The Great War: Western Front Hands-On – A New Look at War

wccftech.com:

I've been looking forward to The Great War: Western Front for a while now. Having first seen it at Gamescom last year, where I gave my initial impressions, I was also able to get hands-on towards the end of last year, and you can read my preview here. With us being on the doorstep, I was recently able to get another hands-on with the game, getting some last-minute time before the game's eventual review build and release.

Before we look at my hands-on with the game, I want to reiterate that the move to World War One is a compelling but undeniably challenging setting for any strategy game. Indeed, for most games. World War One was not the most mobile of wars, with so many massive battles costing tens of thousands of lives to gain less land than a football would travel from a Harry Kane Penalty.

I've already discussed the real-time strategy aspect of The Great War: Western Front, but where I was dropped in the second battle of Passchendaele (the final attack of the Third battle of Ypres), and solely on the offence, here I got to explore the real-time strategy elements in a more freeform approach. I was primarily on the offensive, with a quick bit of defence at one point, so not much has changed since that preview.

How you will develop as the game progresses, slowly expanding your armies at each point and researching along different paths, will massively impact you on the battlefield. In the early stages, even your trenches will be - for lack of a better term - rubbish. Later trench types will offer platforms to shoot from, more protection, and more. When you are taking to the real-time strategy, you'll often find yourself fighting on the same battlefield multiple times, and if you're attacking a hex from the same direction,