Our review of "Operation" Bagration " It ended approximately in the following thought: "Good, but without gloss". By the standards of domestic games, it was a fairly expensive project (the budget is about a million dollars), but it entered the territory World in Conflict , where it was all the same, but in five times. The same gameplay (the strategy in which we control small units) plus drama, pyrotechnics, the voice of Alek Baldwin and Larry Bond as a scriptwriter. Or at least the scene where the Russians storm Seattle – in the Belarusian game, of course, there was nothing like that. At the same time, playing Bagration was no less interesting at all, but the game clearly lacked the means to properly present itself.
But almost immediately after the release, an amazing. Square Enix Within the framework of its new program “Not only in Japan”, firstly, they bought Eidos And now they are being carried out by CROFT, and secondly, for some reason they became interested in RS-strategia in real time. So, they now publish Supreme Commander 2 Chris Taylor, and to Wargaming.Net treated with touching care. The latter, having received Japanese money and producers, literally in 10 months did the “Operation“ Bagration ”of our dreams – and it is called Order of War.
Cinderella from Belarus
As part of the preparation of material on World of Tanks (cm. "Online game" in this issue) We visited the developers' office in Minsk, where Order of War was shown to us as a bonus – so, by chance we descended by the floor. The two missions passed out of the way immediately made it clear: the game, in the heart of which the Bagration is still beating, is now perceived at a fundamentally different level. A little later we returned to Wargaming office.NET with ticks and soldering iron – behind the full version.
Of course, the “Bagration Operation” was a niche game, so she could calmly afford to tell about the battles of the Great Patriotic War against the background of Belarusian landscapes. Order of War is mainly oriented to the Western market, so that the campaign was replaced by a campaign for the allies, and with it a classic attraction on the topic “And here the second front suddenly opened”: Omha-Beach, French battles, tanks under the arrakt and the like. But the German campaign partially unfolds in Poland, and there the scenery is far from such beaten. Finally, the Soviet side also has not gone anywhere – although it, alas, has not been awarded a full -fledged campaign and is available exclusively in the multiplayer.
Of course, history lessons are now held according to the laws of blockbusters. Boring slices from the military chronicle remained in the past: it seems that one of the main items of consumption in the development of Order of War were rollers that are set here so that all other WW2 strategies are slowly burning with shame in the corner. U Company of Heroes The whole fuse went to the dramatic KAT scenes, and then between the missions-a real CGI-holiday. In general terms, having outlined the situation on a global map, the camera in an instant proceeds to a demonstration of individual battles, and around at the same time there are large inscriptions inscribed in the entourage, just like in the future Splinter Cell: Conviction. In addition, here literally in seconds they clearly show you how many passengers are placed in a landing plane or what is the radius of defeat in German long -range guns. The approach is comprehensively correct – it is much more interesting than reading an encyclopedia built into the game, as was started by domestic developers.
Moments of war
Order of War – almost the most saturated RTS in our memory. Within the first mission, which lasts from the strength of half an hour, you:
Smoke and fire
Mechanics and basic principles remained untouched: Order of War is a clean war, freshly squeezed, without preservatives. The developers spied on the basis of the same World in Conflict, where you bought reinforcements right during the battle for an instant, after the death of which you returned the money spent after some time. The difference is that Oord of War should be called by the glasses that are accrued for holding control points. The range of available units, as before, depends on the type of point. Further – only battles, without any construction and management. In addition, here, as before, an almost perfect interface. The fuss with the infantry in any form is completely abolished, there are no multi -level menu and at all, and all that you do using buttons on the screen is ordering troops and sending attacks from the air.
Order of War – she is more about momentary tactics than a protracted strategy. Having received the troops in your hands, you are immediately trying to take all the trenches, lead the tanks to the nearest point, buy reinforcements, and, as soon as it seems to you that you have already entrenched in the territory, suddenly the allies will come under your control, and the new enemies are already landing on you On the head.
Something is constantly happening on the missions, you are throwing you from one end of the card to the other, so planning something is simply impossible in advance. Incomfortable decisions that you make every second lead to success. Leave the infantry in trenches or let the tanks reinforce? Take a village with ground forces or spend the last money on an air raid? In each campaign in front of our nose, a thousand events are losing for a mission, and the head is always busy only in what to do with the troops now, and not five minutes later.
Fundamental differences from the "Operation" Bagration "here, if you think, only three. First, noticeably matured AI. Even the enemy, clamped in the script framework, is out of order as much as he can and just doesn’t give up strategic positions: he comes from the flanks, takes the infantry to the buildings and briskly maneuvers with the equipment when he was pouring on his head.
Secondly, the so-called “good general” system was added to Order of War. All your actions are constantly commented on by the boss, who, if you see that you can’t cope on your own, can allocate reinforcements to you – of course, within reasonable limits (if you go out of the “outrageous” missions, this will necessarily affect the medals issued at the end). Thirdly, full-fledged city battles appeared, and to keep track of all the troops and approaches of the enemy on narrow streets is many times more difficult. Cities and landscapes, by the way, were created on the basis of real photographs and drawings – up to the very last monument. Wargaming artists and designers.Net in general over the past year have grown a lot.
Reading all of the above, you need, of course, to remember that now all this is delivered as if the director was Michael Bay: something is constantly exploding, burning or at least smoking. The cards Lucky Carnival Casino here grew up to dozens of square kilometers, and the scale of the battles jumped to hundreds and thousands of units in one frame. The German campaign came out more modestly (and, by the way, much more complicated), but the American one is Perel-Harbor pure water. Well, in the end, there are excellent graphics and physics, and all buildings are honestly collapsing under artillery shells.
They themselves did not expect that we will say this, but the title of “Call of Duty from the RTS world” is now moving to the Belarusian strategy. Order of War-almost the only game in recent years, where Skirmish mode is of great importance: after the head begins to dizzy from the Pyrotechnic Theater, I want to calmly sit down and be left alone with the local mechanics. Only there (and in the multiplayer) you begin to notice how many different types of infantry alone are there, how are air attacks really useful and that life can sometimes save you only in the premises of the grenade launchers.
Apparently, based on the principle of “walking – so in full!", Jeremy Soul was attracted to work on the soundtrack here. Soul was once one of the most prominent game composers, and his melodies from Oblivion Surely sitting in your head still. In addition, he composed good, although not ingenious music for Company of Heroes and Supreme Commander. And here Jeremy seems to have taken away the soul. Music Order of WAR is beautiful, memorable and, importantly, for WW2 games sometimes completely atypical-without boring loud pipes and a sharp ringing, but melodic and at the same time elevated as that of John Williams.
In this place we were going to proclaim Order of War the ideal RTS and put her nine points in a festive atmosphere, but by the end of the game one unpleasant nuance was revealed. From the beginning to the end there was not a single mission in which at least some non-standard thinking would be required. A kaleidoscope of various events is flashed around, but the game, its pace and rules do not change for a second. There is no need to experiment and look for non -obvious tactics, everything goes according to a hung scheme – points, reinforcements, bombing. From the first mission to the last. Even the most litter stealth operation-and there is no one.
National heroes
In Belarus, "Bagration Operation" is more than just a game
After the release of Bagration Operation about Wargaming.NET in Belarus was said by everyone – radio, television, newspapers and even museum curators. The popularity of e -sportsmen in Korea, of course, is still far away, but the beginning is made. Some notes in the newspapers, however, obviously exaggerated the situation and presented the Bagration as the Messiah, the first correct video game in the world, and Manhunt 2 and Clive Barker’s Jericho called the consumer goods created in order to corrupt children. As usual.
All this hype has not reached Russia, but in the homeland the authors are honored as heroes: the effect of the “national game” worked here, as in due time with a “stalker” in Ukraine. Even before the release, the game was shown by the Belarusian media and veterans of the Great Patriotic War, and in February this year – even the Minister of Defense. In addition, a large -scale e -sports tournament was held under the Bagration Operation, and computers with the game will be installed in the new building of the Museum of History in Minsk in one of the halls in Minsk. This is not for you in GEARS of War to play!
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A year ago, we complained that no one was adopted by the World in Conflict mechanics. Wargaming.Net are the only ones who accepted the baton at Massive Entertainment , Moreover, already twice, and now, finally, the understanding comes that the invasion of Wic Clons is not such a salvation for the genre. It turns out bright and noisy, but in some places it is monotonous-just like once with WW2 shutters. Order of War is played as RTS from your erotic dreams, but whether the formula will look just as fresh another year – a big question.
Reigracy – yes
Cool plot – no
Originality – no
Easy to master – yes
Evidence of expectations: 100%
Gameplay: 9
Graphics: 8
Sound and music: 9
Interface and management: 9
Waited? World in Conflict about the second world – now without amendments to the origin, setting and budget. Order of War is played brighter and more fervent more than any RTS of this year, but for the third time such a trick will hardly work.
Mania rating: 8.5
"Great"