Conclusion
By now you’ll most likely be thinking that there’s little positive to say about WoS, but that’s not strictly true. It does feature a dynamic sun system, so the light conditions change as you progress through the day. I adjusted my tactics accordingly, but to be honest, it actually made little difference to the gameplay.
Also thrown in are variable weather conditions, which impact on your view distance. Again, with weapon ranges further than your field of view, all this did was to emphasise just how bad things are when the weather is clear.
Graphically, WoS looks okay. Unit animation is fluid enough and close in, each unit is nicely detailed. The terrain suffers from being a little samey, but that’s to be expected when you’re playing mainly in sandy environments. Even though the game is fully 3D, I couldn’t help but be reminded of early Total Annihilation games with the isometric view… Certainly, held up against the like of C+C Generals or DoW, Will of Steel falls a tad short on the graphical front, but what it has does the job for the game that it is.
So, in summing up, putting personal beliefs to one side, Will of Steel has some nice ideas that are poorly implemented. The voice control system would be a boon if they could just get it working! Sadly, it makes the game a frustrating experience and having to push the space bar to confirm each order means that just using the traditional mouse and keyboard interface is infinitely preferable.
All of that leaves WoS with very little to recommend it. It doesn’t break any new ground with the graphics or sound and the much vaunted ‘realism’, other than the real world setting, is actually unrealistic. All of that ignores the dubious morality of a game cashing in on a currently on-going conflict in which civilians and soldiers are still dying on a daily basis, but that last point is purely my own personal opinion and I’ll leave it up to you as to whether or not to partake in ‘Iraq 2003’.
Pros
Makes a bold attempt at total voice control…
Cons
… but fails, badly
Poor pathfinding
Units get stuck behind objects they should easily get over
Troop units difficult to tell apart
View distance shorter than weapon range
