For the most part, Order of War is sound at the tactical level, especially in the campaign. If you can land paratroopers into an enemy artillery squad you can make your life easier. Flanking works best if you can keep the front distracted. You often have precious few air strikes, so spend them wisely. If the missions weren’t so repetitive in structure, this tactical sub-game might be enough to recommend it. But with the challenges being so similar from mission to mission, scenario to scenario, campaign to campaign you can get your fill of WW2 Army School pretty quickly

Order of War shows flashes of genius. A couple of small issues aside, there is never much doubt about where you need to go or which of your troops are in trouble. There’s no fog of war – a risky choice - so your mind is focused on what you need to do, not on what surprises are just over the next hill. The 3D maps work well for clarifying what patch of land will prove useful for that critical last stand. Some obviously talented people worked on this game. But there needs to be a little more creativity in the scenario and map design. The lack of creativity is probably the biggest black mark here. As good as the game looks, this is a setting that is so familiar that you can’t just give the player a bunch of 20 minute tank battles and call it a day. Not when Relic has experimented with resource capture zones and static defenses in Company of Heroes.

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