Desperate times demand desperate measures. It is for this very reason that most armed conflicts throughout history have recorded large number of civilian casualties in the fight for the greater good. In modern warfare however, a general must not only worry about his foe, but also a new kind of threat that cannot be silenced - the media. It is in MASA and Ubisoft's newest real-time strategy Conflict Zone that we can now experience the ability to make those decisions with an ethical twist that can spell the difference between victory and defeat.
The year is 2010. Earth has turned into a battleground between rival nations and the superpowers of the world. Wars rage and thousands perish in the ongoing conflict. Controlling the situation is the ICP, otherwise known as the International Corps for Peace. Stamping out proverbial fires worldwide, this international military peace keeping force attempts to give hope to helpless innocents throughout the world. However, a secret organization known only as GHOST, formed by multinational corporations and sovereign nations opposes the ICP, waging war around the world for their own interests. Stirring up crisis situations isn't just a hobby for these people - it's a specialty.
While Conflict Zone won't turn the RTS world upside down, it does bring a number of new and interesting twists to a well-worn genre. Both international organizations boast rich campaigns and unique capabilities that offsets an otherwise comparable unit selection. Join the ICP if you wish to take the side of humanity and herd refugees into refugee camps to get good media coverage. Prefer manipulating media coverage, recruiting the local yokels as soldiers, and planting spies amongst the seemingly harmless populace? Side with the forces of darkness then, and help GHOST spread its influence across the globe. Both organizations will translate into a brilliant, lengthy campaign that'll have you hooked for days, if your men don't start pushing up the daisies first.
Missions for both the ICP and GHOST begin with briefings from high-ranking individuals within each organization. The initial International Corps for Peace briefing briefs you on the crisis breaking out in the Ukraine. It also shows that the game doesn't have an entirely serious tone, as you might expect from this type of game. The map screen behind the general changes to a scene depicting some cows on a pasture when all of a sudden, a shark fin travels through the grass. The camera angle then shifts to a side view, where a window into another room is visible. In keeping with the tone, the other room changes into a fish tank, a disco, and other odd scenes. The GHOST briefing isn't quite as over the top as the ICP briefing, but it still manages to maintain the same humorous theme by later depicting a group of soldiers disguised as camels and tanks taking over an enemy base.
In terms of units and missions, Conflict Zone isn't likely to bring many surprises. You've got your soldiers, commandos, tanks, antiaircraft units, artillery, helicopters - the usual lineup. Some of the more advanced units like Stealth Bombers, AWACS surveillance planes, and a scud-like mobile nuclear missile launcher are good for a bang. Both ICP and Ghost have 16 missions in their respective campaigns, with one bonus mission each that opens up if certain conditions have been met. Most missions include the usual destroy enemy base and rescue refugees fare, although GHOST gets to do some of the more devious and nasty stuff - like sabotaging an ICP chemical weapons facility that's near a village, thereby causing a public relations disaster for the good guys.
Battles found in Conflict Zone are hectic, spectacular and often looks like the fourth of July when soldiers on both sides start showing off their firepower. Tactically sound decisions based on elevation, locale and seemingly innocuous nearby resources such as civilian outposts can be the deciding factor in any battle. Commandos and saboteurs can seek cover behind civilian buildings and win the day. Learning to seize territory without leaving a trail of pitiable corpses that Hannibal Lecter would be proud of in your wake is much more compelling than you'd be inclined to think. By hook or crook, even veteran commanders-in-chief will find themselves soundly schooled through novel lessons in the ancient art of war, despite the fact that most large-scale conflicts bear too strong a resemblance to countless others witnessed before.
The traditional resource gathering aspect of the RTS genre is given a unique spin by Conflict Zone's introduction of propaganda. A unique way of assigning resources to your forces, command points are assigned according to your popularity with the media. Victory and total defeat is heavily dependent on them as they help sway the population's general perception of you. These command points are used to construct bases, tanks and soldiers for your forces. Lose the support of the people, and you could lose the support of your troops as well as the technology you wield at your command. You access new technology by championing the goals of your organization through your actions. Media coverage proliferates as play develops, casting generals in whatever light their latest round of decision making has adopted. So if you want funding for that ass-kicking advanced tank, hold off on icing out helpless innocents or abandoning wounded soldiers on the battlefield.
Generals of the ICP, being the good guys and all, gain popularity by protecting civilians and transferring them to refugee camps via helicopters. But if you're commanding GHOST, a good tactic to cause the ICP endless headaches is by parking your units in civilian areas. When the ICP tries to clear you out, the inevitable collateral damage to civilians and civilian buildings will send the ICP's approval rating plummeting. The bad guys have other uses for civilians though - civilians can be 'invited' to join GHOST by sending them to recruitment camps, where they'll be trained and brain washed as loyal soldiers of GHOST. Some civilians will also be trained as soldiers in civilian clothes, which can then be used to spy on the ICP. However, there is a downside to all this. GHOST generals have to rely on more direct methods to media manipulation. After building a media center, generals will then have to create cameramen. Send a cameraman along to cover a battle, and your popularity will shoot up if you're victorious. Lose, however, and you're in trouble. But if the odds seem stacked against you, you can always kill your own cameraman to hush up the entire unfortunate affair. Similarly, the ICP can target your cameraman before he gets a chance to report a GHOST victory.
The artificial intelligence for Conflict Zone is superb, as the people over at MASA aren't what you would call your usual game development team. In fact, they didn't set out to make a game at all. They'd been working on an adaptive intelligence software platform for business use when they realized their AI expertise would best be showcased in a game. Game industry-types were hired, and a year and a half later, we now have the pleasure to view some of the best AI ever seen in an RTS game. These aren't the deaf, dumb and blind AI troops all too often seen in RTS games. Soldiers who march blindly from point A to point B, often getting lost and never returning even the most withering fire without specific commands to do so. No, the AI in Conflict Zone not only returns fire when fired upon but, when placed in the appropriate readiness state, will actually pursue and harass the enemy to advance their position. Additionally, generals are able to give specific orders to their troops such as "defend this location" and "build a new base here" and have those orders carried out quickly and intelligently. Service units such as repair trucks and doctors go about their business without any micro-management from the player, and if a tank comes under fire from an attack helicopter, nearby antiaircraft units will step in to lend support. Even wild animals such as camels and sheep react to the player's actions, and give units a wide berth. If a herd of sheep suddenly comes running over a hill, you can bet there's an enemy force not far behind, about to descend on your base. As if this wasn't enough, another novel idea was introduced in Conflict Zone - Commanders. Instead of having to focus your attention in several different areas at once, you can now lessen your burden with commanders under your command. Given only in certain missions, commanders are assigned tasks by you, and perform these in the background such as defending, building and maintaining a base. Each commander has his or her own personality, specialties and weaknesses. Not only can they operate with a minimum of supervision but they actually learn from past mistakes and avoid repeating them. However, if you prefer managing your troops personally, you can always choose the amount of command points and troops to allocate to your commanders.
The user interface panel at the bottom right of the screen is nonobtrusive not to mention very well designed, and rarely will you ever mistakenly click on the menu rather than an individual or a group of units. To its credit, the interface also doesn't take too much figuring out, and can be easily picked up with only the most basic understanding of common RTS commands. If a player does forget which keystroke to use for different commands, the developers have kindly added an in-game keyboard layout. Hitting F1 toggles the list of the keyboard commands.
In a wise move, MASA included online multiplayer support so when the single-player campaigns get old, there's always more action. Despite huge numbers of units and relatively low system specs, the game rarely slowed down in normal play as well as during large conflicts. This is quite an achievement. Media coverage can also either be turned on or off, although in most cases we chose to have it enabled. Skirmishes are also available, and the AI managed to put up a surprisingly good fight.
Conflict Zone also comes with EdLand - A terrain editor that ships with Conflict Zone and is very user-friendly. Using a windows explorer type interface, the editor is relatively easy to use and can create maps in a wide range of environments, from desert to rainforest to arctic.
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.
Trying to redefine a genre with a game is a big ask for any development company. MASA has given it a very good shot with many parts of the game shining with brilliance. With graphics that are pleasing to the eye, intelligent troops who know when to act, and commanders to handle the more mundane aspects of the conflict and who can be nearly as effective as the player, Conflict Zone is still however, best reserved for grizzled recruits who demand a rugged challenge. New RTS players might want to try more conventional RTS titles such as StarCraft or the Command & Conquer series to familiarize themselves.
Here are some screenshots that captures Conflict Zone's beautiful graphics. Various cinematic screenshots can also be found in the Additional Screenshots section :
