World in Conflict

The Basics:
Platform: PC
Developer: Sierra
Price: $49.99
ESRB rating: T-Teen (13+)

Summary: Groundbreaking Real-Time-Strategy game. Teens+

Note: Parents need to know that World in Conflict is filled with large-scale battles, complete with artillery strikes, napalm, even nuclear bombs. Soldiers can be run over by tanks, blown up with artillery, or shot by snipers. Positively, the game has a very interesting, and well-told storyline about how the Cold War could have ended. Plus, an included History Channel DVD tells players how the real Cold War actually began to end in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Families that play this game can discuss how this game uses a storyline that talks about an "alternate history"-imagining that something in the past actually happened differently than it did. Have you read any other books or played games that used this method of storytelling? Does it encourage you to discover what really happened?

Further Breakdown:

Overall rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Best for ages: 13+
Playability: Easy. Fifteen minutes to learn the interface.
Graphics: High. Outstanding affects and cut scenes.
Reading Level: Light
KidScore Rating

Ages 3-7: Red
Ages 8-12: Yellow
Ages 13-17: Green
Violence Amount: Red
Fear: Yellow
Illegal/harmful: Green
Language: Yellow
Nudity: Green
Sex: Green

Review:
In the 1980s, at the height of the Cold War, many people imagined what it would be like if war actually happened. What if the Soviet Union invaded? Would nuclear weapons be used? Of course, war never happened-instead the Berlin Wall came down, and the Cold War ended. Like a good book, WORLD IN CONFLICT let's players imagine the "what if", but unlike a book, they get to play it out in all of it's grittiness in one of the best Real-Time-Strategy (RTS) games of 2007.

It's 1989, and the Soviets have made a surprise attack on the United States. Seattle is overrun, and it's up to a few rag-tag divisions to try and turn the tide. World War III is in full gear, and it's the player's job to win back the United States.

The game's story is told through outstanding cut scenes and in-game narration. Unlike most RTS games, World in Conflict spends a lot of time developing character personalities-the player can truly identify with the turmoil that some of characters in the game are going through.

The story is excellent, but the gameplay is even better. In one of the biggest breaks from the standard RTS genre, World in Conflict has no resource gathering. Instead each player is given a pool of reinforcement points, which they can choose to spend on a variety of military units-troops, tanks, helicopters etc.

As the player's units are destroyed during the battle, the point values for those units are slowly added back to the player's overall pool of reinforcement points. Then the player can re-spend those points to call up more units until the game is either won or lost.

Most battles are determined by who controls and holds certain checkpoints. To make it more challenging, players usually have only a certain amount of time to take over the checkpoint, and then they need to hold it for an additional period of time. The advantage of this method of gameplay is that players get to focus almost entirely on battlefield strategy, rather than micro-managing the collection of gold, wood, oil, etc.

In additional to reinforcement points, players also acquire tactical points when they have accomplished certain objectives-for example taking over checkpoints, or destroying enemy units. These tactical points can be spent to call in artillery strikes, napalm runs, even the dropping of nuclear weapons.

As good as the single player campaign is, the game really shines with its multiplayer options. It's easy to jump into the action. And, like Battlefield 2 and other recent online war games, the leader board has a whole host of medals, ribbon and awards for players to win.

Teams that work together during multiplayer have a huge advantage, since each player only specializes in one area -air, support, infantry etc. So, each player is dependent on other players to provide the support they need.

With a deep and well-told storyline, plus it's new style of gameplay, World in Conflict takes the RTS genre of games and turns it on it's head. It's no conflict-this game is a winner. Players who enjoy this game would also find the 1984 movie Red Dawn interesting.