World in Conflict
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This article or section contains information about an unreleased video game. It is likely to contain information of a speculative nature, and the content may change dramatically as more information becomes available. |
| World in Conflict | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Massive Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | Sierra Entertainment |
| Designer(s) | Magnus Jansén |
| Release date(s) | October 2007[1] |
| Genre(s) | Real-time tactics |
| Mode(s) | Single Player & Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Rating Pending (RP) |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
World in Conflict is a real-time tactic game developed by Massive Entertainment and published by Sierra Entertainment. The game is set in 1989, where economic troubles, similar to the ones that occurred in real-life, cripple the Soviet Union to the extent where it must risk nuclear armageddon to stay in power.
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[edit] The story so far:
With the Warsaw Pact on the brink of collapse, the Red Army invades Western Europe. The Soviet advance falters and is stopped by NATO forces. This forces the Soviets to open a second front in America, most likely by crossing the Bering Strait. The assault is preceded by an air-and-sea borne attack on the city of Seattle, as seen in the announcement trailer. Other trailers show a nuclear attack on a US airbase, somewhere in the desert, and a counterattack on a small town named Parker's Creek. Massive has revealed that, besides the continental United States, Europe and Russia will also be locations in the game; whether this refers to skirmish maps or campaign maps is unclear.[citation needed]
[edit] Gameplay
In a recent interview, Massive Entertainment revealed that there will be no base-building or resource gathering in the game [2]. Instead, players will be given a pre-determined amount of in-game credit to buy units with. When a unit is destroyed, the points used to purchase it are slowly filtered back to the player: thus reinforcements can be summoned to the fray. In terms of gameplay World in Conflict seems to be the spiritual successor to Ground Control, doing away with many of the changes - for example resource gathering - that made Ground Control II more of a traditional RTS game.
One of the new features is a system where the player may choose a one of four roles in battle: infantry, air, support or armor. Specialized units will only be available to one of them. More basic units can be purchased by everyone, but are more expensive for players with the wrong roles.
Another new concept are 'tactical aids'. Much like the Generals powers in Command & Conquer: Generals, tactical aids, when accumulated, allow the player to call in airstrikes, deploy paratroopers or order the dropping of a nuke. In order to balance the game, however, Massive Entertainment have stated that the nuclear bomb is only of tactical size and will be very hard to acquire more than once in a single game.
The most unique RTS aspect of World in Conflict is the camera controls, the player uses the wasd keys to move the camera around the map, whilst clicking and holding the mouse wheel is used to look around from a fixed position, players can move the camera as far down as close to the units on the ground.
The three factions currently confirmed to be in-game are the USA, the Soviet Union, and NATO. However, only a US campaign has been confirmed.[citation needed] The development team is also experimenting with a secondary FPS-style gameplay that might be similar to that of Battalion Wars.[citation needed]
[edit] Influences
The game's designers have cited the 1984 film Red Dawn as one of their key influences. The film's main premise is the invasion of America by Soviet and Central American troops. Echoes of the film can be seen in the initial paratroop landings (though in the film they happen in Colorado) and in the use of civilian transport to disguise a Soviet invasion force; again, this differs slightly from the film. Tom Clancy's novel Red Storm Rising is likely to have elements drawn from it; it depicts a conventional war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact in West Germany, though much of the action takes place at sea. An added factor is that the co-author of the book, Larry Bond, is the main consultant for the World in Conflict team.
