GC '07: Officers PC Impressions

LEIPZIG, Germany--The World War II strategy game market may well be slightly overloaded right now, but a new title from Russia will make its stake on the genre in Q1 2008. Officers takes place during the Second World War and puts you in the role of the US army as they take on the might of the Germans. We took a first look at the PC game with publisher Playlogic at this year's Leipzig Games Convention.

One of the big selling points for the game is set to be the 25km x 25km maps, which have resulted in rounds that can take hours to complete. There'll be no fog of war in the game, but your map will be restricted in terms of enemy intelligence, meaning that they could be just around the corner and you won't know it. You'll be able to command airborne units, jeeps, tanks, ambulances, and greyhounds, while on the German side you'll see tanks such as the Mach I, II, III, and IV.

The single-player game will feature seven large campaign levels that start in Normandy and lead you all the way into the heartland of Nazi Germany. The multiplayer portion of the game wasn't being shown in Leipzig, but we're promised online and LAN support for up to eight players. Obviously, the maps will be compressed quite considerably to prevent games from lasting forever, and in this mode you'll also be able to sample some of the German weapons and vehicles in action.

The game itself looks nice, with detailed damage models for the buildings and some neat shadow effects on background details such as trees and foliage. The full game promises famous historical cities that you can tear through on your missions, in addition to a change of seasons that moves from scorching summer to freezing snow. The troops themselves also display a good level of detail, although dropping them in vehicles will allow them to traverse the levels three times faster. The game is shaping up nicely and Playlogic should be able to show us more in the near future. With that in mind, we'll be able to bring you more details on the game soon.