World in Conflict review (PC)

Tom Clancy wouldn't approve. In 1989 there would be no way the Soviets could launch an invasion of the United States of America. After all, Soviet Communism was a bankrupt political philosophy, meaning that nothing it created could succeed. Its architecture of aggression – tanks, aircraft and so on were no match to the true blue white heat of technology created by the free peoples of North America. And Soviet troops, in full knowledge of their satanic political pact were not as motivated or as well trained as the forces of Uncle Sam.

Which makes seeing tanks roll onto the streets of Seattle seem all the more shocking really. Here is a tale told as well as any in gaming today – for crying out loud they hired a Baldwin, the top one, the one that can act, to provide the narration to this historic conflict.

Close Air Support

While the story may be grand, you're not one of the minds that is controlling a nations strategic nuclear stockpile. World in Conflict places you right on the firing line. It's a corporal's life for you my son, defending town squares, fighting street to street and for each hill.

That's what makes World in Conflict such a glorious treat in these days of grand strategy titles like Supreme Commander. The action here is down and dirty – where a well placed air strike provided by your close support aircraft can turn the tide of a skirmish.

You'll fight through an engaging campaign, with major objectives split into smaller ones as you advance to your final goals. Forget division sized engagements – your small platoon or company sized groups always be in your reach and always keep you on your toes.

Daisy Cutter

With the action coming thick and fast its just as well World in Conflict offers simple and intuitive controls. Moving the camera and units is simplicity itself as is placing troops inside buildings. Only very rarely will the interface get in the way of your enjoyment of the game.

Resource management is on the light side – you won't be tasked with collecting some baloney beans or some such nonsense. You'll earn reinforcement points and tactical aid points by success on the battlefield – killing the enemy or completing objectives.

Tactical aids are great fun and come in the form of rewarding slices of militaristic showing off. Learning how best to use these is one of the most fun aspects of the game. How best to clear infantry from a wooded area? Is it a napalm strike, how about a daisy cutter bomb? The choice is yours.

To get the best out of the game it's worth upping the difficulty level as the default is a little on the easy side. You'll be glad you did when facing enemies online.

It's the Only Way to be Sure

By the time you get your hands of the top tactical aid, a nuke, you'll be itching to deploy it on enemy forces. And it really doesn't disappoint. World in Conflict is a damn pretty game and the nuclear carnage you can unleash on of the highlights of its visual splendour.

Everything looks fantastic in World of Conflict. If you can see it, you can probable make a complete mess of it. Explosions are fantastic, smoke even more so. Units and maps are extremely detailed and more attractive than most other strategy games I've played.

I've not played the game on DX10 hardware, but via DX9 it looks splendid anyway and ran extremely well at high settings on my GeForce 7600 powered notebook.

Online War

Good as the single player campaign is, World in Conflict really comes into its own as a base for skirmish battles. Playing online is a real joy due to the ability to drop into battles already being played out.

At first I struggled when playing online, many of us who signed up for the beta took a while to get to grips with things. But by the time the final retail game came along we'd started to specialise. Playing with friends is a joy, teamwork is needed to get the best out of the game and World in Conflict then becomes one of the finest multiplayer strategy games around.

Brilliant

World in Conflict proves you don't have to reinvent the wheel to provide top quality entertainment. The tactical play on offer is certainly nothing new. But the combination of quality presentation, a focus on close action and really top notch multiplayer and skirmishes means that World in Conflict really is one of the best PC games released this year.

It might have seemed that the action packed nature of the game would make for a dumb experience but really this isn't so. Smart and thrill a minute really can go hand in hand and strategy fans used to more hardcore options should try World in Conflict out.

Right...I'm back to flinging nukes.