Act of War is a game very similar to C&C: Generals, except one big difference... its much, much better!

Don’t get me wrong, Generals had its day, however AOW has many improvements that make the game much more entertaining. For an RTS, the single player is great. When you first start the game, you’re given a small task force to control and you are to carry out an attack on an installation and capture some big-shot enemy. It doesn’t seem like much, but it forces you to learn features about simple infantry units that seem to get overlooked in other games. In most RTS games infantry are guys you send in hoping they will distract enemy units into shooting them, instead of your valuable tanks. However with AOW, you’re infantry have the ability to take over and sit in the windows of buildings, capture other enemy infantry, and defend other units and structures. Big deal you say, lots of games do that, but you can also drop snipers on roof tops via helicopters, move in and out of buildings as you can in real life, setup ambush spots in trees and bushes (Infantry which are hiding do 2x more damage) and even crawl around on the ground so they aren’t detected. These little things make infantry a valuable part of the game. Hell, a building with 2 snipers on the roof, a few soldiers inside, and 3 rocket guys, are usually more effective then dedicated turret defences.

So aside from the infantry, vehicles seem well balanced throughout the three sides. I wouldn’t say they are perfect, but balanced enough where you aren’t at a serious disadvantage if you prefer one team over another. Also as vulnerable as choppers are from ground-to-air missiles, they sure do take out a tank and infantry quickly and there should always be a few on standby for such an occasion.

Speaking of air, there are more ways to defend your base against those annoying fly-overs from enemy aircraft. Sure you could throw a few turrets up around your base and hope they activate in time, or keep a few rocket-crew around and hope it happens to fly over that area, but in AOW there is the ability to actually launch fighters from your base to intercept them as well! Its quite entertaining seeing an F-15 launch an air-to-air missile against another fighter ½ way across the map. A-10s will also bomb structures you ask them to, as well as shoot off a few rockets at any unfortunate vehicle which happens to be in its flight path on its way there!

The best part of the game I think, is the fact that it’s also not so in-depth you are over-taxed with micro-managing your army either. It’s a very nice balance of features VS game play. People who like to build mass armies still can, however those who are strategic and like to plan things out are also just as effective at the game. It makes quite an interesting battle in multiplayer! Gone are the days of "he with the most tanks wins" as I have seen very small squads of a handful of troops take down massive armies very quickly. Its all in what you take to the front lines in this game.

Overall, I give Act of War 4 army guys out of 5

Telnets