World in Conflict - Multiplayer RTS Done Right

[Dameon Angell]

I was never really big on playing RTS games online. Sure, I'd play some Sunken Defense in Starcraft, Wintermaul and DotA on Warcraft 3, but I never really played the real game. To me, it was just never fun, it almost felt like work. You're on a schedule to build the right things in the right order to pump out these certain units seconds before your opponent to guarantee your victory. And say a friend comes along, you can't just leave, or stop, or let them jump in in the middle. Gotta wait for your match to end, however long that'll take. This is where World in Conflict is different.

World in Conflict is a Cold War-era RTS, Russians vs Americans for control of America after a ballsy assault from the commies on American soil. The multiplayer takes a page out of FPS games like Counter Strike and the "Battlefield" Series. The games are drop in drop out during the entire game. You "buy" your units with points you gain by taking over control points (like the Warhammer games). No base building, no guys magically coming out of barracks. All your troops are taken from off map and heli-dropped in.

If all your guys die, don't worry, you can always buy new ones, but don't expect having more than say 5 units in your group. Now, how am I supposed to take over the world with 5 units? Coordinate with your team, heavily. You and 8 other guys on 8 other guys each taking a specific role in the team "Infantry, Armor, Air, and Support (artillery)".

This game is pretty sick online and off, I'd suggest downloading the demo (single and multiplayer demo)

http://demo.worldinconflict.com/us/

[Ewan]

I was never really big on playing RTS games online. Sure, I'd play some Sunken Defense in Starcraft, Wintermaul and DotA on Warcraft 3, but I never really played the real game. To me, it was just never fun, it almost felt like work. You're on a schedule to build the right things in the right order to pump out these certain units seconds before your opponent to guarantee your victory. And say a friend comes along, you can't just leave, or stop, or let them jump in in the middle. Gotta wait for your match to end, however long that'll take. This is where World in Conflict is different.

World in Conflict is a Cold War-era RTS, Russians vs Americans for control of America after a ballsy assault from the commies on American soil. The multiplayer takes a page out of FPS games like Counter Strike and the "Battlefield" Series. The games are drop in drop out during the entire game. You "buy" your units with points you gain by taking over control points (like the Warhammer games). No base building, no guys magically coming out of barracks. All your troops are taken from off map and heli-dropped in.

If all your guys die, don't worry, you can always buy new ones, but don't expect having more than say 5 units in your group. Now, how am I supposed to take over the world with 5 units? Coordinate with your team, heavily. You and 8 other guys on 8 other guys each taking a specific role in the team "Infantry, Armor, Air, and Support (artillery)".

This game is pretty sick online and off, I'd suggest downloading the demo (single and multiplayer demo)

http://demo.worldinconflict.com/us/

You don't get the points to buy units from holding control points, you just have them and they regen slowly after time (perhaps they regen quicker?)

But anyway, yeah it's an awesome game. I was on the Beta for it and I got the full game for Christmas. Unfortunately I also got CoD4 which has taken most of my gaming attention recently, it's simply so much fun online.

One thing to note in WiC that is different from other RTS games, is that, as Dameon said, you only have around 5 or 6 units at a time (by the time they die, your points will probably have regenned enough for you to replace them). This means there's no annoying multitasking, you can just concentrate on one group.

One thing not mentioned is the Tactical Aids. You get tactical points for certain things like killing enemies, repairing friends, capturing control points etc. These points can be spent on these so called Tactical Aids. They range from light artillery barrage, AC-10 tankbuster run, napalm drop all the way up to daisy cutters and tactical nukes. These are certainly a large part of the game and add a lot more skill and variety.

[Dameon Angell]

You start out with 4000 purchasing points, and you'll get more in at a steady rate, but with the more control points it'll come in faster spurts when you gain a sector.

The tactical aids are probably my favourite part. Tons of different types of ordinance to throw down on the battlefield. The skill in using it is that it's not immediate. You gotta wait 10-15 seconds before it lands, so you have to anticipate your enemy's movements before you lay down your daisy cutter, tank buster, or even Nuke.

[Eric is God]

I'm going to get around to buying World in Conflict in a few months after I get through Oblivion and Bioshock (just got a new computer). I've heard a lot of good things about it but I think I'll miss the resource gathering.

[Vatican Assassin]

oblivion is so bad

i assume you use mods

[Dameon Angell]

Wow, I saw my first nukes in Multiplayer today. Haha, I'm having too much fun with this demo, I really should buy the whole thing.

Just seeing that flash of light and I'm like "wtf is that?" and then "BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM" I saw these tanks trying to drive away from it, and then the shockwave just blew them away, haha. There were like 4 Nukes done this game, it was insane. No buildings left standing.