Whether this includes the subjugation of Great Britain or Russia, or a Japanese invasion of America were not sure - Timegate is being coy.- Cannot alt-tab out of the game (it will crash) There will be one each for the joint Allied and Axis side, which in the case of the latter is set to take an alternate route through history culminating in victory - or perhaps stalemate - for the Germans. In AA, you may (in time) employ a vast global army too, but unless you can build a field HQ quickly and bring in supplies, you wont be able to bring your numerical superiority to bear and could falter against a smaller but more organised foe. It appears to be a wholly unrealistic way to wage what are supposed to be realistic battles, but the developer sees this as the only way to ensure the war is as enjoyable to play through at the games conclusion as it is during the tense early stages. It was a straight-up board game conversion, no more, no less.Īs in Total War, you have your turn-based Risk -style bit (a digitised version of the AA board game), with realtime 3D battles that blitz onto the screen whenever you or your opponent advance into a defended territory.
Problem is, the last Axis Allies PC game, released in 1998, covered all the bases anyway. So we were very excited by Ataris new plans to reintroduce the game to a new generation of PC war-gamers. This is a big plus, when games like A World At War drag on almost as long as the battles they attempt to emulate. It may lack the tactical subtlety of titles like Squad Leader, and Risk may be more approachable, but with its marriage of realism and WWII fun, AA ticks all the boxes - and can be completed in an afternoon. You can only attack one occupied territory per turn, and theres no air or naval combat.Īnd if youre an old fan looking for some nostalgia value, youre better off calling some mates, buying some dice and dusting off that dog-eared old board game. Its been completely paired down to be little more than an excuse to jump from one real-time battle to another. Trouble is, when the fighting starts, tedious drag-and-drop mass assault tactics and creeping defence building ensues, and once again an RTS betrays its genre, featuring very little in the way of the eponymous strategy.Įngineers can build bunkers, airborne units can make paradrops, and you can use special powers at the crucial point in the battle.īut these are khaki-clad drops in an ocean of military mediocrity.įor the most part, youre sat watching a massive clump of your chaps duking it out with a massive clump of the enemys chaps. The only naval units available are battleships - which are little more than floating HQs. The base building and resource gathering system is fairly interesting, revolving around constructing HQs that produce and manage your armies, and depots that expand your terrain and generate cash, oil, supplies and ammo.Īn ever-expanding border shows the limit of your power, and within this area, troops can be re-supplied and new constructions built. You can zoom in a little, though apart from the odd detail like trees crushed under tank tracks, theres not much to look at. Part of the problem is that instead of playing to the original games strengths, what the developer has devised is a lily-livered RTS thats a pale shade of the Kohan engine on which its based.
It involved plastic tanks, ships and soldiers, and a huge amount of dice. Right now, we fear only for the 3D battles themselves, which appear to follow the unsubtle CC formula too closely. Will the Axis continue to spread around the world without control. Victory triumphs to the side that occupies its opponents on the battlefield and occupies the largest cities in the world.