World in Conflict is Battlefield 2 crossed with Operation Flashpoint, all rolled into a real-time strategy engine.

World in Conflict is orchestrated chaos, with team members constantly shouting over in-game com links, devising hasty strategies and coordinating air strikes. In a typical scene, squads of infantry squeeze off shots at each other across a scorched wasteland. Tank groups roll forward, only to be pushed back by endless helicopter salvos. Rockets arc overhead, lighting the sky momentarily before finally plastering an entire division of troops.

World in Conflict is Ground Control 3. At a time when Relic's Homeworld revolutionized strategy gaming in space, World in Conflict developer Massive Entertaintment was content to do the same on terra firma with Ground Control. The company broke a lot of ground with its first RTS franchise, and in many ways World in Conflict feels like a direct spiritual successor. That is until the white luminescence of a tactical nuclear missile fills the screen, smoke curling up into a convincing mushroom cloud, the haze slowly unfurling to reveal that half of the screen was just obliterated in the space of a single heartbeat. They didn't have that back in the day. While clearly the result of many sources of inspiration, the truth is that World in Conflict is something new entirely.

And something old. The game's premise is based on a fictional 1989 Cold War-turned-hot, set smack in the middle of European and American war zones. Players will begin a match by either choosing the side of the Americans or the Russians, and although their units possess subtle differences, they are more or less on equal footing. Maps vary from small towns to barren mountain ranges, with plenty of forests and houses for infantry to hide amongst until discovered. Viewing the battle is simple and intuitive, with WASD and mouse controls combining for a fluid, responsive 3D camera. You'll spend most of your time surveying the battlefield from above, but zooming down to view individual soldiers is a great effect.

The ease of control is a great help given the fast-paced, frantic nature of World in Conflict multiplayer matches. While most RTS games are founded on base-building and graduated, one-at-a-time unit production, World in Conflict provides quick, 10-20 minute matches for up to 16 players. The action starts immediately, as units are ordered up via a simple menu and dropped directly onto the battlefield. This setup may seem familiar to Ground Control players, which also utilized a drop-in-and-play "team deathmatch" style of strategy gaming. Every player controls a handful of units which they must use in combination with their team to form a single, coordinated attack.

After placing a drop zone inside your team's territory, a menu appears, presenting four class choices: infantry, armor, support, and air. While these classes can be changed at any time, you can only mix and match a handful of units from other classes. For instance, playing as the armor class allows you to call down the lower tier of anti-air units from the support class, in addition to your tanks. While your class can be changed at any time during the game, old units are instantly reclaimed for resources, making it impossible for individuals to form a mixed unit brigade.

Each class is decisively balanced against the other in multiple ways. The infantry class' anti-tank troops are effective against both armor and helicopters, but these infantry are slow-moving, making them particularly vulnerable to the support class' artillery. On the other hand, the support class possesses heavy anti-air trucks, which are extremely useful in quickly countering air superiority--but in their mobility, they are often exposed to the armor class' tanks, which will rapidly dismantle other vehicles. Obvious strategies evolve out of these differences. Infantry can hole up inside houses and other buildings to protect themselves from artillery blasts, firing from windows at incoming armor. Special unit abilities, such as tank smoke screens, can momentarily hide vehicles from prowling choppers.

The classes generally provide lower cost versions of each unit. Medium anti-air trucks may be cheaper, but will take much longer to bring anything down than the more expensive variant. Heavy helicopters can smash most ground forces, but are torn to shreds by medium attack copters. Loading up on too much of any one unit can leave them defenseless against certain types of attackers. Awareness of the enemy's classes becomes especially important. If they double up on air power, you may want to counter with the anti-air of the support class. In that sense, the game can evolve into a fast-paced match of rock-paper-scissors-tanks.

As more units are dropped in, the associated costs are subtracted from a secondary pool of resources. When units are destroyed, the primary resource pool increases, which then slowly filters down into the secondary pool, finally allowing you to spend them. This two-tier system keeps a player from sending his units on suicide missions and calling in reinforcements the second they are destroyed. If your forces are totally wiped out, the minor delay is enough to make you think twice about charging into battle again.

The choice of your drop zone can mean the difference between a long walk or a quick death. Initially, your drop zone is relegated to the far backside of your team's current territory. This distance makes it extremely difficult to reach the enemy's base without being hit by artillery or air support. To shorten the span, players must capture command points, which are scattered around the map. When more points are taken the drop zone expands, presenting the player with a less daunting march toward the front line.

Continue reading for details on tactical strikes, social tracking features, and my final impressions of World in Conflict.