World in Conflict

Written by Jason Cisarano  on August 21, 2007

First Impressions: Satisfying your longing for simpler timesЧand tactical nukes

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Ah, 1989. Harry had just met Sally, we were addicted to Tetris on the Game Boy, and the Soviets were the ones at war in Afghanistan. There's been plenty of nostalgia for the 80's as a certain generation begins to age: movies like The Wedding Singer and TV shows like Family Guy regularly look back at 80s culture. World in Conflict from Sierra and Massive Entertainment likewise hearken back to the days when there were just a couple of big kids on the block and the fear-inducing buzzwords were Уmutually assured destructionФ and Уglobal thermonuclear war,Ф not Уdirty bombФ or Уbiological agent.Ф

In World in Conflict's alternate version of 1989, the Soviet Union chooses not to go gently into that good night. Instead, in a story penned by Tom Clancy co-author Larry Bond (Red Storm Rising), the Soviets see their fall coming and ask NATO for help. When it doesn't come, the Kremlin goes on the offensive, hitting targets around Europe. When the U.S. commits its forces to the fight, the Soviets respond with a sneak attack on Seattle р la Red Dawn: paratroop drops and civilian vessels used to move soldiers and equipment. Pretty soon it's duck and cover all along the west coast as the Seattle toehold turns into a full-scale invasion.

For the player, this means about 15 single-player battles set not only across western Europe and into Russia, but also among the shopping malls and suburbs of the U.S. The story will be pretty ambitious for an RTS, centering on the adventures of a Lieutenant Parker as he makes his way through the various theaters and progresses through the ranks. Unlike a lot of RTSs, the action will be focused on what a lower-level officer might realistically expect to command: a few tanks, some infantry and supporting units. The player won't generally be charged with controlling every unit on the field. Taking its cues from some first-person shooters, Swordfish Studios (with the help of WiC's PC developer Massive) is going to fill out the single-player order of battle with AI- controlled units so that the player has the sense of being a part of a much larger fight. The front lines might extend to the horizon, but the player will have orders that are a small part of the overall plan, e.g. cover this area, take that building, and so on.

This doesn't mean that the objectives are overly simple, however, because each mission will have primary objectives augmented by optional secondary objectives. The optional objectives involve things like taking out enemy forces along the way to a primary objective or sometimes going out of your way to inflict a little extra damage on the enemy. The thing is, accomplishing these extra objectives can make the primary ones easier. They might allow you to capture some equipment that you can turn on its former owners. Or you might be able to destroy some resources that the enemy might have used against you later.

On the multiplayer end of things, players will likewise take on roles that will require a similar sort of teamwork in the on-line battles. The multiplayer will be a bit different than other current RTSs, since Swordfish has allowed for team play with up to eight players per side. Just in case that didn't sink in, I'll say it again: eight players per side. Players will be able to drop in on battles already in progressЧno need to twiddle your thumbs in a lobby to gather players or wait for a match to end. Players will jump into a match, choose a role, and get into the fight. To an extent, roles determine what kind of units a particular commander can field. All players will be able to buy basic units of all types, though at a steeper cost when buying outside of the specialty. On the other hand, the most advanced unitsЧthat is, the heaviest artillery, the best attack helicopters, the best tanksЧare only available within the specialization. The specialties also affect the cost of the units. Since there is no resource gathering, each player gets the same budget at the beginning of a match to spend on units. When a unit is destroyed, its cost will trickle back into the player's account, allowing the purchase of new units.



World in Conflict also keeps the tech tree simple in an attempt to make a game that'll appeal to the widest possible variety of players. There's no mention of the research that's so much a part of so many RTSs, and the units offered have been pared down to a minimum number and organized in a simplistic way to make it easy for players to pick up the game. For instance, expect only a couple of tank options for each side, arranged into light, medium, and heavy categories. All of the unit choices for all three factions are organized in this fashion, which, depending on your point of view, could be called Уdumbed-downФ or Уuser-friendly.Ф This kind of symmetry suggests that the factions hide the same stats under different skins.

The cost system allows for continuous recycling of unitsЧno matter how many of your men are getting slaughtered, you can always requisition more to throw into the meat grinder. Multiplayer battles, then are decided based on control points. In order to win a control point, commanders have to capture all its associated nodes by occupying them and ousting any enemies there. Once all the nodes are under one player's control, the point will automatically begin to fortify itself, building machinegun nests, antiaircraft batteries, antitank emplacements, or other upgrades according to the situation. Seizing and fortifying objectives like this are the path to victory in single- and multiplayer battles.

Along the way, players will earn Уtactical aid pointsФ that they can spend to help turn the tide of battle. The points are earned by accomplishing missions, killing the enemy, or completing other battlefield tasks. They can be spent on various items, each with its own cost. A cheap tactical aid like radar allows the player a glimpse at enemy units hidden by the fog of war. Spending a few more points can call things like off-map artillery strikes, napalm strikes, and high-altitude bombing runs. They can also buy the services of a few fighter jets to take out any pesky enemy attack helicopters harassing your troops. Of course no Cold-War-gone-hot game could be complete without nukes. It's the most expensive tactical aid, capable of leveling buildings, deforming the terrain, and rendering parts of the battlefield impassable for a period of time. And it's rendered in a suitably impressive fashion with a mushroom cloud that rises kilometers up into the sky and looms over the rest of the map. In short, it's devastating and totally cool at the same time.