Customer Reviews

Act of War: Direct Action (DVD)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This game is very good. Its bascially a continuation for all intent purposes of the Generals (zero hour) game. Of course Atari is a totally different producer of video games than EA and they manage to make this game somewhat better than generals zero hour....

If you like war games you'll love this one. The only problems seem to be techinical in nature (i.e. having the right specs to play, strong enough computer and video card specifically because game is a whooper of a system load).

Here's the summary:

There are 3 sides to choose 1- USA 2- USA counter terrorism TFT 3 - Consortium (terrorists). All 3 sides have unique abilities and different weapons...each side has a WMD - USA has wolverine nuke cruise missles, TFT has tactical battlefield nukes - artillery and terrorists have biological wmd.

The graphics and explosions are the main diff between this and generals as they are amazing and worth the price the game alone with all the fires and explosing and missle trails and such. The infantry is a key part of this game as well as they are much stronger than generals infantry fighters....

Bottom line though this game is amazing and is very fun. the atari.com forum is very insightful as well for game tips and information - pretty good support. The main disappointment is the air force of the USA - not as fun as in Generals zero hour - there's no spectre gunships or moab or fuel air bombs, carpet bombing is not as powerful nor is the A10 attacks.

Overall though the graphic displays and gameplay with the infantry is a lot of fun - the apache helicopters are also very strong in this game - maybe the strongest weapon out of all....

its fun though to say the very least

Act of War is a great addition to any PC gamer's library, especially if you like RTS games. It's very similar to C&C in terms of style -- modern weapons, tanks and infantry, terrorists and super weapons -- but it's got a great story and everything feels very realistic (that's how I feel about 24).

The graphics are incredibly detailed. Better than anything I've seen in a game before, especially the battles in the cities where your guys are hiding behind cars, trees, and buildings. You have missions that put you on the streets of San Francisco, and some that have you in Washington D.C. defending the White House. (I know because the game's like a DVD, complete with a DVD menu showing the 30+ chapters so you can jump to any place in the game. Don't have to worry about getting stuck on a mission!) On top of that, they have live actors in the cutscenes instead of just computer-generated stuff -- and most of the acting is even pretty decent. It feels like you're watching a movie.

I haven't finished playing through the whole thing but I'm looking forward to completing it so I can go online and find some 13 year old to kick my butt. Definitely a must-buy!

Comparing this game to Command and Conquer: Generals is like comparing stiff Lego's to the poseable GI Joe action figures with kung-fu grip. To start the modeling of the soldiers and vehicals is light years ahead of C&C. You can zoom in and see the detail on each soldier. This games graphics are top notch and have set a new bar for real time strategy games. The sound is amazing as each weapon is different and sounds like it's real counterpart. The first time I heard the sniper rifle go off I grinned ear to ear. If you are a fan of Tom Clancy or any writer in his genere you will be floored by the cut scenes and story ripped right from today's headlines. Real actors and gritty dialog makes you think you are watching and episode of 24. This game makes you feel for each lost soldier as you hear their screams. The enviroments are excellent as well. Holding off tanks as they cross the Golden Gate bridge was a refreshing change from the standard RTS environments. I have never had so much fun with an RTS. It kept me riveted. Addressing the complaint that there is no tutorial. Open up the instruction manual. It is all in black and white. Very easy to learn, difficult to master. As a game should be.

I love the Command and Conquer series of games, and so it was with great aplomb that I installed Act of War. With 5Gb of data, it must be an extensive game packed with missions... or so I thought.

The scenario is that an unknown terrorist faction has declared war on the Free World. An anti-terrorist team, run by America (obviously) is the world's only hope. You are the commander of the team. So far, so cheesy.

The gameplay is practically identical to Command and Conquer:
Take command of the usual assortment of land and air vehicles assigned to you, use the mouse and keyboard to issue move/attack/guard orders.

Command your troops to capture resources such as oil wells and banks, to earn money. Spend money on new units and upgrades. Destroy the enemy bases and/or achieve certain objectives to win.

Unlike Command and Conquer though, the balance of units is just poor. As soon as you get into the 3rd level or so you will realise that the American equipment is better than all the rest, and it is very, very hard for the enemy to win when you have great numbers of armoured units massed together.

You can win every level with a tank rush. Send 6-10 M1A2 tanks or 10+ Bradleys to the enemy's base(s) all at once with "Attack Move" and they will clear the base out, unless they run into large numbers of AT units or helicopters. In this case, send helicopters and soldiers to clear the defences out. Send tanks again. Repeat.

As it so happens, you can rush the enemy in less time than you could in C & C, because all units are airlifted to your construction yards extremely quickly.. as long as you have money and you keep ordering new armour to replace your losses, you can stream tanks to the enemy's base and they can't stop you, no matter what they have.

Why is this so? I forgot to mention that the enemy never builds replacement units to guard sensitive areas. If an area is guarded, and you kill the guard(s), that area will be left alone by the AI for the rest of the mission.

Talking of the AI, it is no improvement over C & C. Yeah, the enemy can capture your troops - that's a new one on me - but the troops aren't put in a POW camp, they just "disappear" off the map.

I should expect games nowadays to take advantage of processor power, and start giving me a challenge, but no such joy here. I had a base where there were no defences on one side - an oversight on my behalf- and the AI never took advantage of it, despite the fact the weakness was glaring. If I was to play a human on multiplayer I dare say my base would have been severely compromised.

The AI just sends random units from unit builder A to point B, all the time. Tanks are sent without air cover, troops don't hide in the bushes, and helicopters run straight into bases AA defences.

Don't get me wrong, the game is fun, maybe because I won all the time, but I completed it in 3 days. I didn't play it for that long every day, either. Therefore, I can't recommend this game to you for the single player option, it's a waste of money, but I expect multiplayer will be a hoot.

NB: I completed this game on the HARD level. I shudder to think how easy "easy" is :-)

I loved this game. The graphics are absolutley mind-blowing. You thought the detail in Warhammer 40K: Dawn of war was awesome, zoom in on one of the SHIELD units or any other unit for that matter. When you get some of the really big weapons, they will leave craters, ignite buildings, cause mass distruction. You have to see the effect of the wolverine cruise missle on surrounding buildings from the blast area. Awesome story line for the game and the missions are a blast also. The only issue I have with this game is the length, I beat it in 12 hours on Hard. I will still be playing it though in Skirmish mode and online. I love the game and wholeheartedly recommend buying it.

Honestly, this is one of the best RTS games I have played in...oh...years. Really I'd like to say something to whoever posted the comment about how the game doesn't come with a tutorial. If you played the game for more than FIVE minutes, and if you had the nessessary intelligence to understand that you are playing an RTS game, you wouldn't have such a problem, dear.

Good game. Go. Now. Purchase.

In short the graphics and sound are outstanding. But what makes this game remarkable is a great campaign that intermingles the game engine with FMV the like of which have not been seen since the first C&C except this has a much higher production value.

Also the unit balance is incredible I love how the infanry and tanks and planes all have a place in the game. I throughly enjoyed this game more then any other and I have played almost every RTS out there.

I really enjoyed C&C Generals and Zero Hour but I love this game.

This video game looks good for its type. The video sequences were well acted, and fit with the game. However, I wish that they skipped some of the long video sequences for more levels to the game!!!!!!!!!! I am not a serious gamer and I finished it in about 15 hours of play on the hard level on my first play through! 2 or 3 tries on a level and I was done.

There was also a sense that the game was rushed. I didn't get a feel that the "enemy" was a thinking one. I expected a lot more for $50 than what I got.

This game has good graphics, great cut scenes and the terrain and units are very well detailed, But it is not as great as some people are saying.

What i don't find good in this game is the movement of the units, they move very choppy, not as smooth as in Generals. The objects are too sharp and colors are bright. The game sometimes gets too loaded and movement slow down to a very unconfortable way, specially in latest mission which involve lot of units. My system is a athlon xp 3200+, 1 GB PC3200 memory, Sata drive and a 128MB FX5900XT GPU. All other games run very well and smooth in my system, but not this one.

I don't find the great deal about the explosion, and the burning buildings may look nice, but when it comes to blocking your sight, you will wish all that smoke to go away.

There are many units to command, so many that some won't never be used, and there are no hero Units with special abilities.

Air Units are another dissapoinment, you only can set a target for them and they will just fly accross the map to their target, and most of the time you will only see them on the minimap, so there in no tactics on it.

The game is very easy to learn, specially if you played others RTS games, and it's too easy win. For me this is another build lot of tanks and rush game, or worse, build lot of artillery units and win it more easely from far, specially the multi-task tank of TFT, which allow you to build lot to suicide drones and send them to the enemy base from anywhere in the map.

If this game were made on a engine like the one used in generals, it would had been much better and fun. i think they put to much effort in detailing the terrain instead of making this game fun to play.

Don't pay more than US$ 25.00 for this game, and have a high end 256MB Video Card in your PC.

With an arsenal based in actual modern inventory and well told plausible story line, this game is by far my favorite RTS ever. In game revenue is based off of oil derrick production as you play out the campaign in response to an international terrorist event. There is no limit to the your base building capabilities as a lot of current RTS have adopted. So building your resources, your weapons, and army to totally annihilate your enemy is still encouraged.