World in Conflict [PC]

This may be the last time we write about World in Conflict before it releases in mid-September. We've seen nearly everything we can about the game aside from the end levels, which we'd love to save for the final. At last week's Sierra Gamers' Week (that publisher's precursor to GC 2007), Sierra and Massive let us step in from the beginning of the single player game to get through as much as we could in a short amount of time. We also had the pleasure of playing in a multiplayer tournament with other attendees ending with one of the most entertaining multiplayer gaming experiences in our recent memories. It also presented a great opportunity to check out their broadcast tools, which multiplayer spectators will likely love.

After so many hours of playing the multiplayer, it was good to step back into single-player, which we've only had the chance to play once before. This time we had the chance to step onto US soil right away as the very first level of the single-player game plopped us right in the middle of a Seattle under siege and in chaos. Citizens were running along the freeways and streets trying to escape, artillery strikes were landing across the city destroying whole blocks, both soldiers and armor were sending shells flying on both sides of the conflict. As Lieutenant Parker, we were given charge of a couple of Bradley armored vehicles and told to make our way to the docks to assess the situation. Meanwhile Captain Bannon (the same whiny bastard we saw in the recent single-player build we received) was shouting orders to run for the hills while we were forced to do his dirty work in the city. Thankfully, the dirty work was good clean fun.

The first couple of levels are really about establishing that comfort zone with a few units that the game provides rather than us having to select and drop in our own. After a while in the first mission, some infantry will also be provided along with some Tactical Aid (TA) points for calling in special strikes. In the case of the first couple of missions, plenty of artillery strikes. These barrages are particularly brilliant at knocking buildings down and destroying the crap out of everything in the area. Check out the video below to see for yourself.

By the time we joined the fight, the city was basically lost so most of our efforts were put towards saving citizens and escaping the onslaught. This mission in particular was a great mix of assaulting enemy positions to save friendly units and defensive missions to guard areas while citizens were transported out of the Kingdome. World in Conflict does a very interesting job of making us feel like we're in a larger conflict while giving us much smaller tasks than we're used to in a single player RTS campaign. We simply needed to focus on the task at hand while friendly AI carried out their own objectives. It gives that sense of frantic pacing that you get with games like Company of Heroes or C&C 3 though you're not doing anywhere near as much micromanagement. Instead we're told to focus our attention on smaller conflicts and use unit positioning and special abilities to create good situations.