General George S. Patton is probably the most iconic figure in American military history, so if you’re going to play as commander of an army he’s a pretty good choice. In this, the latest of History branded titles from the folks at Maximum Games; players take on the role of the legendary General as he leads the US Third Army on missions to take back Paris and marches across the Western European Theatre in an epic campaign to end World War II.
The game is turn-based strategy with some RPG elements. Throughout each of the 21 missions you will be required to utilize a number of different units varying in individual skill, weaponry and armaments. American soldiers, snipers, tanks, planes, medics and a select few Allied units are all at your disposal to complete mission objectives. Objectives include stealthy infiltration, VIP-protection, sabotage and full out zone-clearing, butt-kicking war.
At the end of every mission your (living) units will be awarded with experience, this XP slowly increases your units overall stats making them better fighters. This is great because you become accustom to certain squads and certain units, making them feel less expendable and forcing you to really choose your movements wisely during missions. You’ll also earn Prestige Points every mission, which can be used to heal and recruit more units; they can also be spent on increasing the stats of your units beyond what is earned by the aforementioned XP system. Skill points are also obtained by successfully completing missions, you could also refer to these as “Patton Points” as they are specifically for upgrading Patton’s Skills. Patton’s Skills are divided into 6 categories: offense, defense, tactical, logistics, charisma and experience. Each skill has a maximum rating of 10 and provides specific stat boosts that apply to every unit in your army.
Most units have a specific set of skills beyond just carrying a weapon. These specialty units are vital to your success in certain missions, medics provide healing, engineers can repair vehicles and rangers have a longer-range vision that other units. I found myself in some situations where my tanks were destroyed and I failed to bring along a Bazooka unit (anti-tank weapon) and was forced to run, die and/or restart the mission. Vehicles are no exception to the rule either, you have access to aircraft that can provide ground fire, bombing or supply drops as well as tanks of varying offensive power, hit points and movement capability.
The game has five difficulty levels and the necessity for a strategic squad loadout will become even more apparent on the higher difficulties. On the lowest setting you will find your units taking minimal damage but producing 1 shot kills and dishing out massive damage to your enemies. As you’d imagine this is dialed down as you move up in difficulty. The enemy AI also becomes more aware of their surroundings, utilizing cover and straying from their predetermined path. All friendly and enemy units also provide a red (enemy) or green (friendly) cone in their line of sight, cross an enemy’s path and find yourself on the business end of an M1 Garand or vice versa. The one gripe I have with the auto-shot mechanism when you cross paths is that the game switches into somewhat of a ‘real-time moment’ where, if you time it right, you can knock off the attacking enemy before they have a chance to shoot twice. The problem with this is adjusting your sight to line up with the enemy is a tad too sensitive, making it very difficult to land a shot.
The main downfall of any console strategy game has always been the camera and controls, they can single handedly make or break the gameplay. For Legends of War it’s practically a selling feature, if anything I have too many different ways to move around the battlefield. Of course this isn’t a bad thing at all. You’re able to rotate, zoom in and out, and sweep across the sight line of a unit by using the left trigger. This makes navigating your units a breeze, although using the bumpers to switch between units becomes tiresome on missions that utilize your full 8-man squad. It’s worth noting though that this is a necessary evil that is pretty much the part of every console strategy game. The game does however do great when moving your soldiers around the battlefield, easily creating a path around obstacles and can basically get your men wherever they need to be. Vehicles on the other hand I often found getting stuck when you try to move them too close to rocks, buildings or trees (enemy and friendly units).
The game is aesthetically pleasing overall, graphics aren’t mind-blowing or genre defining but they don’t need to be. Smooth edges and clean lines with the right amount of detail in the units and environments all add up to great visuals. The audio is well done in the form of the epic score that fills your ears, but when you’re in missions it will randomly cut out and leave you in silence for a moment as if someone was rewinding the cassette waiting for it to restart. The phrases shouted out by units could also be dialed back; having to hear them scream they’re ready for battle every time I switch a unit does get annoying.
The game also offers a local multi-player mode. It’s setup exactly like the campaign but players start out with a pre-determined amount of prestige to spend as they wish on units and/or upgrades. Just like in single player vehicles are limited based on the map you’re playing.
Legends of War’s few faults don’t distract from the overall experience. The lengthy and in-depth campaign wrapped in a decent history lesson, makes for pretty darn good game that strategy fans will not only enjoy, but may learn from. Crank the music and speeches down and go for a walk in the shoes of an American hero.
History Legends of War: Patton is available today, November 20th, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC for $49.99 and is rated ‘T’ for teen.
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