After completing movement and resolving combat, play moves to the production
phase. If you have not automated this part of the game, you’ll use this phase to
select which units to produce and where they should be deployed. You can also
set your research direction by selecting the types of units that you wish to
improve. This is an abstracted process – for example, you can choose to research
improved armor units but not tank guns or tread design. While there is a certain
amount of advanced planning required to ensure that you have the right units
available when you need them, overall the production phase is not very
complicated and most gamers will be able to take over manual control of this
phase before too long. On the other side of the coin, serious war gamers may
find things a little too abstracted for their tastes.
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| The world at war. |
A major omission in the game is the lack of a diplomatic model. A diplomatic
screen in the game will show who is allied with whom, but that’s the extent of
diplomacy in the game. Politics have been removed from the game, with political
events triggered automatically based on historic events. Germany has no hope of
using diplomatic means to ally with Russia or even keep it out of the war, for
example.
The AI in the game provides for a very competent opponent. It is very good at
exploiting weaknesses in your position and in responding to aggressive moves on
your part. The AI level is configurable to set the level of challenge, but it
gives the AI more efficient units at higher levels rather than making your
competition even smarter. If you’d rather play against another person, though,
the game does have a play by email option in which you complete your turn and
then mail a game file to your opponent.
Overall World at War is best suited to casual war gamers and those new to the
genre. It lets these gamers experience the strategic challenge of managing
global warfare within the historical context of World War II without bogging
them down in details or minutia. Hardcore war gamers often live for that
minutia, though, so if you’re in that category you may want to look elsewhere
for your grand strategic fix.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 78%.
World at War is at once easy to play and challenging, making it a perfect game
for those looking to refight World War II without getting bogged down in the
details.
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