Act of War: Direct Action

Written by Phillip Ellis on 4/11/2005 for PC  

Upon installing Act of War you are immediately brought into the action of the game. A debate between two rival oil corporations is shown on your screen and you quickly begin to realize the situation at hand. This simple, yet effective tactic immediately immerses the player into the game before they are even playing. This was a brilliant idea by Atari to show this video during installation. A lot of people watch installations anyways, so why not throw a video at you right away.

The story itself is compelling and engulfing. The reason this particular story has engulfed me to continue playing even into the wee hours of morning is because of how true to life it can seem. The whole focus on the game is of rising gas prices. Gas prices in California being $7... Looking at the world today that seems very feasible. This game is obviously the only game to come out recently worth comparing with Command and Conquer. Obviously Command and Conquer is the one of the most played RTS game to ever be released, and even after Act of War it may still retain that title for many people, however, this is a push in the right direction for Atari.

The graphics turned all the way up look great at distant levels. You can even zoom way far in and fight right there in the streets with your soldiers. The cool thing about it is the graphics will pull their weight and everything still looks pretty good. The environments are greatly detailed and are on scale with the true to life cities. This puts you in the heart of the battle. Fighting in front of the White House is pretty cool as there’s nothing like protecting the building which is one of the bigger symbols of freedom in America. If you’ve ever played Rise of Nations then you won’t find yourself impressed by the graphics in this game, but if you’ve ever played any other RTS then this one ranks right near the top in the graphical department.
You start off with some very simple missions, which do not require you to do much at all, but they get more involved the further into the game you get. The problem with Act of War is the computer never seems to be fully there. They simply get mowed down because of your elite soldiers and so far I have never lost a battle. I have lost some soldiers due to poor techniques and poor thinking, but in the end I always seem to overcome this problem and complete my mission. The game basically gives you step by step objectives and the easiest way to get there, meaning there never really is any strategy required in the single player portion of the game as the computer has already thought out everything you should do. This takes away from the game experience a good bit actually. I would rather decide which way to go on my own than for the computer to say I should simply take this route to get there. It’s not a major problem or anything, just an annoyance of mine because I like open-ended RTS games. Unfortunately there are not too many of those. Now that is only in the campaign mode, obviously it is very open-ended in just skirmish and multiplayer.Multiplayer would be great, but as with a lot of RTS games it is hampered by problems with cheaters and rushers. By rushers I mean the people that simply build a few troops extremely quick and go straight to your base and wipe you out within the first three minutes of the game because you were busy focusing on other things. It is a lot of fun with friends though. Gather some people together that you know and it makes beating them that much sweeter. That’s the case with any game though. Although the lack of personal feeling in beating someone over multiplayer is fixed with Voice Communication in games nowadays, Act of War is lacking this. VOIP, or voice over IP has not caught on yet with many games but eventually should be the norm for games like this. It just makes beating your opponent that much sweeter when you can get to know them a little bit over the course of the battle.

The game stacks up well against other RTS of this day and age because it has so much in common with them. The game is eerily similar to Command and Conquer. I guess the guys at Command and Conquer have revolutionized the genre so much that it is hard to find new ways to change the game play. Obviously that is not a bad thing that this game is similar to Command and Conquer. The missions just do not seem to be tough enough to hold you wanting more and more. In other RTS the AI can be extremely tough and keep you fighting on in a desperate hope to win, but in Act of War you just feel like no matter what you do, you will win.

This is not to say Act of War is a bad game. Far from it, it is a great idea in today’s world to base a game off of a novel. There is no doubt the story is very well written and it is a very believable thing. The story is the main thing that kept me coming back for more, just being curious as to what happens in the end. I think that will hold true for most people. The story will keep you coming back for more, more than the actual game itself will.

The one thing I’m left wondering after playing Act of War is this though, is it trying to be a game or a movie? A few of the cut scenes are actually computer generated, but a lot of them are actual acting. The acting certainly leaves a lot to be desired, as I’m not sure where these guys got picked up. You can most definitely tell they aren’t going to be winning an Emmy for their performance in this game though. It’s not an unbelievably strange thing, but in the age of computer games I think the cut scenes should be rendered by the computer. I guess it all comes down to a personal preference. The cut scenes are very long and drawn out, and a lot of times I feel like I’m actually missing the action I want to be involved in because I’m watching real actors carry it out
The game play is not superior to any RTS game on the market, and I think one would be suited just fine with Command and Conquers or Rise of Nations. A group of soldiers seem to be able to easily overtake a large tank with small arms fire. Sure, it’s possible in war nowadays, but it is not something you see with regularity. The helicopters in the game seem extremely weak in the time of battle. The game stacks up pretty evenly with Command and Conquer in game play terms though. You’re going to get more of the same in the two games. However, if one has been playing Rise of Nations these past few years then playing Act of War is like a complete step down. Nothing compares to how amazing the game play in Rise of Nations is, and once again a promising RTS game comes up short in trying to dethrone the best.

All in all what you will get here is an encompassing campaign mode, and a promising multiplayer game. Playing this game with the right people will keep it going for ages, just as it has Command and Conquers. The story in the campaign will keep you going to find out what happens in the end. The graphics are very good looking on high, and the sounds are everything you would expect out of an RTS. It’s not the best RTS on the market right now but with a few patches and fixes to the game play it could certainly dethrone Command and Conquer as the most popular on the market.