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World in Conflict (abbreviated as WiC or WIC) is a real-time tactics video game developed by the Swedish video game company Massive Entertainment and published by Sierra Entertainment (later Ubisoft) for Windows PC. The game was released in September 2007. The expansion pack, World in Conflict: Soviet Assault, was released for Windows PC in March 2009.
The game is considered by some to be the spiritual successor of Ground Control, another game by Massive Entertainment. Despite being marketed as a RTS, the game's designers consider World in Conflict to part of the real-time tactics genre.
World in Conflict offers multiplayer functionality, supporting up to 16 players online or over LAN through Massgate. The official Massgate servers were shut down by Ubisoft in December 2015. However, in 2017, the player community restored online multiplayer functionality through an unaffiliated version of Massgate.org.
Gameplay
World in Conflict contains three main factions: USA, Soviet Union & NATO, all playable in multiplayer games. However the Soviet Union is not playable in the single-player campaign, which is experienced from the USA and NATO perspective. The USA and NATO are pitted against the Soviet Union throughout the story as well as in online.
The player may choose one of four roles in battle: infantry, air, support or armor. The infantry role gives access to various infantry squads such as anti-tank teams, snipers, and light transport vehicles whereas armor allows players to use various classes of tanks, the dominant direct fire land combat unit of the game. Players choosing the air role have access to anti-armor, air superiority, scout and transport helicopters. Finally, the support role contains anti-air, artillery, and repair units. Each role's basic units can be purchased by everyone but are more expensive for players with a different role. In addition, each role has its own exclusive units, that aren't available for purchase from other roles.
Most units have special offensive and defensive abilities that recharge after use. For example, standard infantry has the offensive grenade launcher attack and are capable of a defensive sprinting maneuver. World in Conflict uses a tactical aid system similar to that of Command & Conquer: Generals. Tactical Aids allow the player to perform special actions such as calling in airstrikes, deploying paratroopers and carpet bombing.
Plot
- Main article: World War III
The game is set in an alternate 1989 in which the Soviet Politburo elects to take military action to preserve the crumbling Soviet Union, rather than see it fall apart. Their plan was to blackmail Western Europe to get the needed aid, but, failing to achieve this diplomatically, the Soviet Union invades Western Europe.
The player assumes the role of First Lieutenant Parker, an United States Army officer under the command of Colonel Sawyer. At the time of his introduction, Parker was on leave in Seattle when a disguised Soviet amphibious assault force launches a surprise invasion of the city. A combination of regular U.S. Army and National Guard soldiers engage the invading Soviet forces in an effort to buy time for the local civilians to evacuate before retreating south toward Pine Valley, Washington. Here elements of the 5th Battalion under the command of Colonel Sawyer make a stand, and with the aid of the battleship USS Missouri, ultimately force the Soviets to halt their invasion and tighten their defensive lines. During this brief respite, Sawyer's battalion is reinforced by Oregon National Guardsmen under the command of Colonel Wilkins.
After a month of consolidation, the Soviet Army renew their expansion, heading east into the Cascade Mountains towards Fort Teller, in order to disable the United States' Strategic Defense Initiative. While the project was a bluff, the threat of its existence has thus far kept the Soviet Union from launching a nuclear strike, and thus the defense of the facility takes top priority. Sawyer and Wilkins engage in a series of delaying battles while en route to the Fort, with Sawyer electing to make a stand in Cascade Falls, Washington. At first the stand appears to work, but when overwhelming Soviet forces enter the area the Americans are forced to resort to nuclear weaponry to stop the Soviets, leaving a group of volunteers behind to pin down the Soviet ground troops while a tactical nuclear missile is fired at the town; upon its arrival and detonation the nuke annihilates both the town and the Soviet invaders.
The game then flashes back to the outbreak of the war, in the process revealing that diplomats from both sides had laboured for a month to prevent the outbreak of the war and had ultimately failed. The game then shows Parker's service in France, in the Soviet Union, and fighting off a limited invasion of New York City by Soviet Spetsnaz, centered around Liberty Island, Ellis Island and Governors Island. In the latter scenario, the Soviets intend to store chemical weapons inside the Statue of Liberty and release them over Manhattan. Foreshadowing the game's final missions, Parker must defeat the Soviet forces before the Army is forced to destroy the Statue and everything else on Liberty Island with a massive air strike.
After the flashback, the game returns to the sequence of events after the destruction of Cascade Falls. As the scattered remnants of the U.S. Army defenders from Cascade Falls attempt to regroup and reorganize the United States receives word that the People's Republic of China has entered the war on the Soviet side. The Chinese troops launch attacks into South Korea, India and Taiwan; additionally, the People's Liberation Army Navy sends an invasion fleet to reinforce the Soviet beachhead in Seattle. After mulling over the available options the President orders the surviving U.S. Army units from the attack on Cascade Falls to attack Seattle, and as a back up plan orders a nuclear strike against Seattle should the attempt to recapture the city fail. In the final series of missions Parker's commander, desperate to avoid "...another Cascade Falls" on a much bigger scale, orders his forces into a desperate attack aimed at breaking through the Soviet lines to reach Seattle and destroy the heavily fortified Soviet headquarters before the Chinese arrival. The Americans manage to retake Seattle from the Soviets before the Chinese fleet arrives, thus delivering a decisive blow to the Chinese as they lack the material to launch an amphibious assault. Consequently, the Chinese fleet turns back to China.
The game concludes with a statement that Parker may be called upon to fight later on, hinting of an expansion or a sequel, as fighting continues in Europe and elsewhere. Notably, the late entry of the PRC and the attacks into both India and South Korea are not part of the WiC solo player campaign, suggesting they may form the basis for a expansion or sequel.
Multiplayer
Multiplayer games support up to sixteen players and can be played on a LAN or over the Internet. Three types of maps are featured: domination maps, where players must control command points to win the game, assault maps, where one team defends a series of command points which the other teams assaults, and tug of war maps, where teams must fight to capture a series of command points on the front line, whereupon the line shifts towards a new set of points closer to the losing team.
The game host can add bots to play on the server. The AI is quite proficient, using different techniques for different game types and using a variety of forces together, so there are few weaknesses. Bots adapt quickly and react well to changing situations on the battlefield, and are also quite good at using tactical aids effectively. Bots try to obey commands given by the player by replying on-screen.
The online component of the game uses the in-game massgate system, which is derived from Ground Control. The system helps players keep track of friends, allowing them to see whether they are online or playing a game. Clans can be created and kept track of in-game, with features such as ranks and clan matches. Massgate includes leader boards and a ranking system based on US Army military ranks. Players can increase their rank and leader board position in a way similar to Battlefield 2, by accumulating earnings and scoring points, medals, and badges. Achieving higher ranks becomes progressively more difficult. The leader board also keeps track of clan rankings.
Interface
The game interface for World in Conflict is smaller than that of with other strategy games. There is no framing in the game, so the interface is dramatically reduced especially at the bottom middle. The middle is replaced with a list of units, whereas the top right hand corner contains the expandable reinforcement procurement list. The mini map is in the bottom left hand corner, while the bottom right hand corner contains the special abilities buttons (including unit formation). Overall, the smaller interface gives players a bigger view of the battlefield, allowing players to micromanage more easily than in other strategy games. Players can also use a messaging system that is designed to allow conversation between individuals regardless of whether they are on the same server or playing the same game.
World in Conflict features a fully rotatable 360 degree camera. The player uses the WASD keys to move the camera around the map, while clicking and holding the mouse wheel is used to look around from a fixed position, players can also move the camera very close to the units on the ground.
Reception
World in Conflict has generally received excellent reviews. It has received "generally favorable reviews" from game critics according to the review aggregator Metacritic, where the game has an average score of 89%. Gamespot, a popular online game site, called the game "the studio's masterwork". They gave it 95 points out of 100 and the editor's choice award. The game also received the editor's choice award from IGN.com and the Australian gaming magazine PC PowerPlay, as well as PC Zone's classic award. PC Gamer US awarded the game its editor's choice award, as well as naming it the 2007 RTS game of the year.
World in Conflict was highly praised for its graphics, gameplay, and plot. World in Conflict depicts weapons and vehicles from the 1980's with detail and authenticity never before seen in an RTT (or RTS). The physics of the game was also very high quality. Explosions and muzzle flashes also have excellent details. The game also accurately depicts real-world locations, like the Liberty Islands, Downtown Seattle, and others. Other effects that were given amazing details were weather effects, lighting, water details, water reflections, anistropic filtering, full-screen anti-aliasing, and others. World in Conflict can also utilize DX10 effects.
Prior to its initial release in September 2007, World in Conflict received several awards from its E3 presentation in 2007.
- IGN: Best PC Strategy Game, Best Strategy Game (All Platforms), Best Of E3 2007
- Gamespot: Best Strategy Game Of E3, E3'07 Editors Choice Award
- GameTrailers.com: Best Strategy Game Of E3
- Game Critics: E3 2007 Best Strategy Game, The Best Of E3 07 Winner
The game was played in the 2007 Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) World Tour.
Expansion
- See also: World in Conflict: Soviet Assault
World in Conflict: Soviet Assault is an expansion pack for the original World in Conflict and features the ability to play as the Soviet Union. At the same time, a World in Conflict: Complete Edition was released with both games in one.
Soviet Assault features 6 new missions and 2 multiplayer maps (these were available free of charge to owners of the original World in Conflict). These 6 missions are combined with the original U.S. campaign. The player can now take control of a Soviet lieutenant named Romanov, who is under the command of Colonel Vladimir Orlovsky. Also under Orlovsky's command is Captain Nikolai Malashenko (who is also the colonel's nephew) and Major Valeriy Lebedjev (a KGB officer).
Reviews for Soviet Assault were mixed: IGN gave the game a 7.8/10 saying: "If you liked World in Conflict, then this game won't disappoint. But if you've had enough of the original, you're not missing out on that much if you pass on Soviet Assault" Gamespot was harsher with a 4.5/10: "The new content in this World in Conflict expansion is short and not so sweet." The general opinion among fans is that though it is a great game, it was too expensive for its short amount of content. (Note: The fans' opinion is unverified)
So far, there is no official news of any future game sequels for the World in Conflict series.
Gallery
Trailers
See also
- Official website
- World in Conflict: Complete Edition on GOG.com
- Massgate community website
World in Conflict on Wikipedia
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