WarCommander: Rangers Lead the Way

by Aaron "Spectre" Watson

Article Type: Review
Article Date: May 07, 2002

Product Info

Product Name: WarCommander: Rangers Lead the Way
Category: Real-Time Strategy
Developer: Independent Arts
Publisher: CDV
Release Date: Released
Req. Spec: Click Here
Files & Links: Click Here

WarCommader

There have been many flavors of real-time strategy (RTS) released over the last few years, most of which depict an altered reality, or total fiction. One of the first to delve in to real world weapons systems was one I reviewed here on COMBATSIM called Real War. Recently, a title has been unleashed by CDV that takes another real life set of circumstances, World War II, and lets you interact with them. A prior foray into World War, also released by CDV was Sudden Strike, published by Strategy First. Independent Arts re-creates the invasion of France by the Allied Forces, wuth a specific focus on the US Army Rangers.

Installation

I was successful in installing the game on a pair of laptops running both Windows XP Pro and Windows 2000 Pro. Both ran just fine after install, with only slight hesitations directly after starting a scenario. The bulk of the testing, however, was done on my high-end gaming machine running Win98 SE. It is nice, however, to find an RTS that will run on a lower-end system with limited graphics capabilities. I have seen recent releases that require video resources just not available on most laptops.

This is a 2-D mapping system, but is very well rendered. The system specs don’t even mention graphics requirements, but DirectX 8.1 is installed during setup. The game only takes up 400 MBs of hard disk space and does require the CD to be in to play. The manual is a slendor tome as the newer style DVD case is used. The 42-page manual covers the basics well enough though.

Gameplay and Graphics

As is my usual modus operandi, I fired up a quick skirmish mission, which in this case is a multiplayer, hosting, with CPU/AI components. There are multiple formations that can be used. Heavy, light, vehicle and building. Choosing sides doesn't seem to yield a choice in alliance, but the Allies must be, well, allied, surely? This is not to be. Capture the flag or kill `em all are the two choices, with a capture five times being another alternative. When two similar flags are chosen, an alliance is not made, and cannot be. I chose two US teams, and one German as the adversary, and we were all fighting each other.

Once the game is at hand the environment is very nicely done. This is the only part of this simulation that really shines. Details in the graphics are there. The weather conditions complete with night, rain and even lightning are there. The graphical effects with rubble, wreckage, and buildings look very good. Eye candy is in abundance. Trees, rocky outcroppings and pathways are done with an eye for the most minute detail. The folks doing the artwork seem to be the only ones doing their jobs though.

Exquisite artwork

There is also a timer on the multiplayer game. When it is reached, there is a pop-up saying that the time limit is up and an unceremonious dump to the multi-player setup screen. Absolutely no debrief as to winner, number of units lost versus destroyed, nada.

Training?

After getting a cursory feel for the game, I went in search of a training regimen to become familiar with the units and their capabilities. This was not to be.

No training here

There are no training scenarios under campaign, or anywhere else for that matter. The only game playing options are the multiplayer and campaign choices. In campaign there are also two options, Utah or Omaha Beach assaults on D-Day with various flags showing the enemy positions and possible forays into them.

D-Day landing choice

Once a choice is made a briefing screen is presented and it depicts the primary and any bonus missions via bullets in the upper right hand corner. A description and location are shown for each of the above. Then it’s time to hit the beach!

Gameplay

In the first scenario of either Omaha or Utah, you’re on the beach or approaching on landing craft. No time for consolidation is given. Hit the beach and hit it hard! The keyboard commands show a grouping capability much like most other RTS’s, but this is another part of the game that is non-functional. To get through the first scenario it seems best to just group them all and head to your objective with aggressive mode set to full. Any picking apart for tactical capabilities is counterproductive. There are other uncontrollable Allied personnel driving up the beach, just let those poor souls take the brunt and follow them in. If you are successful, a debrief is presented with loss and kill percentages and the ability to press on to the next mission. It's pass or fail in this campaign. A bad outcome debriefs you on the facts and the only choices are to retry or to go for the alternate objective, which is usually given.

This part of the game is where the immersion factor goes bad. Playing through a situation is haphazard at best. If you grab a group, give them an objective and watch them go at it—they all meld into one. The enemy will seemingly come from all corners to confront your tight-knit bunch and kill them all in one fell swoop. Play testing seems not to have been accomplished. If you approach a battle with tactical stealth, you will be rewarded with overwhelming opposition. You may even become so devoted as to retry a mission in order to find that elusive way of accomplishing it, and still have no victory.

Cheats Required

A natural progression in today's Internet-connected world would be to go to the official site and look for a FAQ or forum. The forum administrator describes how to get past these impossible-to-finish missions, and that is to cheat. Yes, a series of seemingly unrelated actions can make your players invulnerable to attack, restock their ammo or simply proceed to the next mission. This becomes a necessity on some missions as there is no trigger to allow completion. If you actually try to get through a mission or two without a cheat being used, failure is the most likely outcome. There are a few that are failures for no apparent reason. A POW rescue mission comes quickly to mind where the use of stealth scouting and a long-distance sniper seem to progress well. Then, for no apparent reason, a pop-up window notes a failure but offers no explanation as to why. When you are given the debriefing, there is no mention of the reason for this defeat, just the kill and loss ratios.

You will grow used to seeing this debrief

I found it to be an exercise in frustration. One of the most powerful attacks possible is from a radioman, or the commander for an air strike. To utilize this attack the commander runs up to the spot where the attack is supposed to happen. If it is a bunker he will never make it, which totally defeats the purpose. Even if you use the scout, camouflaged, with his higher range of vision, the commander/radioman run up to the area to be bombed.

There is a specialized pairing that the WarCommander.com site recommends in their hints area: A scout and a sniper can make quick work of the enemy from a good distance. It is, however, difficult to determine what targets spur on a serious counter attack. The ammunition levels drop quickly and the resupply building is not available in the Ranger's build screen in ANY scenario. Crates lying around on certain missions are supposed to allow restocking of your troopers, but is another item on the long list of broken items.

Conclusions

Overall, a graphically pleasing game with good atmosphere via a varied weather system. Seriously flawed and unintuitive gameplay and interface system. Even the most serious RTS fan would be disappointed, I feel, and I have yet to see any mention of a patch for it. There is no sign of an on-line community for this title either in the US or Europe.



Review System:

• CPU: AMD 900Mhz
  
• RAM: 576MB
  
• Video: GeForce3 64MB

Resources

Articles:

• 2002/05/07: WarCommander (Review)

Related COMBATSIM Resources:

• Strategy Game Archive

Files:

• Trailer and Wallpapers

Official Sites:

• Official WarCommander website

Community:

• If you hear of any, let us know.

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