Rock Paper Scissors

Choose your weapons wisely

Warzone seems to try very hard to play the "rock, paper, scissors" counter game that made Starcraft such a hit. Cannons are better against tanks, machineguns are better against cyborgs, rockets are better against base structures etc. Unfortunately, there are SO many choices, I think the game falls a little short of it's true potential as a strategy game.

Base defenses are eventually quite potent, but early defenses are somewhat weak. This lends to a "rush" mentality, as it takes quite a long time to build units, and quite a bit of money too. Fortunately, computer opponents are easily hemmed in (more on that in a bit), but I can easily see some frustrating games where both human opponents have a quick bloody battle with lots of early game units.

What about flyers?

I never quite figured out the optimum weapons to use for flyers. However, VTOL's can be out-fitted with most ground weapons in addition to some special bombs. The bombing is where they really shine; a good fleet of bombers can quickly punch a hole through a defensive line.

VTOLs on an air-strike

VTOLs re-arming after the strike

I was pleased to find out that this is nicely balanced by pretty long reloading times, and very potent anti-air defenses. This leads to some tough choices and fun strategy as you struggle with suiciding precious ground troops in a raid to take out AA defenses so the rest of your land army can storm through the enemy's base.

Morale and Leadership

In Warzone, the age old promise of giving units morale based on experience is finally delivered. Your units will gain additional accuracy, pathfinding, and some other minor combat effects as they increase in experience. This experience is measured directly in how many things the individual unit has destroyed (enemy units, buildings, and surrounding shrubbery). In the single player missions, your surviving units follow you -so keeping a force alive after combat, and repairing them, becomes of increasing importance.

Also, there is a special "leader" unit you can create by adding the leader turret. It paints targets, and all units assigned to it fire at the target the leader is painting. In addition, it can act as a factory delivery point, and is a good spotter for artillery vehicles.

It's all about tanks

Still, despite good intentions and all the bells and whistles, the combat system falls apart when it comes to tracked and hovercraft vehicles. Unlike some other more balanced games where a proper counter and base defense will kill unlimited amounts of a single unit, in Warzone a sufficient amount of tanks will wipe through ANYTHING. Admittedly, you still need different kinds of tanks … but I find it disturbing that the other unit classes (infantry, airpower, and artillery) can be negated by one vehicle type.

I thought cyborgs would help, but they die too quickly and fire too slowly. Their cost doesn't seem justified in comparison to near-equivalent costing tanks with superior firepower, armor, and speed.