Here's what happens after "The Day After"...
And we like games with a truly scary setting, story and atmosphere. I mean, that's why we all played Resident Evil games. But this game, this "what if" electronic wonder reminds me more of "The Day After", considered by many to be one of the scariest movies ever. Well, it can't beat "Nightmare on Elm Street", but hey... it was scary enough. In any case, it depicts our world after an all-out nuclear holocaust breaks out. The Earth is destroyed, nuclear winter rages, radiation soaks the fields and lakes, and few remaining survivors are trying desperately to survive. Pretty much like Cuban Missile Crisis: The Aftermath.
So, what do we have here... well, a game created using Blitzkrieg's engine. That's right, just like Stalingrad, this game uses the same engine as one of the most fun strategy games ever made. It has the same graphics, same cool-looking explosions, same nearly-useless infantry, same overpowered tanks, same crappy AI, same pathfinding problems. Well, to be honest, the game looks a teeny-tiny bit better than Blitzkrieg in some ways. Wiping out a squad of infantrymen with a 50. caliber machinegun looks extremely gruesome and bloody, just like in the real world. Another reminder that war is not a very nice thing. Also, their corpses stay on the map during the entire mission, a swell as craters from shells and bombs. Which looks really good, providing you with a view of a devastated, burned-out surroundings littered with dozens of corpses decomposing in the pools of their own radioactive blood. Instant classic.
But let's not forget about the story, which makes this game oh-so-scary and appealing. It's the groovy '60s, and Cuban missile crisis have resulted in a full-scale nuclear war. The war ended in few short hours, leaving remnants of the world's most powerful nations to claw each other's eyes out over a few scarce resources and non-radioactive soil left after all-out nuclear danse macabre. So, you take the lead of either Russians, Chinese, Americans or German-French alliance and try to conquer what's left of the world. Boys will always be boys, I guess...
Aaaanyway, the actual game takes place in two different stages. Stage one is no more than a turn-based strategic deployment of your forces. Stage two is the actual combat. You can purchase new units as you progress throughout campaign and gather more resources. You have a nice little encyclopedia with detailed descriptions of each and every unit you have at your disposal. And you can kick some serious butt with your firepower. Cool. Kind of.
Well, the strategic part of the game is what makes all the difference on the battlefield. You can kick your enemies' be-hinds in one decisive battle, or wear them down bit by bit with small skirmishes. It's entirely up to you and your abilities. The game is not easy, but hey, you can always choose the easy difficulty setting. You also need to take care of your resources even during combat. Drive your tanks around too much and they will run out of fuel. Have them take too much damage, and you won't be able to repair them until after the battle. Fail to get some medical assistance to a wounded soldier and he will bleed to death. Be smart, take your time, plan carefully, make sure you scout ahead and get a good intel on the enemy, and you will be successful. Kind of like the real battle. Sounds promising, eh? But wait till you hear the bad news.
Since this is esentially a Blitzkrieg-style game, it features many cool stuff that Blitzkrieg had. Great-looking explosions. Powerful kickass air strikes that you just HAVE to love. Huge amount of weapons and vehicles. It even looks better in a lot of ways - infantry looks a lot more detailed, almost to a point where you can actually see what kind of weapon each individual soldier is carrying. And lots and lots of sheer carnage. But, like I said, it also has terrible AI. Your units will often choose a different target from the one you specifically ordered them to destroy. They will take longer and more hazardous routes, which often means instant death. Sure, you can pause the game and grab them by the hand in order to lead them like retarded children, but that's a bit frustrating, believe me. I'm not gonna even mention the horrible pathfinding and the way cars and trucks turn 180 degrees while still in one place. All in all, a lot of unnecesarry frustration. Very often your units will get bogged down for no particular reason. You will be forced to move them one by one, like picking up toy cars, simply because some jerk didn't want to bother with correcting the pathfinding issues in this game. Grrrrr...
But there are good things as well. Finally, armored cars and APCs are actually useful in combat, entrenched infantry is not nearly-invincible, such as in Blitzkrieg games, and you can actually use snipers and infantry squads for scouting ahead of your main force. Terrain also plays a significant role. High ground is as important as never before, for scouting ahead and defending a certain part of the map. Fog of war is not so frustrating to deal with, and enemy anti-tank guns won't hit you from a mile away with a pinpoint accuracy like before. Thank heavens for that!
Well, all in all this isn't a bad game. Nor is it terribly good. It could've been great, especially with it's alternate history setting and good combination of turn-based strategy and real-time combat. But unfortunately, it has a few major issues that will frustrate you more than enough. Shame, really. This game really has that... thing. Thing that makes it appealing, even unique. I'm quite sure it has it's fan base. But it's just so darn average, so full of issues it's hard to recommend to anyone. Love it or hate it, but don't buy it. Borrow it.