www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/actofwardirectaction/review.html
GameSpot reviews PC Games on Alienware Systems It's hard to believe that in 2005, someone somewhere had the audacity to make a real-time strategy game stuffed with live action cutscenes. Yet with Act of War: Direct Action , Atari and developer Eugen Systems have managed to turn convention on i ts head. Here's a real-time strategy game with the soul of a sleek techn o-thriller, stitched together with live action footage that, despite the acting and budgetary limitations, will remind you of the riveting telev ision drama 24 at times. And if that weren't enough, it's also a visuall y splendid, exciting, and well-paced game, to boot.
Yes, Act of War has live action cutscenes, but don't hold that agains t it. The last time anyone attempted anything quite like Act of War was 2000's Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 But where Red Alert 2 played entirely for camp, Act of War goes for grit. The game feels very much like a Tom Cla ncy-penned techno-thriller. Or, to be more exact, a Dale Brown techno-th riller, as Brown, a best-selling author, worked with the French team at Eugen to create a story about a looming energy crisis (Americans pay $7 for a gallon of gas) and how an international criminal conspiracy is per petuating it. Act of War's opening introductory movie, cleverly placed s o you watch it during the lengthy installation process, lays the groundw ork, but the fun starts in the game's opening missions, where you'll dis cover that you're in for something more than the usual real-time strateg y experience. In Act of War, you assume the role of Major Jason Richter, the commander of Task Force Talon, an elite direct action force equipped with state-of -art weaponry and tasked with conducting the toughest jobs. From the get -go, your team will assault a terrorist training camp in the desert, and then battle around London in a running gunfight that shows off the game 's excellent urban settings. Blended in the opening levels are a mix of live action, computer-generated, and in-engine cutscenes that enhance wh at's onscreen. While the acting isn't on par with what is found in motio n pictures or television (it's also downright bad at times), the live ac tion scenes are impressive, especially since we've rarely seen anything of this scale in gaming. For example, one of the highlights is watching a street protest erupt into a gun battle, with commandos and bodyguards taking fire from behind armored limousines. There are very little blue-s creen effects in that scene, as most of it was shot outside with a large number of actors and extras. There's so much live action footage at the beginning of the game that you get the feeling that you're taking part in an interactive movie. Howeve r, after the opening levels, the game segues into a more conventional re al-time strategy game along the lines of Command & Conquer. There are th ree factions: the US Army, Task Force Talon, and the Consortium, the evi l conspiracy in the game. Thankfully, there is no contrived plot device where you play as each of the three factions, so you don't get to play a s the Consortium in single-player, though it is playable in skirmish and multiplayer. As expected, each faction has its own strengths and weakne sses. The Army packs a lot of firepower, but it requires an extensive am ount of base-building to unlock the most potent weapons; Task Force Talo n is a lot more versatile and mobile, but its high-tech equipment is exp ensive; and the Consortium can churn out lots of low-level units relativ ely cheaply. While the three factions are fairly diverse, there are stil l some clearly equivalent units on each side. And, if anything, the US A rmy and Task Force Talon are fairly interchangeable, since both belong t o the same side.
The game features a great blend of real-world and futuristic weapons, so it feels like you're glimpsing warfare a decade from now. In terms of gameplay, Act of War doesn't really do much that is notably n ew, but it does everything remarkably well. This is a real-time strategy game that has a great balance between resource-gathering and combat, an d it never feels like one outweighs the other, like it tends to in so ma ny other RTS games. And part of the reason for this balance is because t he only resource in the game--money--can be generated in so many ways. Y ou can build an oil derrick and refinery to harvest oil, but you can als o capture prisoners, which grants a bounty. Not only that, but holding p risoners also generates cash over time, so it's worth your while to capt ure and hold as many prisoners as possible. Finally, since many of the g ame's battles take place in urban settings, such as London and Washingto n DC, there are banks and treasury buildings that your infantry can seiz e to generate cash. This aspect is particularly important, because it wi ll force you to venture out to seize and defend these buildings early on in a mission, bringing you into contact with the enemy quickly.
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