World At War

DEVELOPER : Talonsoft
PUBLISHER : Talonsoft

 

System Requirements Pentium 200, 32MB RAM, 300 MB HD space

Recommended Pentium II 350MHz, 64+ MB RAM,  200 MB HD space

Ratings
Other/Notes Documentation: Other: "Minus" for it being a compilation; if you've already plunked down the money for everything, it's definitely not worth buying just for Fall of the Reich. OTOH, for $40 you get them ALL, which you probably don't have, so a net "plus". "Plus" also for the low-end machine requirements; I can't imagine a more fun (modern) game that runs smoothly on a P200.  Pros: You get the land combat of WWII, at a tactical level, in one wonderful box. Cons: Playing all the scenarios and campaigns included is probably going to take you MORE than the 6 years the real WWII took. But it will be a happy 6 years… Overall: NA West Front: 8.9 Rising Sun: 9.5

Ahh. In time, all good things must come to an end . . . unless it's the computer game industry, in which case the motto is "rebundle it and sell it again!" I typically hate re-releases. Oh sure, occasionally there's a "Sword of Aragon" bundled in with the "All new deluxe jumbo Leisure Suit Larry mega collection!". But by and large, re-releases are such an obvious wringing of the sucked-dry market potential of a title, they've always seemed to be vaguely depressing.

Talonsoft's World at War entirely debunks this. Here is a fantastic collection of some of the greatest turn-based wargames ever to run on your computer. Ironically, given that I feel the Talonsoft Campaign Series is the spiritual descendant of AH's much-beloved Advanced Squad Leader, WaW is packaged in a box that that will immediately remind old-time board wargamers of AH's Cross of Iron.

This is in no sense shovelware. These are not only the three "main" games - West Front, East Front II, and Rising Sun - but this also includes the WF battle pack*, WF: Operation Sea Lion, and the Rising Sun: Imperial Strike addon AND the Fall of the Reich, an unreleased collection of East Front II scenarios. (* Note that I was involved in playtesting a couple of the scenarios for the battle pack) There are so many games that have great potential, and never get there. It's nice to have seen this series (after an admitted stumble with East Front (1)) successfully develop, mature, and now come to final fruition in this giant compilation.

Granted, the few new things in here probably don't rate the $40 if you have all of the previously released versions. But I'd expect that there aren't many people that have ALL of these games and their expansion supplements, and the value of WaW climbs quickly to the "must buy" category if you've held out waiting for any of them.

I'm going to comment one more time on one of the things that I have always liked the most about these games. In many cases, a developer brings out a good game system but the scenarios are shoddy or rushed. That is not the case here. As mentioned above, I was briefly a member of their scenario beta testing team and had the opportunity to see how carefully these scenarios are crafted for historicity, balance, and (essentially) fun. In the course of this most recent pack of scenarios, I played through a half-dozen, just to get back into the feeling. Only one was a walkover, and this was probably because I didn't play the suggested side. Each of the others was a nail-biter to the last 1 or two turns, at least one was won by desperate actions at the wire, so to speak. This is turn-based wargaming at its very best.

If you haven't played any of the games, I invite you to check our reviews of WF or RS linked below to give you a comprehensive feel for how and why we've always been so fond of them. This is an excellent bundle, very much worth the money for most people. If you've been sitting on the fence, not sure if this is what you want, this is probably the time to grab it. If you like anything to do with WWII tactical land combat - in the desert, in the jungles, on the steppes, or in the hedgerows - Talonsoft's Campaign Series is presented here in its entirety.

Our review of Rising Sun (editor's choice): http://www.strategy-gaming.com/reviews/rising_sun/index.shtml

Our review of West Front (editor's choice): http://www.strategy-gaming.com/reviews/west_front/index.shtml

If you like to comment on this review, please post a message at the forum.
Reviewed by Steve Lieb