I think the sarge likes you best, ‘cause he gave you the most potatoes to peel!
September 24, 2007
Sample outbursts from my latest play session with World in Conflict (in my manliest Joe Swanson bellow):
"Yeeeeaah!"
"Hoooah!"
"Come on... come on... booyah!"
World in Conflict is that sort of game. It's a real time strategy title from the folks at Massive Entertainment, obviously devotees of my article on how to name a game company. They have been making RTS games for a decade now, which explains why I've never heard of them: I hate RTS games. The only one I like is Homeworld, and only that one because of its great sci-fi setting and three dimensional gameplay. So why the affection for this one, when it simply posits a Russian invasion of the US at the end of the Cold War?
We can start with the graphics, which employ Black and White's astounding ability to go from a God's eye view and smoothly zoom in to see a belt clip bouncing on a running soldier. Tanks are sharply textured, weapons fire looks great, and buildings explode with such smoke that you'll start coughing at your monitor. You'll also hear lots of great battle chatter and cinematic dialogue; this is very nearly the RTS equivalent of Bioshock, people. No joke.
It plays like every armchair general's dream: no base building or resource collecting to worry about. This is war, soldier! You get a pool of points to call in troops/tanks/choppers, and if they happen to die those points are swiftly refunded so you can call in more troops. But you're not confined to normal troops: as you destroy enemy units and accomplish objectives you get "tactical aid points," which is just a fancy term for "directed artillery strikes." Mark a strip of land and watch as a B-52 bomber flies overhead and carpet bombs it. Set the forests ablaze with napalm. Summon fighter jets to eliminate helicopters if you can't spare an anti-aircraft unit.
Glorious.
An amazing feature of World in Conflict is how it really feels like you're playing a part in a real war. While some missions start out as you alone versus the Russians, you'll soon be aided by CPU controlled units who fight enemy forces of their own. You're "Lieutenant Parker," the kind of featureless guy that could give Gordon Freeman a run in a staring contest. Sometimes you're the hero, other times you're told to your face that you're on reserve. It doesn't feel forced, either. Fighting the entire battle would be madness; even I have a hard time managing more than a dozen units, so I'm glad they let you relax every once in a while.
World in Conflict is a triumphant four star game. It will absolutely cripple your computer - my 2.4ghz Dual Core / nVidia 8800 GTS 320MB is fairly smooth in between medium and high settings - but if you've got enough silicon you need to get yourself a copy.
Halo 3 comes out today. My copy was pre-ordered weeks ago, so I don't need to be swayed by "unbiased reviews." I can tell you that even as a Microsoft fanboy I can't muster up more than the default level of enthusiasm for this game. Another shooter on the Xbox 360? With online multiplayer support, video saving and something resembling a level editor? Yawn, honestly. I'm glad to see they've kept the minimal loading times, smooth frame rate and neato vehicles from the previous games, but I don't feel the tug at my heartstrings that I felt during the last few hours of the wait for Bioshock or Metroid Prime 3. It's games like Mass Effect, Crysis and Super Mario Galaxy have me really drooling (and I'm glad Alan Wake has dropped off the radar or I wouldn't even care about those three).
More importantly, the third disc of Haruhi is supposed to come out with that sci-fi shooter no one cares about. Blair... old-buddy-old-pal-source-of-all-great-licensed-anime... you've got a copy of this floating around, right? Where'd you like to go for dinner Friday night? You name it, I'm there with bells on.
