Soldiers Heroes Of World War II PC

The past few years have seen no shortage of games based on World War II. Sometimes it seems as if every other product by a European developer is a WWII-based strategy game. Despite adding to an already saturated genre, Soldiers: Heroes of World War II distinguishes itself with attractive graphics and challenging gameplay, which is an interesting hybrid of strategy and action. The game's level of challenge often borders on being punishing, but fans of tactical strategy games will find that the effort is worth it.

Soldiers is in some ways reminiscent of the Commandos series, but the scale and nature of the battles you fight make it a little more comparable to a real-time version of this year's Silent Storm. You can control your troops in standard real-time strategy fashion by selecting, pointing, and clicking. The context-sensitive controls do a good job of letting you position troops smartly behind cover and corners, jump fences, or take over vehicles and fixed-gun emplacements. Where Soldiers distinguishes itself is that it lets you take direct control of individual soldiers or vehicles, using the mouse to aim weapons and the arrow keys to move and steer. While this is presented as an option, it is, in fact, a necessity, because directly controlled troops are infinitely more efficient than the ones you order around more indirectly.

One of the more impressive aspects of Soldiers is its gameplay engine. The fully 3D engine makes few compromises in presentation, and it features detailed unit models for both infantry and vehicles. Soldiers can run and crawl or hide inside of buildings. You'll see them unsling guns from their shoulders before firing and smoke cigarettes (with wispy puffs of smoke) when they are standing around. If they're garrisoned in a structure, you'll see them break the window before firing out from it. Tanks offer fully articulated turrets and cannons, and the game's dozens of vehicles are accurately modeled in speed, loadout, and weapon power.

Minimum:
 OS: Windows XP SP3
 Processor: 2 GHz Intel Dual Core Processor
 Memory: 2 GB RAM
 Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 8800/ATI Radeon HD 2600 (256MB minimum)
 DirectX «: 9.0c
 Hard Drive: 10 GB HD space
 Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible

Recommended:
 OS: Windows XP SP3/Vista/Windows 7
 Processor: 2.3 GHz Intel Quad Core Processor
 Memory: 3 GB RAM
 Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX460/ATI Radeon HD 5850 (512MB minimum)
 DirectX «: 9.0c
 Hard Drive: 10 GB HD space
 Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible