Wargame: European Escalation boasts possibly the most obvious name for a game ever (it's like calling Super Mario Jumpgame: Plumber Rising: Revengeance). It is, as you can no doubt surmise, about war. An alternative Cold War in fact.
Developed by Eugen Systems, Wargame, European Escalation is a real-time strategy title, so if the studio's name and legacy means anything to you, you'll know what to expect.
Wargame: European Escalation is pretty minimalist presentation wise. No dazzling opening cutscene, no bleak state of the world introduction. It's actually quite refreshing to have something just say 'here's a game, play the damn thing' with a minimum of fuss.
You're hit immediately with a business like, imposing menu screen and then drafted straight into the heat of battle, starting off with smaller scale melees before you ascend fully into total war. It's a good way to exercise your inner Napoleon.
The thing that strikes you immediately about European Escalation is the sheer scale and detail of the thing. It's madness. You can view the proceedings from as high as above the clouds to a few metres off the ground with virtually no framerate loss (if you're running on a high end PC at least).
Not only that, but there are little incidental details everywhere. Tanks will make tracks wherever they go, fires will affect nearby flora and fauna and towns appear to be painstakingly rendered, before you blow them to smithereens at least.
You'll probably spend a few moments admiring the tiling in some chap's patio before suddenly remembering that half a mile away your forces are getting utterly mulched by the communist menace.
You see, Wargame: European Escalation has no time for idiots. It requires more patience than other strategy standards like Starcraft and Command and Conquer, and you can't rely on overwhelming your opponents through sheer numbers alone, as you're likely to get utterly decimated by some incredibly cheeky flanking enemy hordes.
You need to plan your attacks, make sure you've accounted for every possibility. There's a rock paper scissors element to the game, as each unit has its own strengths and weaknesses.
For instance Tanks have a tendency to get utterly mulched by well hidden, strategically placed infantry, but can make short work of command units, while aircraft, surprisingly enough, have a particular weakness to stationary missile units.
There's no base building or resource mining either. The only way to replenish your ranks is to capture a point and station a command vehicle at it, meaning you're always constantly on the move and looking for new areas rather than hunkering down and fortifying a specific area.
You'll also need to account for the terrain. Vehicles will occasionally get stuck going through swamps, whereas gaily bumbling along through a field will have enemy crosshairs on you in an instant.
You need to use your surroundings to your advantage, take cover in the trees, or use the roads to travel more quickly to your next fracas. There's a lot to consider.
The game also has you take into account the mental wellbeing of your troops. They're usually pretty stout, but if you end up putting them in a hairy situation they can get jittery. If they're getting completely pummelled though they'll sometimes rout like awful cowards, throwing your ranks into yet more disarray.
This isn't harsh though, it's just European Escalation being cruel to be kind. You'll see the defeat screen a lot, but you'll also likely shrug it off and press the replay button, as there's something oddly compulsive about it.
Wargame: European Escalation is an enjoyable, diverting time sink. There's something oddly relaxing about sending your troops to their death as some tranquil background music lightly froths away.
It does feel like things are overly stacked against you though. You can only use a limited number of units for instance, which feels stifling. Meanwhile, enemies spotted by recon units will also disappear when out of range again, meaning you'll feel like you're going out to war blind a lot of the time.
It's all slightly overwhelming. The number of units at your disposal (unlocked through earning stars throughout the single player campaign or levelling up in multiplayer) is ridiculous, and it's easy to get bogged down in a cavalcade of stats.
However, Wargame: European Escalation is also incredibly dry and characterless; the only light relief coming from some of the unintentionally funny things your troops will say when you order them about, all cut glass English accents and gung ho machismo.
Wargame's multiplayer will be the real draw for the strategy nuts though. You can team up with a few others and go head to head against other would be despots, and get into many an argument as you accidentally send in units your comrade wanted to preserve.
It's the nature of the beast though, and all's' fair in war and eh, war. You'll get destroyed when you first play, but you'll learn should you give it time. Wargame isn't something to be sped through in an afternoon. It's more like a long term investment, rewarding patience and attrition.
Wargame: European Escalation is maybe aimed too squarely at hardcore strategy nuts, and it's desperately lacking in character, but once you wrap your head around the various intricacies it's far too easy to lose an entire evening zooming in and out in amusement at all the carnage being meted out.
Standing proud among the rank and file of the strategy genre, Wargame: European Escalation improves upon elements explored in Eugen's previous game R.U.S.E. Get past the negligible plot and steep learning curve and you'll find an engaging, good looking RTS. 7/10
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