Real War: Rogue States

Real War: Rogue States is a revamp of last year��s horrid Real War. Having reviewed that dog, I approached this version with more than a little dread. I��m still revolted by the marketing pimps who designed the box art; it takes real cojones to put the claim ��best-selling�� on this series, and the inclusion of the phrases ��rogue states,�� ��axis of evil,�� and ��terrorist forces�� seems opportunist, but as a game Real War makes some amends.

In RWRS, the dreaded ILA, that bizarre Russo-Islamic panglobal terror state, is back. How Rival Interactive ever came up with this pairing and maintained any credibility with its customers at the Department of Defense is beyond me. Anyhow, the ILA, after being eradicated ��last year,�� has somehow rebuilt (with bases and hardware all across the globe) and is challenging U.S. power again, to the great surprise of R. Lee Ermey, who reprises his role as U.S. briefing officer/heckler.

Premise aside, RWRS has its share of improvements. The A.I. is far superior to the original, which means it��s gone from pathetic to passable. This fix alone earns a half star since you can now actually play the game instead of spending all night trying to get your troops across a bridge or through the woods. There are assignable group-attack styles, such as simultaneous or concentrated, that allow for some strategy. A nice new feature, called predeployment orders, allows you to assign orders to units in the build queue. It��s very useful for defending your base. Just make a force, assign them to protect, and forget about them.

On the downside, RWRS plays too fast for its own good. Many units have unique abilities or specific opponents, but all too often, I found my special unit was toast long before I had the ability to select him, activate his function, and designate a target. Infantry are still afterthoughts��too small to control and too easy to kill, they��re best used to claim supply depots or man bunkers. Finally, the targeting A.I. is still weak, with units ignoring obvious threats or refusing to fire until manually targeted.

Despite the skewed worldview, RWRS has enough improvements to make it a passable RTS. It won��t set the world on fire, but you won��t feel like you wasted your money.

VERDICT (2.5): Enough fixes to make a horrid game tolerable��barely.

Copyright © 2003 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Computer Gaming World.