Conflict Zone

"A Good, Challenging Strategy Game!"

I will start off saying, that I really like strategy games. I saw this game for $15.00 at the store, and I figured, ''Why not, I like strategy games, so I will try this, and see how it is.'' I wasn't disappointed. This is a very hard game that will even make the best strategists think. Now, on with the review!

Story: 8/10

It's basically what you would expect in a strategy game, Good guys vs. Bad guys. The good guys are called the ICP, and the bad guys are called GHOST. The ICP are basically the Peacekeepers in foreign nations. GHOST is a secret group of large, multinational corporations, that try to discredit the ICP by stirring up national conflicts.

Graphics: 7/10

The graphics are alright. Everything is detailed, but when you zoom in really close, the buildings, or units seem to ''rip apart'', like you go through them, and see right through them. There are many terrains to play on, such as Arctic, Tropical, and Desert. The backgrounds are photo realistic skies, and say, for example, it is Sunset, the units and buildings will have an orange shade on them. It's a good thing graphics aren't needed to make a good strategy game, take Starcraft for example.

A bad thing about this game is, when there is a lot of fighting going on, the game ''Lags'' or slows down, and it makes the controls unresponsive.

Gameplay: 9/10

The gameplay seems pretty simple: build base, build units, and blow up the other guy, but it's not. The game seems to learn from your attacks, say for example: you just launched an air-strike on the enemy. You are about to launch another one, and when the planes finally get they, they are immediately shot down because the AI has set up a ton of anti-air guns.

Both sides, the ICP and GHOST, have different styles of playing. The ICP will have to save civilians with helicopters if they want the public opinion in their favor. With the public opinion in their favor, the ICP will be able to make better, stronger units. Letting civilians die, killing animals, and letting a wounded soldier die will make the public opinion of you go down.

GHOST has a different way of making public opinion go in their favor. First, they start off by recruiting civilians just like the ICP, but when they are able to build Cameramen, they have to bring them into battle, and if there is a victory, your public opinion will go up, but if there is a defeat, it will go down.

The units also learn while on the battlefield. Take for example: The Mobile Rocket Launcher. While it is in the rookie status, it's missiles will most likely miss the enemy by a mile, but once it has launched many rockets off, it will become very accurate. The advantages of having a trained unit are: Stronger attack, Stronger armor, better accuracy, and will be less likely to retreat for no reason.

The bad part about this is, the enemy cheats... A LOT. They can always find a weakness in your base somehow. If you mess with one of their units early in the game, you will have his whole force destroying your base in less than a minute, before you even have the chance to set up a defense, or build units.

Controls: 7/10

The controls take a while to learn. There are so many button patterns to learn. You should do the training mode to learn all of the controls, but the training goes kind of fast, so you will have to be a fast learner. The bad thing about the controls in this game is, they are unresponsive. you click where you want the unit to go, and they will sit around for a few seconds, then drive around in circles, then finally get to the place you tell them to go. It will also get annoying if you are trying to attack the enemy, and your units will keep wanting to retreat, ruining your strategy.

Music and Sound: 8/10

The music is good for a strategy game... Good thinking music. The bad thing about it is, sometimes it might turn off for no reason. The sound is obviously, units responding to your commands, newscasters, and explosions, and they sound great.

Overall: 8/10

I really liked this game. The campaign missions are really tough, and will even be challenging for great strategists. Like I said, I picked it up for only $15.00, and it was worth it. I suggest you rent this if you are a first time strategy game player, just to see how you play, but if you are an average strategy game player, I highly recommend you buy this!

Good Things:
-Long lasting
-Challenging
-Fun to play
-A lot of units to learn to use

Bad things:
-Slows down when there is too much action going on
-Music may turn off for no reasons
-Easy to lose in games

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/30/03