Desert Rats vs. Afrika Korps Preview

During the Second World War scores of epic battles were fought across the globe. We travel back to North Africa, where a long battle once raged between Britain's 7th Armored Division (lead by Monty) and Rommel's Afrika Korps. Desert Rats vs. Afrika Korps, a recently announced real-time strategy, covers the story of these two great North African campaigns during WWII. US publisher Encore Software offered us an opportunity to look over their latest build of the game.

That's right; park it in the shade there!

I hope someone is getting out of here alive.

Clinging to a historically accurate narrative, publisher Encore Software and development team Digital Reality have come up with a brand new real-time tactical game, offering exactly twenty missions for gamers to complete. Each assignment starts off with a quick briefing emphasizing the historical background crucial to a particular battle. Players will be going on reconnaissance and escort missions that must be completed with well-thought-out tactics. Apart from that, we also experienced full-scale invasions, wading through epic scenarios and some major battles. The positive aspect of this game is that everything is geared towards a fluid and straightforward gameplay, which allows players to focus their attention almost entirely on the fierce battles. Similar to titles like Sudden Strike and Ground Control, DR vs. AK shuns the classic RTS-style resource gathering routine and base construction. This allowed us to explore and enjoy the game freely without having to bother with conventional resources and base management just to acquire new units and structures. There are also a few turn-based elements incorporated into the gameplay for those who prefer a more subtle approach to combat tactics. Positioning units and launching a well-conceived battle plan is the only way you can achieve success in combat. Basically, when the game is paused, it is possible to issue three orders in a row. The rest of the game is, of course, real-time. The routine doesn't offer anything revolutionary, but it appears to be intuitive and quite gratifying for this type of RTS.

Seeing as there won't be any base-building and resources, you're probably wondering how you'll be able to nab more units during the game. First off, the player is allowed to purchase units before the mission commences via a simple point-based system (once again, this brings games like Sudden Strike to mind). In order to make things a bit easier, players are given a default choice of units before each mission, whereas new units can be gained through the aforementioned point system. Collecting points is essential if you wish to fetch additional and more powerful units. Extra points can be earned when players discover hidden objectives or complete a few secondary objectives, which are offered in (nearly) each of the missions.

The game contains over 70 different authentically-modeled units, ranging from infantry units, vehicles, planes, etc. Infantry is selected from of a total of eight unit types (medics, snipers, riflemen, and so on). To strengthen land units, players get to use seven types of vehicles, such as motorcycles, MP40s, Tigers (no, not the saber-toothed kind), Flak-88s, various transport and artillery units. The developers even threw in other well-known vehicles from WW II, such as the Churchill, the Sherman, (types of heavy tanks) and others. Using all these units in action won't be as easy as one might assume, given that each unit possesses different characteristics. Defense, firepower, range, and speed, are the key statistics you'll have to monitor during gameplay. Throughout the gameplay we had to consider where to position our units, according to their skills and abilities. Additionally, it's cool that most infantry units can enter vehicles such as tanks and trucks. But, they can also mount AA guns or fortify their positions in bunkers or trenches (err... I believe that's yet another Sudden Strike reminiscence). We also had to keep an eye on other statistics such as accuracy and range of infantry units. Basically, when your infantrymen enter vehicles, their accuracy and firing range will decrease somewhat, so you have to think carefully before putting them behind the wheel.

There are also certain features that might help you as you progress through the campaign. Units gain up to three levels of experience through battles, becoming increasingly efficient as they engage in more combat. Hero units greatly influence surrounding grunts and other inexperienced units. Evidently, it is sensible to keep a tight formation around combat veterans, so as to improve the overall performance of your army. Certain scenarios grant you a few nice bonuses, allowing you to transfer experienced units from one mission to another, thereby gaining some extra muscle for future objectives.

In one particular mission we had to clear out a small town from all enemy soldiers. Enemy reinforcements kept coming in from all sides. The AI seemed to be pretty vigilant and on the ball the whole time, forcing us to arrange troops cautiously before heading deeper into battle. Granted, the AI code is still far from perfect, but let's hope the developers can take care of this before the game hits retail. Back to the mission though; first off, we ordered scout-planes to recon the area for any hostiles; once we've determined the enemy's whereabouts, we sent a bunch of tanks into action, and after that, our brave lads from the infantry stormed in to finish the job. It was really fun watching various units in action; flamethrower-wielding troops torched everything in sight, grenadiers blew stuff up, and tanks flattened enemy troops and obstacles. All of the units working together (well, most of the time anyway) and fulfilling their specific roles added to the WW II ambiance as our army stood in the thick of battle. Later on, tanks were being repaired, medics were busy healing the wounded, and snipers were concealed and ready to check the area for any remaining enemy soldiers. The game's interface has every essential option and icon available in a simple interface - hold fire, respond fire, fire at will, etc. There were many things to do during each mission, so we were quite pleased with the inclusion of the pause feature (i.e. multiple orders were required practically all the time).