Sierra World in Conflict Collectors Edition - WICCE

Grrreat stuff!

2/19/2009

After I first played Gun Gontrol some years ago, I was hooked on Strategy games. Then GC II totally cemented me into the RTS genre and now after World in Conflict, I'm totally captivated. The graphics/ sound effects are awesome, the missions keep you on your Ps and Qs and they keep flippin on you; so much so that you always have to be on the ball.

My only disappointment was that there were not more missions where one had full access to all weapons. When I played it for the first time I became familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of my arsenal at the end, by that time, the war was over. Darn!

But this is a great game! Well worth the money! and should be in the library of any RTS game fan. Sierra continues to excel!

Points for concept, minus for execution

5/29/2008

Let me start off by saying that this game is quite original and very entertaining. For those of you who are sick and tired of gathering resources and keep getting beat by kids who time themselves to pinpoint accuracy... then this game is for you.

The collectors edition is, IMHO, worth the extra money as well. The box itself is wonderfully creative, and the DVD on the Berlin Wall is nice as well. Personally? I got it for the piece of the Berlin Wall. Just something about getting a game AND owning a piece of history appealed to me. It's not a big piece, but it's still a reminder of the history of our world, and how to possibly avoid it happening again.

As for gameplay, it was refreshing and new. The pace was good enough to not let you get bored, but hard enough so that you didn't think it was a push over. The difficulty curve on the levels however varied quite a bit. So some you will breeze through, others you will see no way possible to actually fulfill the secondary objectives because either 1) they're too hard or 2) the primary are hard enough!

Problem was, I got this game at the same time as Company of Heroes, and saw the similarities between the 2 as more than striking. The little movie and army movement loading scenes, the moving forward to capture objective points, the continual stream of supplies/respawn points... etc. Everything WiC has tried to "revolutionize," CoH did before them, and did better.

As some reviews on the normal game pointed out, the game, after the novelty wears off, boils down to just running around to circles. You just have to do it more frantically than the other team. The whole "building" strategy is thrown out the window once you play multiplayer, because they never hold up long to artillery barrages, air strikes, etc.

So everybody wants to be just 2 things, armor and air, since they can move fast, do damage, and move on. Infantry and Support are left in the dust, with support sometimes being helpful by protecting the armor until more air support can make it over there.

Not to mention the whole "team" aspect of the multiplayer modes online. If you have someone on your team who is incompetant at using air, or whatever they've chosen, your whole team suffers. Not only will you then suddenly seemed outmanned, but your enemy gets more Tactical points to drop nukes on you so you can't do anything anyway. It really is a bit discouraging and multiplayer matches tend to be horribly lopsided. Now I did not get into clan battles, where it may be more even, but for those of us not dedicated to pour that amount of time into it, you get jerked around.

Conclusion: That all being said, this game IS different and is worth a try. The story isn't so hot (it really tries hard to make you empathize with the main characters... unsuccessfully) and the timeline gets cut up for some reason, but it still works. The gameplay is nice if it doesn't crash (but what doesn't now-a-days?), and it's a good thing to not need to collect resources. Just don't be surprised if suddenly running from circle to circle gets tedious and this game loses it's replay value.

Fleeting Fun

2/15/2008

The game is phenomenal with its ambience, details, action, and creativity. The only problem is that the single-player campaign is too short. Indeed, I thought the end of the game was only the midpoint, and was disappointed to see the credits roll.

The one major difference between this and other real-time strategy games is that you do not gather resources. Rather, you get "reinforcement points" with which you can essentially purchase replacement units of your choice (though selection is dependent upon the mission) when you lose units. The counter doesn't tick up unless one of your units gets destroyed, so massive, unstoppable forces are hard to come by.

Another huge part of the game is taking and controlling "strongpoints" which become fortified if you hold them long enough. Since you never actually build anything in the game, these fortifications are created automatically while your tanks hold their ground. Once one figures out how to do this effectively, the game becomes fairly straightforward, though there are always new and different challenges.

In many regards, the game is more like I imagine a combat commander's role to be: set up a good plan, then let the units carry it out. More or less, you do not have to micromanage how your tanks move; you simply position them to the best possible advantage and usually have to focus your attention elsewhere. The AI tends to be pretty good at picking out targets, although you have to be Johnny-on-the-spot with any special commands such as special attacks, smoke screens, or calling in artillery strikes. Indeed, about half of the game is spent organizing artillery and air strikes to support the tanks you are really trying to command.

One interesting feature of the game is the complete 3d environment allowed by the camera. Unlike other RTS games that might allow you to pivot the camera angle or zoom in, the camera is free-floating, much like a first-person game, and you can put the camera right down by your infantrymen (and hear them chatting) if you want to, but there is no particular advantage but for aesthetic appeal or taking nice screenshots. I felt one limitation was not being able to zoom out quite far enough to see the big picture when needed.

In short, this game is everything that the slightly disappointing Command & Conquer: Generals should have been. The game play is attention-demanding; there's hardly a chance to sip your computer-side beverage with all the frantic two-handed action. But the gameplay is rewarding with its obstacles and triumphs.

RTS game for people that don't always like RTS games

1/12/2008

World in Conflict is the ultimate game for people that don't call themselves "real-time strategy" (RTS) fans, but would like to dip their toe in and experience the game. Unlike most RTS games, you aren't tasked with building a base or gathering resources--instead, you given "command points" from the outset, and your sole focus in the game is to out-think and out-maneuver your Russian foes in glorious combat.

The game also comes with a surprisingly poignant story, as well as some very slick multiplayer options. Aside from camera issues and over-reliance on tanks in the single-player, (though they do have campaigns that specifically make you use all four of the different types of units) this is a great RTS game to dive head first into.

Another great RTS

1/2/2008

This game is great, and it thought it was very cool when played. The single player story line is great, but those older computers can't rely on playing this game, although i'm playing it on low with a laptop. The extra stuff is more than worth it, but the thing is the cd key isn't needed until you get online. So even on the trial version, you could probably play the single player anytime, it's just multiplayer that's limited.

The explosions in this game are great, and what's even funner is calling in air support, if its burning enemy infantry out of the trees (Yes, you can do that), or if its blowing up some heavy armer with some artillery. However this game does not exactly have building required, it's just deploying troops, but that's what makes this game so intense. Not only that, but a lot of the missions you have time limits, so it makes something even more out of it. There's still strategy involved, people.

You have an all around selection of units, including infantry, tanks, helicopters, artillery, and even amphibious vehicles. What's even cooler is each unit has strengths and weaknesses, like for example, the heavy copter is made for ground only while the medium copter is made for taking on other air enemy units. When they say everything is destructible in the reviews, they mean it. You can even take down bridges to block the enemy from coming over.

Pros: Good gameplay, great graphics, cool explosions, and satisfyable campaign

cons: requirements are fairly steep, but reasonable. However, you can't control jets! (aww, that's okay, it's still awesome). Most cinematics aren't cinematics, rather it's just shifting pictures talking to each other. However when they do have true cinematics they look great.

All in all, it seemed great and almost realistic at times, a