With just a few exceptions, World War II: Road to Victory plays out exactly the way that you expect. The battles and overall format have been seen already in a hundred other games of this type, and the developers haven't done much to take things beyond that level. A few elements, like diplomacy and naval combat, are handled in a new and interesting way, but they're hardly enough to support the by-the-numbers approach found throughout the rest of the game.
Presentation - 6.0
Graphics - 5.0
Sound - 5.5
Gameplay - 7.0
Lasting Appeal - 6.0
Overall -
Armchair General writes: "Designing a grand strategic game of World War II in Europe is rather like zeroing in artillery: several rounds are needed. Wasteland's first effort, World War 2: Road to Victory fell short. The second round, World War 2: Time of Wrath with patch 1.60 beta, is much nearer the mark, but a few more tries are required. This corps/division/fleet turn-based game pits not only countries but the three major ideologies of the time -democracy, fascism and communism – against each other with a player handling any country he chooses. This concept is grand but the execution remains flawed."
WorthPlaying: "The new comprehensive update brings the game to version 1.30 and comes with substantial AI improvements, several tweaks to enhance overall game realism, improved interface art and some late war enhancements like Mulberry harbors and a new smaller scale 1944 Operation Overlord scenario!
David Heath, Director of Operations at Matrix Games, said "World War II – Road to Victory has continued to improve since its release thanks to the hard work of IQ Software and the dedicated testers and community supporting the game. We think that gamers who were on the fence or hoping for a stronger AI opponent should take another look at World War II – Road to Victory now that this update is available."
If turn-based strategy isn't your cup of tea, then this brew might be off-putting. But if you're willing to give the title and it's 72-page instruction booklet some time, World War 2: Road to Victory just might gratify. This one is for the 1040 and 1040-A crowd; those filing 1040-EZ need not apply.
