There are also smaller-scale gameplay modes available which disable the class-based features in favor of more conventional styles, so the game has enough flexibility to keep things interesting. The developers missed a big opportunity here however, as the co-operative play Ground Control 2 had is suspiciously absent in World in Conflict – AI players can be added to any multiplayer map for some more generalized co-operative action, but it’s a bummer not to be able to romp through the campaign with a friend.

If there’s one undeniable boon to World in Conflict however, it’s that this is a bloody beautiful game. The complete 3D free-roaming camera lets you get as high or low as you want, making it fortunate that everything looks so pretty up close. While the textures in some respects look a bit blurry or undetailed in places, this is because there is simply so much high-poly content in a given area that they had to scale things back somewhere. The physics-driven environment maintains a brutal appearance, with tanks rolling through streets shoving aside tattered, flaming wreckage and reacting realistically to the terrain, and it’s especially impressive to see another game where the weapon projectiles seem to be governed by world physics rather than blind number-crunching (ala Company of Heroes in some instances). Just be prepared to bring a lot of horsepower to the table; while the main test PC with a Radeon X1800 handled the game fine on high detail in DX9 mode, the DX10 rendering on other properly-equipped computers delivers a hefty framerate impact unless the system was overpowered, although the visual enhancements make it almost worth it.

World in Conflict is a game very much worth purchasing. You don’t even need to be a Ground Control buff to truly enjoy it, as the helpful tutorials and gradual difficulty curve will help ramp you right into the campaign, just in time to get deep into the thick of things in the versatile multiplayer engine. This one is a certified winner.