For those of you who may not know, the World in Conflict open beta was recently released to the public, and has been active for the past few days. I’ve played through the beta for the entire day today, and the following are my thoughts on it – ranging everywhere from simple audio, to graphics and even matters of units balance.

It’s primary a multiplayer beta, but after starting it up for the first time, I could see just from the menu; the music and the news bites playing in the background that it’s single-player must be incredibly well detailed. Simply sitting for a moment through those little snippets of news gives a sense of awe and fear just because of how real they sound. The music doesn’t reduce this feeling any, and just adds to the whole thing. Accessing the multiplayer demo is easy enough – I had no troubles with the Massgate registration, nor with the code. Starting up the game and joining in was as simple as logging in and hitting ‘play’.

Doing this would connect you to a server right away, where you could simply pick a side, pick a role and just jump into the fray. The settings for the ‘play’ button can be adjusted for specific maps or whatever else one may like. Once one gets in though, the sight is simply astounding. There is currently no other RTS out there that has this level of detail on this level of scale. The models are simply marvelous, the Terrain (especially the trees!) is extremely detailed and the texturing is top-notch. Although I was playing at low settings and with a low-end rig (only 512MB RAM, Radeon X550), the entire thing still looked extremely pretty and ran utterly smoothly the first time around. Subsequent games started up slower and slower, with the screen freezing for a few moments when you pick sides, but after that usually there isn’t much trouble.

Although Company of Heroes may have slightly better texture detailing and lighting, it’s simply not on as big a scale as World in Conflict. While Supreme Commander does have the scale, it just doesn’t have this kind of detail either. To me, this sort of makes WIC somewhere in the middle, combining some elements from both (albeit, more from CoH).

Once you’re in the thick of the fight though, it’s really addictive. You get a limited number of command points once you join, which can be spent on units. Units that are in your line (Infantry, armor, etc) are always the cheapest, but at the same time you can buy basic units from other lines, so you aren’t completely limited. As units die, their value in points is slowly refilled – the exact rate depends on how many units are currently fielded, so recovering from a big loss isn’t too hard. These reinforcements arrive after a certain delay at a drop zone that you designate, meaning that sometimes strategic thinking is needed for that.

Dropping in artillery too soon after an enemy squad of helicopters destroyed the previous batch may not be wise, as you may not have enough points for the AA support to be dropped at the same time. Sometimes, waiting to drop a maximum number of units at one go is better, while at others a trickle is more useful due to pressing need – it all depends on the situation, which is constantly changing.

The objective of the games in the beta is simple: gain control of and hold several ‘perimeter’ points. If your team holds more points than the other team, then you gain more ‘dominance’ over them until either they are left with nothing, or the timer runs out. This is very similar to the Battlefield 2 and 2142 systems, where emphasis is also on holding and keeping more points than the opposing teams. However, here teamwork and achievements are rewarded directly. Capturing points and fortifying them, attacking and destroying enemy units or simply just repairing friendly units are all rewarded with score and the keys to what is probably the greatest set of toys in all of RTS history: Tactical Aids.

Tactical Aids (TA) are basically a huge variety of off-field weapons one can deploy to distract or turn the tide of battle. They range from simple drops of airborne troops or tanks, to tank busters, heavy artillery and the all-mighty Tactical Nuke. Each has a different cost to use, and all take a certain time to deploy, requiring a bit of thinking before hand. These Tactical Aids are universal to all lines of command; but some commanders may get them more easily than others. However, any player can give his Tactical Aids to another player, allowing one to amass it enough to gain the upper-tier abilities and letting them loose on the enemies.

One thing about the Tac Nuke – it has to be, by far, the most prettiest nuclear explosion I’ve seen in any game to date. Supreme Commander’s Nukes simply don’t compare to the mushroom cloud this one lets off, or of the pretty effect one gets when their at literally ground zero. I have to give my hats off to Sierra on this one – they’ve blow off GPG by a long, long mile.

That’s the rough outline of how the game works; the nitty, gritty details is what comes up next.

So far as I’ve seen, the sides are all fairly balanced. We have a total of four; Infantry, Armor, Air and Support. Each one has unique units and abilities, and a completely different style of play.

Infantry is right now my personal favorite. It consists primarily of several different types of infantry squads, ranging from the general, multi-purpose squads, to specialist snipers and Anti-tank squads. Infantry in general move incredibly slowly across the map and are vulnerable to fire when their out in the open. Although they can be holed up into transports and taken elsewhere, transports cost valuable points, and are incredibly vulnerable themselves. However, the while they may be vulnerable in the open, the Infantry commander’s greatest strength is the terrain. Infantry squads can hide in forests of garrison buildings, turning entire patches of terrain into deathtraps for all vehicles. There is little that can actually destroy them inside a forest or structure, save support artillery, Tactical Aids (Napalm is especially handy for this) or Snipers, making them a force to content with.

I’ve had the least experience the armored commanders; but by far they seem the hardest-hitting. Armored commanders can get a range of tanks, ranging from quick and light strike tanks, to lumbering behemoths that can eat tons of fire before going down. Although their vulnerable to artillery and helicopters, Tanks still form the tip of the spear of any operation. Their speed and armor allows them to distract most artillery and aircraft such that other fields can have a go. At close range, only infantry in forests have the same the same amount of firepower. I’ve seen good commanders use their tanks to sneak behind enemy lines and then wipe out entire lines of enemy support and artillery emplacements, which in turn allowed their comrades to move forward. If used wisely, they can even hold off infantry – and when combined with good AA and anti-infantry escorts, they are literally unstoppable. The armored commander also has at his disposal amphibious and armored transport units, which he can use to bring infantry along if, need be.

Air commanders by far hold the greatest amount of mobility. Their helicopters are a deadly force to deal with and can zip around the battlefield with ease. Commanders can deploy either light scouts that can detect hidden troops, medium choppers that help keep the skies clean and finally heavy choppers that can blow apart enemy tanks and vehicles like a hot knife through butter. In addition, there are transport choppers that can be used to quickly move allied infantry into enemy territory and behind enemy lines. While thy might be incredibly useful, choppers are most vulnerable to infantry in forests. Like tanks, they cannot hit the infantry effectively, and tend to fall quickly. Likewise, they are also vulnerable to the heavy anti-air units that Support commanders can field.

Support commanders hold the longest-ranged units of all: heavy field artillery. Like their name suggests, their primary role is to sit far from the front lines and provide all manners of support. This ranges from artillery fire, to repairs and anti-air support. A single heavy artillery vehicle can easily wreck an enemy’s day – especially hidden infantry, whom have trouble moving out of cover fast enough before the shells or missiles hit. They can bring an intense amount of firepower to bear, but must always be careful. Support commanders do not have anything at their disposal to deal with enemy armor or infantry that’s too close, while even their anti-air units can be overwhelmed if there are enough choppers. Worst, the expensive costs of their heavy artillery and the subsequent loss of one can be as much of a game-turner as their long-range barrages.

The balance between all the sides seems to be fairly well done. Infantry is strong against armored and air when in fortified positions; but fall to artillery regardless. Tanks provide a counter to artillery and are difficult to counter except with choppers or fortified infantry. Choppers on the other hand, are highly vulnerable to infantry and support anti-air units, but can take out unescorted tanks with impunity. Support units are good at long range, taking out most units with ease – however, they have a minimum range, and if anyone manages to get inside it, they are doomed.

This combination leads to many significantly varied and interesting games. There is no true ‘best’ path to take – concentrated armored charges work as well as infantry ones, while even the best aerial assault can wither in the face of soldiers hiding in forests or heavy AA emplacements. The overall result is in essence, Battlefield in RTS form. The game is easy to pick up, the controls are intuitive and while there may still be some performance issues with the beta, it makes for a fun time – provided you get the right team mix.

This in turn, brings us to its main problem: it’s similarity to Battlefield. Like in Battlefield, unless you’re playing with friends or people you know, finding good teams in WIC is something akin to finding water in a desert. A lack of balanced (both numbers and skill) teams not only makes the game one-sided, but frustrating as well. With the memory problems in the beta, each subsequent game takes up longer and longer to start up in some cases, and more often than not you find yourself just starting up in the game when it suddenly ends because of the dominance bar having reached either end. Sometimes games don’t even last 7-8 minutes; much less reaching the twenty minute timer. Add to this the frequent disconnects that have been occurring with Massgate’s servers, it tends to be incredibly annoying.

However, despite this when there is a match of perfectly even teams, and when things are going right, the entire game is an absolute blast. I recently was in a match in farmland where the perimeters were being switched back and forth between the commanders. Every single Tactical Aid had been used to swing the tide back and forth – up to and including no less than two nukes on each side. At the end of the timer, our team finally won by a 1.43% lead over the other.

So, what’re you waiting here for? Go and play it!

P.S. If anyone’s interested in teaming up with me, I usually go by the nick of Alternate22. Look forward to seeing you in-game!

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By N2H

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