The Wargamer

World in Conflict

What if? Wargamers love the question; the wargaming genre was founded on that very question, taking the form of hypothetical scenarios from the battle of Kursk to Cold War battles on the plains of Germany. The developers at Massive Entertainment, makers of the award winning Ground Control series have used that same question to formulate their next new game, World in Conflict. World in Conflict is a 3D real-time tactical game that looks at an alternative history of how the Cold War could have ended. Instead of quietly stepping into the pages of history, what if the Soviet Union had lashed out at its superpower rival? The answer is has all the makings of a great wargame.

Set in 1989, the premise is easy to grasp: the Soviet Union decides to invade the United States and Europe. To add to the credibility of this premise, Massive Entertainment turned to an outside resource to enhance storyline, hiring the prolific and talented Larry Bond on board to help them write the storyline for the single-player campaign. Bond’s long history of writing Cold War thrillers have made him one of the best writers in the crowded genre, and his contributions to the gaming world are not unfamiliar to readers of The Wargamer. Bond might best be known for his shepherding of the Harpoon series through thick and thin, as well as his contributions to such games as Supreme Ruler 2010.

A choice of four roles will be available to the player: Armor, Infantry, Air, and Support. Each of the first three roles will be familiar to even the most general of audiences. The support role, though perhaps not as glamorous as the other three, will pack a big punch. The Support player will carry responsibility for AAA, artillery (fans the MLRS will have something to look forward to), and engineers, who will be able to help repair damaged vehicles – including tanks. 

Though the units are clearly different than those found in Ground Control, the gameplay will look familiar to anyone who has played either game in the series. The players will struggle to dominate control points. Successfully taking them activates a “trickle pool” that slowly builds points that can be spent to buy reinforcements. Players will also be able to purchase special abilities, such as being able to briefly clear the fog of war around a particular area. In addition they will be able to buy units outside of their respective roles, so a player managing the Support role will have access to infantry, air, etc. However, anyone buying a unit outside of their role will have to pay a premium to do so. While the numbers aren’t fixed at this point, one of the examples showed that an M-1 Abrams would cost 900 points for the player managing the Armor role. The Support player might pay 1400 points for that same unit. Massive Entertainment is still working out the details in game balance, but the concept is clear: everyone can get into the action – for a price - and specialization has its rewards.

The map is fully destructible, in some pretty big ways; forests will burn and bridges and buildings can be destroyed. All the units in the game can lend a hand to the map’s destruction, but there is one weapon that is getting a lot of attention: the tactical nuke. The tactical nuke is big, powerful, and the developers have managed to pull off the dichotomy of demonstrating at once both how beautiful and dangerous it is. The graphical display is a thing of wonder to look at, and is the best looking nuke we’ve seen in a video game. As the player zooms in for a closer inspection, a Geiger counter will start clicking, indicating its radioactive fallout. The screen will even flicker to simulate the EMP. 

Massive Entertainment isn’t content to rest with a great single-player gaming experience. They want to expand their fan base. To that end they are focusing on the multiplayer game, too. It is intended to be centered around clan-based competition. Players will be able to battle up to 8 versus 8 in the game. 

Though the game’s release isn’t scheduled until sometime in early 2007, World in Conflict is already looking very good. The graphics are stunning and appear to be backed up by both great gameplay and an excellent plot. Wargamers are going to want to carefully follow World in Conflict as it nears completion: this is one of the most promising tactical wargames of the year. 

About the Author

Jim Zabek has been playing wargames for over thirty years. He still has his first copies of PanzerBlitz, Starship Troopers, and Tobruk, amongst others. In fact, his closet can’t hold all the boardgames in it. That doesn’t stop him from buying more even if he can only rarely play them. PC games don’t help the situation. He loves games so much that his wife has to periodically remind him that the rest of the world doesn’t necessarily love games as much as he does. He’s not sure he believes her, though.