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Moscow to Berlin: Red Siege

Score: 69%
ESRB: Teen
Publisher: Cinemaware Marquee
Developer: Digital Reality
Media: CD/1
Players: 1
Genre: Real-Time Strategy/ Simulation/ Online

Graphics & Sound:

Moscow to Berlin: Red Siege is a historical retracing of the steps that both Germany and Russia took as they ended their truces and Germany entered a third front during WWII. The problem with retracing history is that you need to have more than just accurate models to look at. They boast an improved A.I. system, but the changes made were not enough to take this game out of an ordinary RTS experience and long history lesson.

The vehicle models are decent enough, showing lots of personal touches when you get close enough. The infantry and officer models, however, leave much to desire, as they look very pixilated. The movement of all of the units is choppy, slow, and downright unresponsive at times. As a historical simulation, it would help if the vehicle and troop movement were a little more realistic.

There are plenty of slow, dark orchestral movements to lull you to sleep in this game. They are historically accurate, so they do their job bringing you into the time period. The weapons’ sound effects are arcade-like and simple. Don't expect anything moving out of the barrage of fire to inspire an immersive experience.


Gameplay:

Unit movement in Moscow to Berlin: Red Siege is no different than any other RTS; simply select the unit and then click where you want them to go. The movement is strictly linear, so you have to be careful moving them over long distances as land mines and natural obstacles can really throw the A.I. for a loop. You are playing out actual events from the earlier parts of WWII when Germany decided to end their alliance with Russia. Inside the manual, they show each scenario and the troop movement historically. The problem is that like most RTS’s, you can simply overwhelm with numbers and have no real attachment as to why each army moved the way that they did during that actual moment in history. Again, they mention the significance of each battle, but still not why they moved as they did. This is of particular importance to me because any turn of these battles could have led to Germany actually winning the war. There is a Single Player mode, and there is also a multiplayer mode that can be played on LAN or with someone on the internet. The game also has an encyclopedia full of all of the vehicles and their stats. This is more useful in multiplayer mode where you adjust your reinforcements for the battle you need to wage.

Difficulty:

There is no great level of difficulty to Moscow to Berlin: Red Siege. Easy is way too easy and Hard has a lot of really slow ping pong, back and forth battles. The Hard mode also seems to resort to just overwhelming you with more units a lot faster than the Easy mode.

Game Mechanics:

You have several great mechanics that could have been spotlighted even more. The problem that kept coming up was that the speed of the game made a lot of things impractical. The use of troops to boost the tanks’ responsiveness and speed was interesting, but as a whole, troops weren't of much use. Sure you could send them into buildings and bunkers, but enemy units made quick work of them there just as much as they would have out in the open. Being able to dig your troops and vehicle in for continuing onslaughts was interesting and useful. Vehicle interactions such as towing were also interesting, but the speed of the game didn't allow for much set up and planning.

With the history present in Moscow to Berlin: Red Siege, there was a lot of potential for a good lesson and a good game. I think that historical RTS's are particularly difficult to pull off, just because it takes a lot of planning to force similar events to unfold just as they did when they originally happened. You have to have that something extra to move the experience of the game along as well as the history. This is one game that is best left in history. There is a lot of work to be done to make this the title it boasts to be.


-WUMPUSJAGGER, GameVortex Communications
AKA Bryon Lloyd

Minimum System Requirements:



Minimum Requirements: P1GHz, 256MB RAM, 64MB 3D accelerator, 1.2GB free disk space.

Recommended Requirements: P1.4GHz, 512MB RAM, 128MB 3D accelerator.

 

Test System:



Windows XP Pro, 3.2 GHz P4HT CPU, 2 GHz Ram, 256 PCIE 16 ATI X300

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