And you will learn this grim truth in the most displeasing way, the moment you felt thing were just heating up. Regrettably, the campaign will last for only half a day. You assume the role of Major Jason Richter, commander of the Task Force Talon and embark on a crusade against "centralized" terrorism that will eventually succumb to the Nuclear War that they will blindly commence. And they are not just hitting hard on the TransGlobal's facilities, in their boldness they have declared war with Russia and swore to bring the U.S. However, this time, terrorism around the globe has been united under Consortium's flagship. Historically, even covert units have obeyed standards set by the United Nations during the Cold War. The President has authorized the creation of an elite counter terrorism unit (Task Force Talon), one authorized to operate outside of international authority. If TransGlobal succeeds in pushing other energy companies out of the market, competition disappears - and with it, the built-in market mechanisms that keep prices competitive. In an effort condemned by other oil conglomerates as predatory pricing, TransGlobal is pricing its crude at 10% below the set commodity price of $75 a barrel. TGE engineers have developed a new technology that, if successful, will unlock the Egyptian oil reserves previously thought too expensive to extract. Some may ask, what happened to the market competition? One company, TransGlobal, presents itself as a small light at the end of the tunnel. By this logic, it is the customers' rampant demand that is setting the price. In their view, the global economy has overwhelmed any efforts at price controls. The energy companies deny responsibility for the price inflation. What little crude (raw materials) there is on the market is selling at usurious prices.
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I surely hope the expansion pack will light these gloomy aspects as they are a great draw-back to the overall quality of the story, greater than the muddy acting. One that bothered me most was the lack of any information concerning the Consortium's background and some biographic information about its members. However, there are some loose ends in the story. If you fancy techno thrillers like those of John Le Carre's or Tom Clancy, Act of War may also prove delightful, complete with international intrigue, double-crosses, and plenty of high-tech and military jargon. The story behind "Act of War" is inspired by the homonymous novel written by the former Air Force Captain, Dale Brown.
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Though not as complex as it sounds, every campaign map is full of dynamism, something that all the other RTS lacked. In addition, your access to some units or upgrades is restricted by the accomplishment of your objectives. On the other hand, in the missions with open battlefields you are given command over the more advanced, but much more expensive Task Force Talon. troops, which fit rather well in the landscape. For example, in urban combat you are usually given command over the U.S. In Act of War, the objectives (primary or not), the tech tree and the unit types have a reasonable level of consistence with the plot. The techniques of story-telling in Starcraft or Warcraft 3 resumed to some exquisite 3D rendered movies and a few lines changed between the main characters. Some could say the Blizzard's RTS games have shown some well-drawn plots as well. Moreover, many of the live action scenes have been shot outside, with a reasonable number of figurants. And this is something that has never been done in a RTS game before.
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As soon as the story catches you, you will feel as if watching a war/techno-thriller movie. Leaving aside the somewhat loose acting, - ok, I admit the actors have no talent whatsoever -, it is admirable how well was the cinematic footage interlaced with the game itself. Well, it didn't really succeed in brainwashing any of the RTS fans, but by carefully mixing some excellent aspects from many different such games this project managed to revive a dying genre and set new grounds for its future.Īlso notable is the care invested in the single player campaign. With brands like Total War, Sudden Strike or Nexus the classical real time strategy has miraculously survived thanks to both the zeal of Starcraft fans and the ingenuity of the men behind the Command and Conquer games (the most recent, Generals and Zero Hour).Īct of War: Direct Action remains true to the good ol' genre and, unlike many of its predecessors, it plays its card right.Įach and every one of the Eugen Systems' bad-ass programmers and artists deserve a five second French kiss for their evil scheme to take over our lives through computer games. War related games of today provoke gamers to an increasing gameplay complexity. Without games like Act of War, the traditional RTS genre may have been good as dead.