14 DAY TRIAL // 
Reality seems to offer the most interesting stories or starting points for games. Out of the tragic events of September 11, 2001 Most Wanted Entertainment got the idea of developing an interesting real-time tactical-strategy game, Joint Task Force. You'll be the guiding hand behind a commando battalion in a modern war and the world will be judging your every move.
Story After the terrorist attack on the US more and more resources were diverted towards military spending and anti - terrorism. Two years later, in March 2003 a war has started between a US-led coalition and Iraq. Establishing order in Iraq became a major global problem. The Joint Task Force is formed by a total majority vote in the UN on the initiative of the Global Defense Alliance, a subgroup of the Group of Eight (G8). This is where you come in: you are to take command over the JTF's first battalion.
You concentrate to deal with the ever-growing shadow cast by the new wave of global terrorism represented by the group of Matar. The tricky part of the mission is that the world is watching you. You gain money for your troops from TV stations that follow you in your attempts to win the war. Global people's opinion on your actions will influence the amount of money you gain for the exclusive transmissions from the battlefield.
One map after another you do your best to follow the orders you were given while still taking the time to improve your ratings by doing thoughtful jobs for the civilians. This kind of side missions boost the good impression the world has on what you do so the TV station is very pleased with it's audience and offers you a larger sum of money to keep on doing good deeds.
Concept The first thing that comes to mind when I think about the concept of the game is that it feels so natural, so simple that I can't even imagine why nobody tried it before. No more endless units that can only build stuff, no more buildings that collapse and you have no other way to get troops, no more need to spend your hard earned resources on things that have nothing to do actually on the battlefield? The idea is very simple: you ask for additional forces from back home. They deliver infantry soldiers and small supplies by dropping them off from their own planes and helicopters. When it comes to vehicles you first need to get in control of a native landstrip then ask for whatever you wish, keeping in mind that you are on a budget. Very practical, isn't it!
The budget is another incredibly simple yet very good idea. We live in the XXII century. Our entire lives are controlled by media. Why wouldn't you get money out of selling the rights of transmitting news on the war? After all, you do take care of the crew not to get killed in action, you help out needy civilians. Somebody should see how much you care about people. Also somebody should pay for all the units you need. And here is the media that fits both needs. Things couldn't go better. On to war!
Gameplay The game starts with an introductory announcement about the global situation. The TV station did their job well and the main menu features on location videos in the Iraq cities. You feel in the middle of the action from the first minute. Taking a look at the tutorial you get a glance of how to use the basic actions and the skill tree of your higher ranks officers are presented. You soon find out that there are some indispensable units on the field such as your commander.
With what you learned in mind you venture on to your first encounter with the enemy. Zooming and rotating the map is sometimes very helpful, especially when you have to take your commando through a city where there are huge structures, not allowing you to see the map clearly. Although you do have a vision of the buildings on the map, you will only get to see your enemies once you get closer to them. Having a sniper on the team greatly increases your chances of spotting the guerilla troops before being seen.
Your enemies are usually under cover, they will be in the shadow of trees, staying low on roof tops or hiding in the buildings. The nice part is that the enemy troops will also have other things to do then just wait around for you to attack them. Guerilla soldiers take walks through the streets. You'll also notice there are innocent civilians all around (careful not to kill them as it will drop your ratings).
You have lots of missions where you are to escort or defend a defenseless convoy. Being a highly tactical game, it is rather unadvisable to bring the targets along before taking out the guerilla forces as they have precise objectives. The soldiers will start firing on the convoy as soon as they notice it. Try to take out the enemy troops and keep the less powerful units (yes, especially the ones you cannot afford to loose) away from the firing range.
Although some of the battles take you by surprise because you can't spot incoming troops until it's too late, most of the moving on the map is a little slow as maps tend to be very wide. The nice addition is that you can simply pause the game whenever in trouble to be sure that you have the time to make the right decision. When in a very complicated situation be careful as a very simple solution is the right way to proceed. In example you can call in a missile attack to get away from a bunch of enemy tanks (staying close to each other) or you can launch rockets or grenades at them.
The thing that bothered me the most during gameplay was that my mission was described very succinctly, yet I encountered various problems on the way. Sometimes it felt like I was playing a puzzle-RTS (I guess it goes well with the tactical side of the game).
Funny: the units move quite naturally (thumb up for MWE), the vehicles turn on a curve, some are faster than others, some can get up a certain pass and others can't; yet this is exactly where the pathfinding system kind of lets you down as they try to go around one another but it takes them much more time than expected.
Video In terms of graphics and unit design JTF is well realized. The level of details when it comes to units is rather high. If you're a graphics fan, be sure to check out the realistic nature in the game. You will notice grass and trees swinging and of course realistic movement of the water.
Just as expected in a war game you will be amazed by the effects used for explosions (and trust me, there are a lot of destructible things in the game). Buildings beautifully blow up spreading ashes and dust all over the surroundings. When firing on a vehicle you will notice that it will burn for a while (time for the passengers to get away) before it completely blows up.
Also impressive is the time implementation into the game. Your eyes will be pleased to see the process of day turning into night and according lighting of the area and units. Moreover, JTF also supports various weather conditions. Rain is probably the most spectacular one.
Another good addition is the in-engine made videos. Some will show up in the upper left side of your screen as news reports (just to make you proud of your deeds), others will be the first step into the mission.
Sound Sound is not the strongest aspect of the game. There's a nice, but somewhat short song that repeats over and over again. There's also the voice acting. This was pretty good, not outstanding, but good. Although not all of your objectives are communicated through voice, you can't possibly complain about the lack of superiors chatting with you.
Multiplayer Well, maybe it's because of the maps that don't offer too much diversity, but the multiplayer isn't very impressing. Up to 8 players can enter the "arena". Every player can pick a high rank officer and the color of his/her battalion. And then there are the combat rules?
Death match mode only states the basic income, ways of acquiring new troops and, apart from the other modes, the clairvoyance option that reveals all the units on the battlefield once every flag has been taken.
Domination mode introduces the countdown (3 to 60 minutes). This is the time you have to get in control and to defend as many flags on the map as you can. Of course if you happen to take all the flags you are the winner.
Battle royale is the most unconventional mode JTF introduces. Aside from the basic income, you get 20% of all killed enemy units value as bonus funding and also random containers dropped on the map at certain time intervals (1 to 12 minutes). The most innovating option is the danger zone which causes map sectors (starting at the edge of the map) to vanish at set time intervals destroying any units there. If you have other ideas, just use the custom mode which allows a wide selection of combat rules.
Conclusion Joint Task Force brings up a good idea on how modern wars go and how to raise the funds for them. The unique graphical aspect of the game has a lot to say, but unfortunately you have to be a truly tactical fan to benefit from all the eye caching details. An overall pleasing impression, but it could be improved with a little more care for gameplay details.
