Wargame: Airland Battle is one curious beast. It's an RTS, but it's also a reasonably realistic simulation of cold-war warfare. Players who are familiar with usual RTS (Starcraft, et.al.) may find the need to employ real-world tactics a shock (simply trying to overwhelm your opponent with a large number of your hardest-hitting units will not work). On the other hand, players who are more familiar with turn-based, realistic combat simulations (Combat Mission: Shockforce comes into mind) may get overwhelmed by the need to react in realtime. There is no such luxury as contemplating your move for several hours.

Players who are neither an RTS nor a turn-based game veterans might be the ones with a slight advantage here. That being said, anybody willing to approach this game with an open mind will be able to start climbing the learning curve. It's a steep curve, I warn you, but with enough patience one might be able to master this game eventually (I certainly haven't!).

If you are more into multi player games, Wargame: Airland Battle offers a quite robust multiplayer modes. I didn't get to test the multi player modes, however. But from what I've read (almost) everywhere, it's a blast.

Wargame: Airland Battle offers a superb 3D game engine, capable of rendering virtually every blade of grass on the battlefield. To be able to appreciate this, though, you'll need to have a powerful PC. Even if you do, however, you might not have the chance to do so because you will be too busy viewing the battlefield from a zoomed-out strategic view rather than zooming in to each of the beautifully modeled (and animated) units.

In the end, this is not a game to pass if you have an interest in modern (cold-war era) combined arms combat simulation. This is particularly true since the game is now offered at a very affordable price. Just keep in mind that this is not your average RTS, nor is it your typical realistic combat simulation. It is one curious beast, and if you can take it for what it is, you'll have a good time with it.

Note for Mac owners: I have successfully played this game on my old-ish Macbook Pro (2012 13" non retina). I've upgraded the RAM of the MacBook (it's got 8 GB of RAM) and the game ran reasonably well, albeit with mid-to-low graphics settings. It still looks good, but may not be as good as those videos of the game you've been watching on Youtube.

Wargame: Airland Battle is one curious beast. It's an RTS, but it's also a reasonably realistic simulation of cold-war warfare. Players who are familiar with usual RTS (Starcraft, et.al.) may find the need to employ real-world tactics a shock (simply trying to overwhelm your opponent with a large number of your hardest-hitting units will not work). On the other hand, players who are more familiar with turn-based, realistic combat simulations (Combat Mission: Shockforce comes into mind) may get overwhelmed by the need to react in realtime. There is no such luxury as contemplating your move for several hours. Players who are neither an RTS nor a turn-based game veterans might be the ones with a slight advantage here. That being said, anybody willing to approach this game with an open mind will be able to start climbing the learning curve. It's a steep curve, I warn you, but with enough patience one might be able to master this game eventually (I certainly haven't!). If you are more into multi player games, Wargame: Airland Battle offers a quite robust multiplayer modes. I didn't get to test the multi player modes, however. But from what I've read (almost) everywhere, it's a blast. Wargame: Airland Battle offers a superb 3D game engine, capable of rendering virtually every blade of grass on the battlefield. To be able to appreciate this, though, you'll need to have a powerful PC. Even if you do, however, you might not have the chance to do so because you will be too busy viewing the battlefield from a zoomed-out strategic view rather than zooming in to each of the beautifully modeled (and animated) units. In the end, this is not a game to pass if you have an interest in modern (cold-war era) combined arms combat simulation. This is particularly true since the game is now offered at a very affordable price. Just keep in mind that this is not your average RTS, nor is it your typical realistic combat simulation. It is one curious beast, and if you can take it for what it is, you'll have a good time with it. Note for Mac owners: I have successfully played this game on my old-ish Macbook Pro (2012 13" non retina). I've upgraded the RAM of the MacBook (it's got 8 GB of RAM) and the game ran reasonably well, albeit with mid-to-low graphics settings. It still looks good, but may not be as good as those videos of the game you've been watching on Youtube.