World in Conflict Hands-on Preview

Sitting down to tackle a selection of multiplayer World in Conflict closed BETA games some months after playing the Alpha build for the first time, it is instantly apparent that Massive Entertainment’s new nuke-’em-up loses none of its excitement and immediacy on a second visit.

Of course, like any action RTS played online, it can be an overwhelming experience, made all the worse by the army of players who already seem to have reached Zen levels of gaming ability, despite the fact that the game hasn’t even reached its retail maturity

This is still Beta code though, and as soon as World in Conflict reaches a wider audience it is bound to enjoy ranked contests of all shapes and sizes, to allow for players of similar ability to take the stage that is American soil, as US forces do battle with the invading Russian military.

And despite the intimidating performance and subsequent heckling by superior players, World in Conflict online remains devilishly simple at a basic level. Though it will take sometime before you are sending various units in all directions and responding instantly to team-mate requests for infantry cover; moving, targeting and diving into combat has a level of accessibility akin to the classic Cannon Fodder.

Right clicking to send units to position or to select a target is about as complex as it gets at an introduction level, with the only other mechanic to learn coming in the form of the monetary system, which remains unchanged from last time we took a look at World in Conflict.

In the top right hand corner of the screen, two figures constantly rise and fall. One is your overall bank balance, which rises as you lose units on the field, to the original value of each unit. The other represents your available funds, and constantly increases as money moves over from your overall funds. What this means is that with a simple click you can constantly order new troops and vehicles, which are dumped at a drop off point of your choosing.

What this simple system allows for is a manageable way of strategically balancing your assets and available units while throwing yourself into the theatre of war, guns blazing and radio chattering.

If there have been any changes as World in Conflict’s development has progressed from Alpha to Beta, none of them have impacted on the quality of the graphics as of yet. The game is still very impressive technically, and continues to astound when you zoom from high above right down to troop level, to see the hand-painted detail and hear the conversations between troops from nearby vehicles.

The game’s HUD has changed slightly since the Alpha build, now feeling something more like a militarised iTunes interface than the more traditional formal RTS front-end. It has been beefed up too, and now works as part of a control scheme with an emphasis on allowing several different ways for players to do various things. In-game chat for example, can be accessed via a button down in the lower left corner of the HUD, via the Enter key, or by right-clicking on a player’s name in the score-sheet. This kind of approach to control is one that allows players to interact with the game in a way they find most comfortable, and is a huge part of World in Conflict’s accessibility.

With open Beta just around the corner, and plenty more scope for World in Conflict to adapt, there is still ample room for change. For now though, Massive’s new RTS is surely set for a bright future, in part thanks to an open development that has let us see the game in various forms as it has moved forward.