World in Conflict review

Sept 18, 2007

Unless you've been hiding under a rock somewhere for the last six months, you'll know that World in Conflict is set in 1989 at the peak of the Cold War. The Soviets, on the brink of internal collapse, have invaded France (one can only presume for the wine and cheese). They then spread forth into other parts of Europe before eventually landing on US soil and bringing the fight to America. Well, that's the basic timeline, anyway - in actual fact, the missions start off with the invasion of America, hang around for long enough to give you a good feel for what's going on and then flit back four months in time to Europe before returning for the last set of levels.

One problem often encountered in the RTS genre is that the missions can, after a while, start to feel quite similar. But developers Massive Entertainment have really outdone themselves here with the content and variety, as the campaign never feels dull or repetitive. Levels are generally huge, sprawling affairs in which objectives commonly involve taking and then holding an area (similar to the Carentan mission in Company of Heroes), but also include defending bridges, taking out helicopter bases, searching buildings for personnel and blowing up power stations.