Wargame: AirLand Battle Review

Knowing is more than half the battle. 

828. That's how many different units will be staring you down when you open up Wargame: AirLand Battle's cavernous armory to get your learn on. As I parsed this cornucopia of war tools, my smirk steadily widened into a stupid grin. Weapon classifications, armor profiles, fuel economy...it was a decadent statistical sundae, and my inner number-nerd was licking his chops. And yet I couldn't help but worry. Too many games mistake complexity for depth, only to become simplistic affairs once you understand their superficially intricate systems. But Wargame: AirLand Battle on PC is the rare strategy game where your knowledge or ignorance of its nuances can truly make or break a battle.

Don't worry if that sounds intimidating. That just means you're sane. “Steep” doesn't even begin to describe the grade of ALB's learning curve, and the basic tutorials do next to nothing to prep you for the climb. Thankfully, that armory is there to provide obsessively detailed info on the performance and specifications of every tank, jet, and helo in your arsenal, and helpful tooltips explain all the military jargon in layman's terms. So even if you don't know your SemActs from your AMRAAMs you'll still understand what all your tools do, and if you can't keep it all straight in your head, all that info is just a keystroke away when you're in battle.

And boy, will you ever be thankful for that because sending the wrong unit out for the task at hand leads to disaster nearly every time. This isn't a game of deathballs where sheer numbers can overcome poor tactics. It doesn't matter if you send three marines or 30 at that T-72 tank, they aren't scratching it unless they get close enough to hit it with their M72 anti-tank weapons, and even then they won't so much as dent the front armor. Of course, if they're garrisoned in a high enough building they could get a shot on its squishy top armor and get a kill. That's only the most basic expression of how understanding a unit's attributes informs your decision-making, though.
Radar-based anti-air weapons offer superior range and accuracy, but can be locked onto unerringly by anti-radar missiles, so a smart commander will take the radar offline when certain aircraft approach.

Sure, a full section of M1A1 Abrams tanks make for a highly versatile and efficient attack group, but you better have some serious supply vehicles ready when their gas tanks run dry because those suckers are thirsty, just like their real-life counterparts. You might think mounting your precious commandos in the most heavily armored troop transport you've got is the way to go, but a quick, stealthy one with superior operating range and off-road capabilities can often prove a better choice. Every last statistic matters and that has as much to do with map design as it does unit design. ALB delivers true, all-purpose war with everything from troops and tanks to bombers and heavy artillery, and the maps reflect that diversity. Open fields facilitate tank-based slugfests, while forests and residential sectors provide close-quarter combat opportunities. Roads play a vital role as well, allowing vehicles to travel much faster, but at the risk of passing dreadfully close to buildings that might house enemy infantry, lying in wait to spring an ambush. Line of sight is all realistically modeled, too, putting a premium on recon units who can spot targets in wide areas for more near-sighted allies. There's no fog in this war, and you can never assume that you're safe just because you don't see any enemies nearby. Good intel and even better positioning become your most potent weapons on these multi-faceted battlefields.
Though the level of fetishistic detail with which it simulates the applications of Cold War-era military hardware is its most impressive feat, it's the structure that envelopes the combat that allows all the minutiae to be relevant. Like European Escalation before it, ALB bucks most of the long-standing traditions of the RTS genre. Anyone who’s ever slung dice in a table-top game of Warhammer 40K will feel right at home with the pre-match deployment phase in which both sides spend a bulk of points fielding whatever assets they wish to engage with, no teching-up required. No need to concern yourself with perfectly executing build orders or establishing an economy: if your APM is in the double digits, or even if you don't have the first clue what “APM” stands for, this is a game for you.
Units are selected from a “deck” which you construct much like you would in any popular collectible card game. You can build multi-national NATO or Warsaw Pact decks, or focus on specific countries, regiments, or even time periods for a variety of bonuses. Not only is building themed decks fun, but it gives vehicles that may initially seem obsolete or outmatched a reason to be. True tacticians will love figuring out how to eke out wins against a cutting-edge joint NATO battle group with a legion of 60s-era Soviet tanks. And since every last unit is faithfully modeled after its historic counterpart, armies look and sound just as distinct as they play.

All around, presentation has taken a substantial step up from European Escalation. Better looking models and textures mixed with more advanced lighting and post-processing effects lend a dose of believability, if not much style to the proceedings. ALB’s workmanlike portrayal of European landscape is authentic, if a bit lifeless, though this seems fitting for an experience that aims to be a simulation of war rather than a glorification of it.
The only note that's truly missed here is the so-called dynamic campaign that takes troop deployment and management up to the national scale. You'll gain political favor, which you'll leverage into more battle groups, as well as support abilities like aerial recon or commando raids that sabotage enemy formations. It all works well enough, but each battle is limited to 20 minutes, in which the onus is on you to find and destroy enough enemy units to reach a point total. Not only does this rush the inherently methodical nature of the combat, but if you fail to reach the quota, combat is considered a draw, regardless of how many more points you have. Then you get to try again the next day with fewer starting forces and a higher quota to reach within the same limit. I love the idea of a macro-level conflict, but the micro-level tactics suffer so badly from the time constraint that you'll likely want to spend most of your time in skirmishes or the massive 10v10 multiplayer melees.