Soldiers: Heroes of World War II previews

This rare Gem of a game puts you in command of some very skilled Hero units and their solders, as you work with a really intergrated world environment. You can take cover behind vehicles, bulding corners, crates and the like, while giving covering fire or flanking fire against enemy units. Even buildings can be fortified and are fully destructable, with debre from a building also being used. The sheer detail, use of weapons and near everything in the world works well together. The only negatives is that since you control each unit independently, squad combat is not an option, and you need to think ahead of what the enemy could do. That said, you wouldnt leave a single rifleman half a cross the battlefield, as the troop's AI will mean he will fight (and well) but a tight group works better than the ‘lone ranger’ or ‘commando’ approach to the game. Its well tied together, and simply put: things are well designed.

Afterthought: If only they could apply this game engine in a RTS with base contruction similar to the old Command and Conquer: Red Alert (Pre EA Games and the last title by Westwood Studios) would we have a Serious Winner Title.

I have to start by saying that this is one of the most fun games I have ever played and is probably my 2nd or 3rd favourite game.

You control a small group of soldiers; moving them around a map, fighting with enemies and completing objectives like an RTS. Unlike usual RTS games, though, each unit has a seperate inventory. Some units might carry machine guns, where others might carry sniper rifles. What they carry and use is up to you. In fact, the inventory system is very similiar to Diablo. You have a limited space to carry whatever weapons and ammo you want and then you can choose what to place in each of their hands and their helmet. You can also take more control by actually taking full control of a units actions; aiming and shooting their weapon, moving and so forth.

Anything living in the game can be killed and everything else can be, at least, partially destroyed. If some enemies are hiding in a building, you can simply destroy the building. There are many weapons and vehicles in the game and you can use all of them. The AI is good as well. You will find yourself actually using tactics and stealth to try and take out the enemy and complete objectives. The graphics are quite good for an RTS style game, as well.

The game has quite a few levels (about 4 or 5 maps each for about 4 or 5 sides), the levels are quite large and it is quite hard, so you will probably end up spending a lot of time playing this game.

Personally, I love this game. I found it fun, addictive and worth buying. If you are at least a little interested in this game by now, buy it!

I had high hopes for this game and every one of them was met. After a bit of minor installing difficulty I started up the game and was instantly impressed by the graphics. A few clicks later and I was at boot camp in a nice crisp uniform. After being court-martialed for shooting a drill instructor I got my head around the basics (a must do) and went on to find myself behind the control of a small Russian force.

This game is hard, but not impossible. After a handful of failed attempts I started to make some ground as I learnt the strengths and weaknesses of the varied weapons. Tanks can be captured, guns looted. Got a knife? throw it at an unsuspecting soldier for a silent kill. I have yet to find any boundaries in terms of realism.

The AI is amazing. Gone are the days of the all knowing all seeing AI. For instance, you take a pop shot with your sniper whose lying in the grass. The enemy is alerted to an enemy presence. They know the general direction he is in but can only see three or four patches of grass. So what do they do? throw a random grenade in the hopes of drawing him out. If they don’t have grenades then a few rounds from their machine gun will suffice. In one word the AI is Amazing.

A few things to be aware of. Get the patch. It will fix a few minor bugs and add a restart mission feature to the menu for when you fail. Secondly, after entering the CD to play, close the auto load window. It stays open after clicking play and it eats system resources. Either use a shortcut or alt tab back to windows and close it.