Mon Calamari Cruisers, the Rebellion equivalent. At least one side usually has a space station, from which upgrades and units and be purchased (units only in Instant Action), and the Empire can construct the Death Star in Galactic Conquests. Larger ships and stations have hardpoints which can be specifically attacked, so players can take down the most important systems first. Visuals and sound are magnificent and sound “realistic” to Star Wars.

Ground battle between Rebels and Imperial AT-ATs

Ground battles also involve many of the same qualities, but seem to be much more constrained. There is still a great variety of units, but the maps seem too small. While space battles allow lots of movement, ground battles can be slow as units traverse the battleground. The attacker must capture reinforcement points to bring in more units, and points around the battlefield can be captured and built into different turrets or support buildings. The AI won’t win any awards either, mainly just coming straight at you, but the visuals are still great.

Of course, the Death Star, destroying another planet

An expansion pack, Forces of Corruption, has been released since SW:EAW's launch, and adds a new faction with all new units and buildings and more planets, which I may review at a later time. I would recommend picking up the dual pack of both games, since the expansion is great. I have also barely touched on the galactic overview part of the campaigns. This game is a great addition to the RTS genre and brings Star Wars into it in a good way. With a great variety and almost unlimited replayability, Star Wars and RTS fans alike should pick up this fantastic title.

Hearts of Iron II: Master of Grand Strategy

Created by Paradox Interactive, developers of Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron II is the second installment in one of the best World War Two strategy game series ever. Hearts of Iron II puts you in control of any country that existed between 1936 and 1947. This means that while you can take control of the world playing as the United States or Germany, you can also participate in smaller conflicts as Hungary, Argentina, or Siam. Allowing you to manage every aspect of your countries war machine, Hearts of Iron IIis simply one of the best strategy games out there.

Battle of the Bulge Scenario

This grand strategy game centers on one main campaign on a global map, which allows you to control any country, and let’s you jump into the world in 1936, 1939, 1941, and 1944, so you can start in the time period of your choice. However in Hearts of Iron II , also included are sixteen limited scenarios depicting major campaigns, ranging from the invasion of Poland and D-Day, to alternate history scenarios like the invasion of Japan and a war between Brazil and Argentina.

Event announces invasion and gives the player choices

Hearts of Iron II allows total control over your country of choice. You must balance resources by importing and trading on the global market. You must use your industrial base not only on weapons of war, but also supplies and common goods to keep your populace happy. You can choose which side you will ally with, or create your own alliance of nations to take over the world. Realism is also prevalent, with events occurring almost constantly, informing you of new political and economic advances, as well as declarations of war and annexations. While most are historical events, your actions influence what will happen and when, and games never play the same way twice.

Massive offensive on the Eastern Front

Combat itself is simplified, but you must be prepared in order to win over your enemies. Researching technology will give you newer units, but you must use some of your industrial power to upgrade them, and keep a constant supply of reinforcements. Adding brigades to your divisions, the primary unit size, will give them better firepower, but you must have the correct doctrine in order to use them correctly. Units dig in and use terrain, aircraft bombard enemy positions and dogfight in the air, and ships must struggle to keep supply lanes open. Using combined arms is the most effective strategy in this very complex and in-depth game.

Players must balance their industry while purchasing new units

Overall, Hearts of Iron II is one of my personal favorites and the best game of its type out there. Nearly anything you want to do can be done, and replay is almost unlimited. I am sure that I have not done the game justice in this short review, but hopefully I have given you the idea of just how excellent this game is. While it can take a while to learn everything and get used to the gameplay, Hearts of Iron II is certainly worth it.

Definitions

Strategy (as per dictionary.com): the science or art of combining and employing the means of war in planning and directing large military movements and operations.

Most strategy games revolve around commanding military forces and using strategy to defeat one's enemy. They do not often involve controlling individual unit actions, such as driving and shooting. Rather, most strategy games involve building a war machine (often involving economic control), creating an army, and then controlling the army until the enemy is destroyed.

Not all strategy games involve war. In fact, many games concentrate on other areas, such as building an economy or controlling a person's actions. Examples include the Sims series, SimCity, etc., as well as many free games. However, the main purpose of this blog is discussion of games involving military strategy. So when I refer to strategy games, I am referring to those centered on military control and waging war.

In this realm of strategic games, I personally divide games into one of two categories. The first is operational strategy. Most strategy games fit into this category. These would include many RTS (Real-Time-Strategy) games. They are simpler, generally involving balancing a few resources, building an army, and then controlling the army and units. They are on a smaller scale, with maps taking up the space of a few square miles or less, and unit sizes smaller than divisions. Examples include the Command and Conquer series, Age of Empires, Star Wars: Empire at War, and the like.

My second category is grand strategy. This usually involves controlling an entire country, and involves economics, demographics, politics, and of course, the building of a military. The scale ranges from continents to the entire globe, while the player controls units like divisions, corps, and armies. These games take more skill in my opinion, due to the need to balance large amounts of resources, please your population, and wage war on a large front. Examples of this game style are the Superpower and Hearts of Iron series.

In all posts, comments and questions are welcome, and I will do my best to answer them fully. More game-specific content to come soon.

Strategy Games Blog Opening

Today marks the creation of this blog to bring you info about strategy games. There are a lot of great strategy games out there, and if you're like me, you love to play them. Hopefully I'll add some good info and reviews soon!