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Lurking beneath the raging conflict and chaos between the ICP and GHOST is a sound visual engine. At high resolutions the game looks crisp and clean, rendering outdoor terrain snappily with no pop-up or slowdown, even on lower end machines. It's fully 3D, with a moveable camera view of the conflict. Although the game looks especially good when viewed at ground level, we wouldn't recommend actually playing that way. The landscape looks incredible, and when in the overhead camera angle, you might even think you're looking at a photograph, especially when you're down on the ground level looking towards the horizon. Moreover, there are some incredible details on units and structures, right down to the very weapons the soldiers are carrying. While most of them aren't very complex in terms of the number of polygons involved, this is understandable since there are often large battles with plenty of units on the screen at a single time. The general health or status of a unit can also be told from their looks. Fresh and undamaged soldiers and tanks look white and clean while badly damaged units will look like African Americans. As mentioned earlier however, most cinematics in between levels have a decidedly wacky feel to them. Commandos in camel and tank costumes? Soldiers drinking out of big gulp sized coffee cups? Whatever.
Reinforcing the mood of the game is a strong aural support. Were modern military tunes and eardrum-shattering blasts this appealing in reality, every day would be a good day to die. However, excuse the corny dialog, though... voices in Conflict Zone are almost too calm to be that of officers and soldiers engaged in a war. Units moving from one destination to another can also at times drive you up the wall with their irritating "Yes sir!" *beep* and "Go!" *beep* confirmations after a while.
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