It's fair to say that strategy titles have so far struggled to gain a foothold on consoles, the demands of the genre never satisfyingly accommodated by analogue sticks and D-pads that are more in tune with directing bullet-fire into the path of countless foes than dictating entire battlefields. But look out upon the gaming ocean that is 2008 and in the middle distance you'll see a swell of change, with a number of high profile strategy games heading to the current generation of consoles.
At the tip of this wave is World in Conflict: Soviet Assault, a fresh take on last year's barnstorming PC title that asked what would happen if the Cold War never ended, and answered this question with a barrage of spectacular nuclear assaults that resulted in one of the most action-oriented strategy games to date. IGN UK went to the otherwise serene Swedish city of Malmo to see the game's original developers, Massive Entertainment, hand the baton over to Swordfish Studios for what's set to be one of the most explosive titles of the summer.
Starting today (18.00 hours) until 23 December, players will download free World in Conflict (including expander Soviet Assault), Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and Watch Dogs for PC via Uplay. More ...
I've collected quite a number of free games on UPlay. I can't say I'm the biggest fan of its bloated platform, but they have been pretty generous w freebies if you've kept up with their mailing list over time.
D2D is onto the fifth and final week of it's 5 Year Anniversary $5 Game Sale, this time giving several war titles the Lincoln treatment.
Highlights include 90% off Battlestations: Pacific and over 80% off on titles Company of Heroes Gold and Supreme Commander Gold.
Ten games in all fill the war list, with 20 other titles from all genres still being offered at $5 including Bioshock, Mount & Blade and The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena.
WOW! COH: Gold and World In Conflict: Gold for $10 is a STEAL! I already have the Original COH but none of the expansion packs so this is great!
Too bad D2D thinks the world is only USA, Canada, UK and Mexico. These region restrictions are an invite to piracy.
There's limitations and certifications you need to get to sell stuff in europe.
Worth Playing:
World in Conflict: Soviet Assault is a little difficult to score because there are two different versions of the game that cater to two very different crowds. On one hand, you have the $20 expansion pack, which adds six campaign missions and two multiplayer maps. The other version costs $30 and includes the original World in Conflict. There are clearly two audiences being targeted here, and the more loyal one seems to be getting the raw end of the deal. The six new missions are not worth $20, and aside from the six additional missions, Soviet Assault changes nothing else in the World in Conflict formula.
