The tutorials let you dip your toe into some deep waters, but they're really more like a series of easy-ish to tough missions that serve as an introduction to the combat system. Units run the full gamut of, well, just about everything you would find on the air or land, with infantry, tanks, jets, choppers, bombers, AA guns, recon trucks, and so on. For instance, the game features hundreds of different units, each of which has been loaded up with detailed weapon modeling, armor ratings, firing ranges, and all sorts of other stats that are extremely helpful when you want to roll your T-72 tanks through the Swedish countryside. A thriving community is playing online right now, too, so you can always find fresh opponents to keep battling even long after the single-player options have lost their luster.ĭelve a little deeper, however, and you soon find that you need to devote serious time to learning all that this intricate example of modern warfare in a box has to offer. You get a lot for your money when it comes to the sheer weight of the game options.
There is even something of a Warhammer or collectible card game vibe here: you can set up decks of units based on different themes like era or nationality and then take them into battle against all comers. Skirmish mode lets you go toe-to-toe with foes online or off in either small-scale matches or huge 10-versus-10 affairs. So don't be surprised when that rabble-rousing Vaclav Havel starts mouthing off and causing trouble for your Warsaw Pact.
Era-specific events pop up during the campaigns as well that alter battle conditions and add flavor to the Cold War setting. These play out like board games, in that you maneuver units on big turn-based tactical maps of Scandinavia before getting in close on detailed strategic battlefield maps when the guns start going off. There are four solo/multiplayer campaigns, each covering different theaters of World War III in Northern Europe circa 1985. The modes, at least, are straightforward enough. Gee, everything looks awfully calm from way up here. But even though this game is so daunting initially that you want to begin your time with the game by studying Clausewitz, the design is so slick and the combat so deviously challenging that you can't help being drawn into its what-if web pitting the Warsaw Pact against NATO. This supersize real-time strategizer set during a Cold War-era WWIII is one of those all-in games that practically punches you in the face with its complexity when you fire it up for the first time. Apologies to Keanu Reeves, but that's exactly the sort of stunned reaction provoked by Wargame: AirLand Battle.
0 kommentar(er)
