Axis and Allies is a nice twist in the current World War II game fad. Rather than creating yet another first person shooter in the roster of World War II games, developer TimeGate created something that’s actually quite innovative and refreshing: a strategy game based partially off of the board games Risk.
There are three ways to play Axis and Allies: Campaign, World War II and skirmish mode. World War II mode, of course, is based off the actual war, while skirmish is more random and has more freedom. In either case, you pick one of five armies, and one general to play as. The countries, if you can’t guess, are: U.S.A., Britain, Russia (which make up the Allies) Germany and Japan (which make up the Axis Powers). Generals for each faction are nothing more than figure heads for your army, and decide which power-ups you will be able to access during battle, while different armies will have a different look and access to different units. Generals include: General Eisenhower, General Patton, Admiral Yamamoto, Field Marshal Rommel and more. Once you choose your army and general, you are placed on the world map. Depending on which mode you choose to play, either you will be given a territory (World War II and Campaign mode) or you can choose a territory.
"Axis and Allies is a great new approach to the tired World War II fad in gaming."
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The world map doesn’t account for much playing. It’s basically where you do all your planning, upgrades, and army building, and is for reference on who controls what parts of the world. Armies take turns on the map, and they are allowed to do anything in their turn that they wish, or just skip it entirely. During your turn, you may build armies (Infantry, Mechanized, and Armors, with an air support version of each of those three), and move them within one territory of where their turn began. Also, you are able to purchase world upgrades, which are much like the upgrades you can buy during a battle, but the difference between those is that once purchased on the world map, all battles you engage in from that point on will automatically have that upgrade researched. It also affects the chance you will win quick resolve battle, which is the instant alternative to an RTS battle between two armies.
RTS battles in Axis and Allies are very akin to Kohan II: Kings of War, TimeGate’s previous strategy game, in where you have a main settlement, squads of soldiers, and supply zones that replenish the lost soldiers in squads. The settlement begins as a Corps HQ, which is the means for building the construction trucks that build other buildings. Depending on the armies you have in the territory you start and RTS battle in, your access to some units will change. Having just infantry in the battle you start, will only allow you to build an Infantry Division HQ. Having a Mechanize army will allow you to not only build infantry, but also a Mechanized Division HQ. Armored armies will allow you to build the previous HQ divisions, plus an Armor Division HQ. All other buildings are able to be built, so long as you have the money to do so. Other buildings include: motor pools, supply depots and the like. Some buildings supply resources, while some host upgrades, and some supply both.
All units come in squads that begin as a leader unit, but as they stay in the supply zone, they fill out the ranks of their regiment. This goes for infantry as well as mechanized and armor units. When a unit of the regiment dies, the regiment looses that man until they can get a replacement in a supply zone. A regiment will never totally be useless until ever single unit dies. Regiments also have morale, which effect how well they fight, and if they even stay to fight. Airborne units are used in a manner where you build an airfield and target things for them to do, like drop paratroopers or carpet bomb the hell out of a building, so they don’t come in regiments. Units will also gain experience as they battle, eventually becoming tough as nails against even a regiment tailored to slaughter them. There is also the use of terrain in defensive manners, as well as entrenching units (letting them sit still for a while) and using different regiment formations. Mastering the use of terrain and knowing when and how to entrench and change formations is a key to any swift victory.
Money is one of three resources, but it’s the only one you are able to stockpile. It’s generated by captured towns and cities, and any HQ buildings. It’s required to build all units and upgrades, to keep a close eye on it. There are two non-storable resources: ammunition and oil. Different units will require different amounts of each, depending on how much ammo or oil they use. If you are unable to satisfy your army’s needs, then you begin to pay money out of your pocket to “buy” what you can’t supply. This is very important, as creating more units than you can keep supplied will eventually bankrupt you go in to a negative generation of money, forcing you to drop units so you can fix your economy. The other two resources are essentially building caps: unit cap and building cap. All units will require some amount of the unit cap resource, but not all buildings will require a building cap resource.
Finally, generals in Axis and Allies determine what power-ups you will have access to. Power-ups are useable when you have enough battle experience (experience that your army’s individual regiments share with you) and it’s cool down timer. Power-ups include things like: Carpet bombing, British Sabotage, Kamikaze, Espionage, Atomic Bomb, V Weapon, Secret Agent and an assortment of other abilities. Most abilities prove to be extremely useful when in a pinch, or just harassing your enemy in general.
"The sound and music in Axis and Allies is nothing short of astonishing."
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The graphics are superb. The interface is plain, but appropriate, and the majority of the graphics are very clean and detailed. Even the infantry, while being extremely tiny, show much detail when zoomed in on. The weather isn’t slopped on to the maps, which helps since most of the units are small and difficult to see. The battle animations are very fluid and combat is actually very fun to watch. My only problem with the graphics is that sometimes you can have problems telling which units are yours or not in a large battle. The large squad emblems help, but those get detached sometimes during battle. It’s very frustrating when that happens especially when you’re trying to get the regiment of infantry from the front of the battle (in a battle where both you and the enemy are using infantry) to a supply zone.
The sound and music in Axis and Allies is nothing short of astonishing. The music is great, very cinematic and almost gives off the persona of a movie at points. It’s very well composed, and while very climactic, it’s not distracting. The voice acting in this game is some of the best I’ve heard in a strategy game. The Germans actually spoke German. Units actually sounded believable, and it greatly enhanced the atmosphere in the game. The sound effects were nicely done. Nothing was over emphasized and it didn’t sound like battles were occurring two feet away. I can’t even find anything to complain about, the music, sound and voice acting in Axis and Allies is just top notch.
Final Thoughts
Axis and Allies is a great new approach to the tired World War II fad in gaming. The graphics and sound, as well as the fun gameplay, are reason enough to try it, but, let you be warned: this is a strategy game to play over a few hours, rather than a single hour. In a way, it brings World War II’s length to life on your computer. I recommend this game to anyone who enjoys RTS games and is interested in World War II history.
