Difficulty:

Very Easy

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Waste of time"

This review is for the single-player.

A game can hold my interest so long as I feel challenged. I've played WoW in the past so much that I've become allergic to gameplay that is failsafe. The moment anything starts to feel grind-ey and too easy is when I stop playing.

Like so many new games nowadays, DoWII has some crutches that bail you out in tough times, and remove all risk and intrigue from the gameplay. Even on the hardest difficulty, its braindead-easy to exploit all your heroes' abilities and streamroll your way through enemies. This makes it feel like nothing I'm doing in this game is important, its just a gravy train to artifical rewards... and again I'm very dismayed at how many franchises incorporate RPG elements into games where they don't belong.... just because they want to follow WoW's business model.

Players start to worry about distracting, meaningless crap such as "Achievements" (one of the most vapid, worthless concepts every introduced to PC gaming) while true RTS gameplay becomes a thing of the past.

I mean this game has so much going for it -- I absolutely love the lore, graphics, detail and game world.

The RPG stuff actually fits in really well with the lore. But they had no reason to provide the following crutches: 1) I would have a lot more fun if you were only given ONE (1) hero and some troops. I like the fact that if all your heroes die, you fail the mission and there's no reloading. However, the "retreat" panic button is a pathetic idea.

2) WHEN A FELLOW HERO DIES HE SHOULD REMAIN DEAD FOR THE REST OF THE MISSION. STOP THIS REVIVING ****

3) Enemies should chase you forever once you attack them, and not "lose aggro" and let you regroup. This never happens in WAR.

This would not make the game impossible or even frustrating -- it would force you to use your abilities to full advantage, and the game would be much more rewarding in the end. "Wargear" should be a sideshow and a byproduct, it shouldn't be the reason you play!

Feel a little desperation and the game has that much more meaning.

Why must they design games so a 4 year old with Down's syndrome can win while all of us old-school gamer end up quitting out of sheer boredom.