World in Conflict 360/PS3 Impressions
World in Conflict, the PC based Cold War conflict RTS is grinding its gears to make its first big debut on consoles. The developers are billing this tale of the Soviets invading Germany not as an expansion but more of an "enhancement" to the original. The game is essentially the same as the PC version with some key differences such as this time rather than being from the Soviets perspective, we get the US perspective. That makes up the majority of the story changes and other changes have been implemented in the controls and menu system.
RTSs are traditionally menu deep affairs much more suited to the many keys of a PC rather than the limited buttons of a game controller. From what I could see, the developers (Massive and Swordfish Manchester) seem to have done an admirable job in making the switch from PC to consoles and have completely reworked the control and menu system to suit console specific controllers. FPS like camera controls allow you to navigate quickly and easily and a tracking reticle makes it easy to pinpoint that specific enemy. A new, simpler menu interface adds to the ease by making it unnecessary to dig through layers of menus to find the one you want. You can also take to your Global War Room to compare your victories and battles with fellow players from around the world.
Whether or not World in Conflict will successfully make the jump from PC to consoles (where many others have failed) remains to be seen and I will let RTS aficionados be the ones to make the final judgment. My personal experience with such games is admittedly rather limited, but I do wonder how the depth of a PC menu system can be truly duplicated in a console version. It seems a herculean task but if they can pull it off it could mean more successful console RTSs in the future. Look for World in Conflict to made available for your PS3 and 360 later this year.








