Wargame: European Escalation (Follow up)

[Raven800]

Well, it's been 4 days since Wargame has officially hit the market, and I must say that there have been a few changes since playing the Beta version.

Unfortunately I made one mistake that no game reviewer should ever make; I reviewed the Beta as if it was the final product of the game and as a result praised it to high heaven. That's not to say that the game has worsened in anyway, however there are a few changes that have been made to this game that can be a bit frustrating. For those of you who haven't read my previous review, you can check it out here as I'm not going to be going over everything that was mentioned in my first review for the sake of saving you, the reader, some time should you have already read through it. That said, let's get started...

To go over the changes that have been made since the Beta release, let's start with the "exp" system. The exp system has changed dramatically since the beta. In the beta you were rewarded for participation as well as any additional exp you earned through battles. This would normally result in the players earning at least 1,000 points or more of exp. As this was the Beta, I suppose this was meant to quickly unlock more and more units for your deck so that you can try out each one and get a better understanding of what units are better than others (an example of this was when I first started playing and foolishly spent all my stars on the U.S armory when France and the U.K. had seemingly better armaments than some of the ones I had). Since the release, the amount of exp earned has decreased exponentially as now players only earn maybe 120-140 exp or more per battle if they win, and about 84-95 exp if they loose. For those who've been playing the beta, like myself, and have been spoiled by it's high exp gain only to be reset back to square one, this can be a bit frustrating. To new players who were looking forward to the online gaming, this could also be frustrating as well, but fear not as the game developers have something to counter-act this small problem...sort of...

With the reduction of exp earned per battle, Eugen Systems decided to have Solo play reward players with command stars for completing objectives, factoring an average of 12-14 stars per mission. That's nice, however this doesn't mean that this game is going to give you "free money" as these are stars that you have to work for to earn. Each solo mission has the players go through different scenarios as each faction based on historical events during the cold war. These missions, however, are very unforgiving and can brutally destroy you if you haven't a clue of what's going on, and unlike multiplayer where you're rewarded exp for participation Solo play is all or nothing. In order to earn command stars from Solo play you must complete mission objectives, and then complete the mission to receive these stars. There are secondary objectives that you can choose to complete to score bonus stars, but if you fail the mission you will loose everything, and unless you save your game often, you're going to have to spend another hour trying it all over again. Now, when I said that the game can brutally destroy you, keep in mind that this isn't entirely true, however it is still very difficult. As you progress through each scenario, your units gain experience and can be carried over from the previous mission of the same scenario, meaning that your units can be more combat effective for the next mission. This also means that if you loose any of these units, you will be left a few units short when you start your next mission. For the most part, the conflict between East and West Germany is more of a tutorial segment, however, after a few missions the game stops holding your hand and starts throwing books at you to see what you've learned. This isn't necessarily a "bad" mechanic, but for anyone who's just starting out, this can get a bit frustrating when you loose all your AT soldiers and are left with light tanks that can't put a dent in the heavy tanks that will be rushing your front line in the next mission. So take caution when sending your tanks into an urban environment or having your scout crawling around in an uncharted forest.

Lastly I have to point out that even though in my last review I stated "It's not about zerg rushing your enemy, but more so how well you can use your units" I must punch myself in the face for saying it mainly because I should have known better than to think that someone who is not above exploitation wouldn't buy this game and find out how they could win using rather cheap tactics that I hope will be patched in the near future. Yes, unfortunately there are moments where you'll be setting up a well balanced team when suddenly the match starts and your methodical efforts have been thrown overboard by the enemy opponents just sending in a massive wave of gunships or light tanks backed with supply vehicles that repair their units even when they're being actively engaged. A very disappointing display as this often leads to well-undeserved trash talk. It's one thing to stage a blitzkrieg as this is a legitamate tactic, but having supply vehicles repairing units like Tanks and IFV's while they're engaged or being engaged is unacceptable in my opinion. I've heard of making battlefield repairs, but I've never seen an engineer repairing an active Sheridan Tank while it was getting shelled by 4 T-80's. It's a bit insulting to say the least, but luckily I've made friends with one of the assistant designers of the game during Beta gaming, so I'm hoping to shoot some suggestions at him that might make the game a bit more fair and understandable.

Though the gameplay itself still hasn't changed, anyone who still wishes to buy this game may want to go in armed with a notepad and pen ready so that they can make a list of names of people who use these exploitable tactics and avoid playing with them as much as possible so that they may experience the game for what it was meant to be. I still like this game, even with it's exploits, and I hope Eugen Systems irons out some of these dents so that future players can enjoy it.

"Wargame: European Escalation" Is available on Steam and now available for download at Amazon.com
Also be sure to stay updated at wargame-ee.com

[=VG= SemlerPDX]

Excellent follow up! I hope they continue to improve on the game and address those issues.