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PC | Strategy | Theatre of War

Boxart for Theatre of War
Theatre of War 56 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 3.75
  • SOUND: 4.00
  • CONTROL: 3.75
  • FUN FACTOR 4.00
  • AVG USER SCORE n/a
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 3.8

Review: Theatre of War

Review by CSL | 05/21/2007 | 16:50:49 PM PST

Despite being a part of a genre that has seemingly prided itself on putting out dozens of predictable base-building and tank-rushing Second World War RTS games per year, you'd be hard pressed to find another game like Theatre of War.

This latest offering by 1C and Battlefront.com comes as a breath of fresh air and can be best described as the thinking man's real-time strategy game. While this description may turn away some adherents to the genre, those that take a closer look will be well rewarded for the effort.

Micromanaging Machines

Theatre of War's gameplay revolves around several historical campaigns that correspond to a different participant in the European battlefield: France, Poland, Germany, the Soviet Union, and a combined American-British campaign. As Theatre of War has decided to take a critical look at the tactical nature of warfare, players only receive a full unit to conduct each mission with, ranging from infantry squads to artillery pieces and tanks.

Before missions begin, players can adjust what units are immediately available, and which are received as reinforcements mid-battle, but otherwise, your units are effectively picked out for you before the fighting starts. Contrasting this somewhat inflexible system is a highly effective experience point system, largely reminiscent of the Close Combat games. After each mission, your remaining men are given experience points based on how effective they were in the previous mission, which can then be used to improve skills or award medals to prominent soldiers. Regrettably, there is a solid amount of micromanagement inherent in such a system, but for the most part, players are able to let the computer assign experience and then merely tinker to find optimum results.

Full Scale Models

The large tactical battles are where Theatre of War attempts to shine. Each battle is conducted on some of the largest amounts of terrain yet seen in the RTS genre, and almost every bit of that space is needed as players will often have well over a hundred units under their command. The conduct of your units is based on its level ranging from raw conscripts to grizzled veterans, and factors such as range and elevation play a large part in battles. Other variables, such as the location of damage, also play an important role. For example, while tank armor may be thick enough to prevent the complete loss of a vehicle, it may still be damaged, become immobile or lose the use of its main gun. Putting all these factors together, each mission can often have wildly divergent events occur throughout them.

This may paint a rosy picture of the tactical system so far, it does have its fair share of problems, mostly stemming from the aforementioned micromanagement. In large part, the problem lies in the way infantry are handled, for instead of delegating command of individual soldiers to officers, each soldier is its own individual unit. More important, however, is the fact that infantry is weak in comparison to other units, as they lack the ability to enter buildings. It also doesn't help that line-of-sight in the game falls far short of the realistic goals 1C has looked to champion. Despite often large amounts of cover, most units sight their opponents with unnerving quickness. The complete lack of smoke or other methods of artificial cover are also a depressing omission, effectively stifling much of the tactical combat's flexibility.

Supporting factors in Theatre of War, particularly graphics and sound effects, are another high point in the game. The only caveat is that every battle looks nearly the same, composed of sparsely wooded European countryside and any regional differences, such as the hedgerows of Normandy, are muted. In contrast, the sound effects are universally top-notch. Players will rapidly find out the differences between different tanks and artillery pieces based on their sound alone, all with bombastic overtures in the background.

It's been far too long since another game of such scope, breadth, and originality hit computer screens. Theatre of War--while having some significant problems--is a game well worth looking at. Even better, for those who do take the plunge, a completely free bonus campaign is already in the works detailing the campaign for Moscow, and all signs point towards significant long term support and improvement to the game by developers 1C, a trend we wish would be taken up by many other developers.

Pros: Exceedingly large scope, five full campaigns, excellent tactical battles, experience system for units, diverse sound effects.
Cons: Excessive micromanagement, infantry can't enter buildings, line-of-sight issues, lack of terrain versatility.

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