The developers responsible for the award-winning IL-2 Sturmovik game are hard at work on their next title Wartime Command: Battle For Europe 1939-1945.  Wartime Command: Battle For Europe 1939-1945 will be a real-time strategy game set in Europe from 1941 through 1945.  The game will focus on detailed units and realistic combat situations.  In fact, the developers are using actual WWII records and maps to design the game's scenarios.

The player will be in charge of a combined arms force including infantry, armor, and light artillery, and will also have the ability to call in air and artillery strikes.  Each unit will be modeled accurately right down to the crews manning the vehicles.  Soldiers will be able to change equipment, and enter and exit vehicles - in fact, the player will be able to assign any soldier to any vehicle.  Those of you who shudder at the thought of the complexities of such a degree of control can relax - the game will feature a flexible control system that will allow you to relegate optimal soldier behavior to the game's AI.

The scenarios in the game's campaign will be linked so that your surviving soldiers will gain experience and new skills which they can take with them to the next battle.  Some soldiers will even have the chance to gain special abilities as the campaign progresses.  Just as in the real war, exemplary performance by an individual soldier will be recognized with decorations and promotions.  This system will help to further enhance the game's realism, as each scenario will need to be approached as part of a bigger conflict, instead of an isolated mission where all of the units are expendable in the pursuit of victory.

Hundreds of units will be available in the game, from all of the major combatants in the war.  Units will be authentically modeled based on their historical specifications and military data, and will include infantry regiments, armored vehicles, artillery, and aircraft.

One of the things that IL-2 Sturmovik is known for is its great graphics, and that tradition will continue in Wartime Command: Battle For Europe 1939-1945.  In fact, the game will be built using a modified version of the IL-2 engine.  A look at the screenshots for the game is all that is needed to see that Wartime Command: Battle For Europe 1939-1945 will be one great looking game.

Wartime Command: Battle For Europe 1939-1945 has a lot going for it on its own, but the fact that it is being developed by the same people who brought us IL-2 makes it a highly anticipated title.  RTS games set during WWII have been few and far between, and strategy fans will undoubtedly be looking forward to this one which is due for release in 2003.