Wargame AirLand Battle Review (PC)

very good
key review info
  • Game: Wargame AirLand Battle
  • Platform: PC
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: N/a
  • Reviewed on:
Cold War strategy

I have four squads of infantry safely ensconced in their BMP transporters and somewhat hidden in the middle of a town, with a group of four T-72s a little farther down the road, while my unarmed helicopters are trying to spot the enemy so I can form a plan of attack.

There are two ways the above small scenario can play out in Wargame AirLand Battle: either I discover my foe and then find that my mix of forces is well suited to take him out or I get spotted first and my units get killed faster than I can retreat them to a safer position.

Developer Eugen Systems has quite a bit of experience with real-time strategy and with its new title, it creates an interesting, complex, engaging and at times frustrating military simulation, a game that continues to keep me playing even as I mutter curses when defeat once again stares me in the face.

Story

Wargame AirLand Battle is a game about the most important war that never happened in the real world.

From the early ‘50s to the late ‘80s, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, centered around the United States and Western democracies, and the Warsaw Pact, with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics leading the Eastern Bloc, were engaged in the Cold War.

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Deployment details
Cross-river firefight
A mix of solid diplomacy, close calls and intelligent leaders kept Earth away from World War III, but the development team at Eugen Systems imagines a situation, with vast armies facing off in the middle or Europe.

Scandinavia is the contested area and players will be able to enjoy four scenarios that create a larger campaign as NATO and the Warsaw Pact try to capture the dominant cities of the area.

The campaign uses a turn-based strategic map, which allows players to choose moves for their battle groups and deploy special powers, and once two armies meet, a tactical battle takes place.

The ideas behind the campaign are interesting on their own, but I would have liked to see Eugen Systems offer a little more freedom to the player to assemble his own battle groups and decide overall strategies.

Gameplay

Wargame AirLand Battle seeks to simulate complex battles between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, taking into account the specific hardware of the various member countries, the importance of logistics and if the terrain influences engagements.

Eugen Systems has done a good job with the game, with more than 800 units to use and maps that can create some truly interesting conundrums.

The campaign focuses on four scenarios taking place in Scandinavia, two focused on the Soviets and two on the Allied counteroffensive.

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Strategic drive
Deck creation
When a battle is launched, each side has points that it can spend on units and needs to destroy a certain value worth of enemies in order to win or control all the crucial sectors on the map.

It’s a beautiful and destructive ballet, with infantry holding down chokepoints, tanks and IFVs racing around the battlefield to reinforce other groups, helicopters doing reconnaissance and planes delivering quick, surgical strikes.

The variety of units involved in Wargame AirLand Battle means that there are many strategies that can be deployed and that using the proper tool for the job is crucial to success.

The units that a player use, from tanks to planes and infantry, are not very smart by themselves and constant tweaking of their orders and moves is required to keep them alive and in fighting shape.

This means the most important resource during a Wargame AirLand Battle match is attention, because a lot can happen in 120 seconds to change the course of the game.

I have often focused on a tank group of four and micromanaged them to take out enemy BMPs and anti-aircraft guns and failed to observe the two attack helicopters that snuck up on me and carved a path of destructions through my other units.

Air cover is a crucial tool in the new Wargame and proper use of planes, mainly in order to avoid enemy ground attacks, is important for the arm chair general.

Battles are never the same and the Artificial Intelligence is strong enough, often deploying solid combined arms groups and exploiting every mistake I make, although some members of the community claim it is cheating by instantly knowing all unit positions.

The game also introduces a solid replay system that allows determined players to watch their defeats and their winning strategies in order to get a clear look at the best tactics they have employed and then refine them.

The feature is needed because there’s quite a learning curve to Wargame AirLand Battle and players will need every tool to improve their performance and get ready for the chaos and delight of multiplayer matches.

Graphics and audio

Wargame AirLand Battle manages the impressive feat of mixing a high-level view of the battlefield, entirely functional and absolutely necessary for a player looking to win, with an impressive ground-level graphics quality.

The IRISZOOM engine is a known quantity and the way it manages to transition from tactical view to close quarters engagements is very cool.

The only problem is that Wargame is so intense and requires the attention of gamers at all times that I rarely got to watch the pretty explosions and the way enemy fire destroys my tanks.

The audio design is also solid, with appropriate battle music and unit sounds, although the level of immersion is nowhere near that of the graphics.

Multiplayer

I enjoyed the skirmishes and campaign of Wargame AirLand Battle, but a big part of the experience is linked to multiplayer modes.

Gamers can choose to play ranked matches, they can join their friends’ games or they can jump right off the deep end and join a massive 10 versus 10 battle that is impressive to behold but really taxing to actually play.

Wargame is very competitive and for the first few matches I have played, I’ve got defeated in short order by players who have a better understanding of what the various units do and found innovative ways to mix them and employ new tactics.

Decks are even more crucial in the multiplayer modes and a successful player needs to spend time in the Armory, exploring the roster of the various nations, and in the actual card selection process, watching how he can improve his fighting force.

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Unit details
Ready for orders

The feedback loop is constant and this means that each multiplayer battle (and watched replay) should result in a new insight that should then be the basis of some deck tweaking.

The big weakness at the moment is that only seven maps for 1 versus 1 are offered with 16 total for multiplayer modes, but Eugen Systems has a history of delivering extra content for free.


The Good

  • AirLand combat mechanics
  • Many units to choose from
  • Deck building system

The Bad

  • Limited campaign options
  • Serial defeats can be frustrating

Conclusion

Wargame AirLand Battle is a great military-themed strategy title, an experience that requires time to understand and master but rewards players with some incredible moments and wonderful stories to share and relieve.

The campaign could have used a little more work and a broader scope, but as it is, it managed to test the skill of the player and teach him a number of concepts and tactics that are crucial to his overall survival.

Skirmishes are well implemented and strategy fans can spend tens of hours simply building new decks and then testing them out against the Artificial Intelligence, which at times puts up fierce resistance.

Finally, multiplayer is very competitive and can be the source of both great satisfaction and great frustration, depending on skill level and on the willingness to learn of the gamer.

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story 8
gameplay 9
concept 9
graphics 8
audio 7
multiplayer 7
final rating 8.5
Editor's review
very good
 
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