It all sounds very innovative, but how much of a difference does it make when it comes down to playing the game? Unfortunately, the answer comes down to which side you choose to play. Each commander has a specific personality and tactical preference and supposedly learns from their interaction with you as the campaign progresses, adapting their behaviour accordingly. As an additional feature as the game progresses, you have commanders at your disposal to whom you can assign units, resources and tasks, allowing you to concentrate on the parts of the game you enjoy. Once units are assigned a particular behaviour, they can allocate tasks internally, and respond to external events according to their orders. Named DirectIA(R), MASA consulted several researchers in cognitive science from highly rated laboratories in order to ensure that units in the field responded in an autonomous manner. MASA has also shored the game up with what's being touted as an extremely strong AI system. It's novel, and might remind you of the system used in X-COM, but rather than having your popularity assessed by your performance across worlds, it's done in the field as each mission pans out.
It's all about propaganda - the more popular you are, the more powerful machines you can command, and vice versa. In a nod to every war since Vietnam, the press have the eyes of the world focused on what you're doing, and the way the public views your actions directly affects your ability to function on the warfield. It starts to stray from the norm with the inclusion of media as a resource. The concept itself breaks no conventions - in each mission you establish your base, get enough of the right sorts of troops on the field, and blow the living hell out of the enemy in as many different ways as possible. Sound familiar? It should, it's been played a hundred times across the screens of computer game fanatics, but MASA hopes to add something new to avoid the evils of JURTSS (Just Another Real Time Strategy Syndrome - yes ok, I made that up). Unsurprisingly, there's an archenemy at play in the form of GHOST, a shadowy organisation dedicated to undermining political stability, causing conflict wherever necessary, and opposing the rise of ICP. Set in the near future, the current European peacekeeping forces have been disbanded to create the International Corps for Peace (ICP), tasked with combating strife and dissension across the world in the name of humanitarian aid. Conflict Zone is a real-time strategy title from the talented bosom of up and coming European developer MASA and uber-publisher, Ubi Soft.
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