War Leaders: Clash of Nations E3 2005 Preshow Report

CDV Software has seen to it that there won't be any shortage of World War II strategy games in the foreseeable future. While developer Enigma Software's War Leaders: Clash of Nations could be easily lumped in with all the other games in this genre, it actually aims to take a slightly different approach to the notion of WWII strategy games, adding a simlike management element to the whole package and beefing up the overall scope of what you'll be doing.

The basics of any WWII strategy game are found in War Leaders. You'll be in control of the seven most relevant factions from the period (and you'll encounter many other factions on top of them), and you'll take them to war in 18 historical battles, on 80 different battlefields, and three single-player modes. You'll find more than 200 historically accurate units as well as 25 different categories, all of which are rendered with highly detailed 3D graphics.

However, what sets Clash of Nations apart from the typical real-time strategy game is its management components. The overall point of the game is to win the war for your faction and its allies, and you'll do this by taking on the role of a war leader. During this portion of the game, you'll be directly in control of all the highest-level decisions and orders that are made. You'll deal with all matters related to diplomacy, military research, espionage, economics, and resource management. The RTS portion of the game comes into play when engaging in the battles during the management section. So, in effect, you will be in total control of every aspect of war.

CDV is also highly touting War Leaders' visuals, which it feels will be outstanding for the genre. All battles will take place in large-scale landscape scenarios and cities, with realistic particle effects and physics for explosions, high polygon counts on units and constructions, and fully 3D terrain, which units will follow the curves of as they travel. Heights of terrain will affect strategy during gameplay, and explosions will cause deformities, which will change the overall landscape.

There is currently no official release date for War Leaders: Clash of Nations. We'll bring you more on the game soon.