Broken Arrow

If you ask me, the conflict between Ukraine and Russia is alarmingly close, and that's why it felt a little strange to play a simulation of the major war that Europe is now preparing for. Tanks, jet planes, and artillery are just some of the things you get to command on the battlefield in this war strategy game. The whole thing takes place before the war in Ukraine, in a world prepared for confrontation between NATO and Russia. In the campaign, however, we get to play as both sides. It all kicks off when the US attacks a Russian convoy on its way to Kaliningrad Oblast, where Russia sees this as a declaration of war and invades the Baltic states. The whole thing is somewhat reminiscent of a modern version of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the midst of it all are mysterious shady characters fit to be in a Tom Clancy novel, and whether you play as the more limited American troops or the significantly more numerous Russian forces, you have many weapons at your disposal.

Two things that distinguish {Broken Arrow} are its campaign, which is more linear than its rivals on the market, and also its focus on customising individual weapon platforms. For example, you can replace the weapons on a tank or change the ammunition a helicopter carries. Almost all vehicle variants have options, allowing you to customise your army to your liking. Just like in {Warno} and {Regiment}, you build a force using different types of troops, and depending on the game mode, number of players, faction, and other factors, you will probably need more than one. Think of it as a deck of cards in {Hearthstone}, {Pokémon}, or {Gwent}. The right deck for the right job is the motto here too. In multiplayer mode and skirmish mode, this is crucial to your success, and it takes time to do it well, but to help you, there are ready-made packs to choose from so you can just start playing.

The effects of explosions sound and look great up close.

Guns emit smoke and fog, but vehicles can also release smoke grenades to make themselves less vulnerable on the battlefield.

If you want to create your own deck, there is a cap of 10,000 points, where each item you add to this deck costs a certain amount, and where troop customisations also play a role in this. If you want your vehicle to be able to use reactive armour, it costs extra points, and it also makes the vehicle you have changed the armour on more expensive during the matches themselves, which means that it is good to have a balance between more expensive and cheaper options. Sometimes the basic version of a tank is enough, and sometimes it may be worth giving it extra protection, and this is important to consider based on what the situation on the battlefield requires. If you are satisfied with your strength, you can easily save these and edit them afterwards. Whether you are new to this or experienced, it is good to familiarise yourself with the system, as the entire economy and what you can fight with is determined by your choices regarding the composition of your combat groups.

The same deck of cards in this game can work completely differently thanks to the ability to customise individual troop types. You may want one of your armoured vehicles to have anti-aircraft weapons instead of cannons to combat vehicles, and to really get a grip on what you need and should have, you have to play. Unfortunately, neither the training mode nor the campaign helps with this. In terms of gameplay, {Broken Arrow} is a game about movement, a bit like {Regiments} crossed with {World in Conflict} without losing its gameplay depth or scale. Your individual troops can do significantly more things with different commands than their counterparts in the other titles mentioned. My time playing this showed that movement is significantly more important than in the slightly slower {Warno}, but if you want more detailed control in these types of games, this is a sensible option.

Pilots and instrument panels in both helicopters and aeroplanes can be seen by looking through the windows of the vehicles.

The focus on detailed control does not mean that there is no bigger picture. You are still competing for areas on large worlds, where to win, you also need to understand the asymmetry between the factions. The Russian forces are more numerous and need to move more actively and attack with numerical superiority, and they are also useful in ambushes thanks to their mobility. NATO-led forces need to be positioned correctly and use their entire high-tech arsenal to combat the quantitative superiority of Russian forces. This does not mean that all Russian weapon systems are useless, only that they have access to more older and cheaper options. Both sides also have access to jet aircraft, which are extremely powerful in this game. For the United States, they are necessary so that you can cope with the constant numerical disadvantage, however, it requires a lot of micromanagement on your part to get it right, because their ability to take out armoured vehicles and other targets with missiles and bombs should not be underestimated. In addition to this, you also need to ensure that ammunition and other supplies are transported to your troops.

One aspect of this game reminds me of {Company of Heroes}, and that is the ability to rotate your troops. In {Broken Arrow}, you can ask your troops to flee the map to get some of the currency you then use to call in new troops. This is at the heart of the whole experience. In {Company of Heroes}, troops can run back to your base and regain health, however, the concept of rotating forces is the same, albeit more flexible, in {Broken Arrow}. To facilitate new troop selections, you have access to scouts. An important aspect of the gameplay is to constantly keep an eye on the enemy, rotate out unnecessary forces, and bring in vehicles and/or soldiers that are strong against what the enemy has. It's a well-functioning system and makes scouts important pieces to always have on the battlefield. In other strategy games, they tend to be workers or weak soldiers at the beginning of the game, but in {Broken Arrow}, they are specialised infantry groups or vehicle types that you must have at hand if you want to emerge victorious from the skirmishes.

Building, saving, and editing your strengths will be an important aspect of mastering this game.

When you start a match, you can plan your strategies and draw on the map with your allies before the skirmish begins.

I think the campaign and skirmish mode feel good and familiar, similar to other games, however, it can be a bit much to take in if you are completely new to the game. The training mission before the campaign starts lets you try out what aircraft, helicopters, vehicles, and soldiers do in small, limited situations, yet it doesn't help you understand the dynamics of normal battlefields, and the campaign isn't really designed to train you for multiplayer mode, for better or worse. Rather, the campaign consists of specialised scenarios that test your skills in different ways, which I appreciate quite a lot. A new player will probably find this very difficult to handle initially, as the computer-controlled opponents cheat and throw a lot at you at once. Some missions require a more advanced understanding of the gameplay, which may force you to replay the level several times. At the same time, almost all missions are well worth replaying and testing new strategies on.

I clocked the campaign at around 20-30 hours, but it's probably possible to finish it faster if you rush through it. Unfortunately, the length of individual missions comes with a problem for those who like to play against computer-controlled opponents. You cannot save in single-player mode against the computer, but must complete the game level or quit and start over from the beginning. It can sometimes take up to an hour to complete a skirmish or campaign mission, which in my opinion makes this a strange thing not to have from the start. Unfortunately, this is not entirely uncommon in this niche of games, as several of its competitors have also not offered save modes.

The number of levels is perfectly acceptable for this type of game.

If you can accept that there is no system for saving in the middle of missions, you get a decent campaign - despite weak voice acting - with opportunities to customise your troops and lots of game levels to fight on. Visually, this is one of the genre's most attractive and detailed games. Although {Warno} is attractive, it's incredibly cool to be able to get close to an aircraft cockpit with the camera and see both the pilots and the illuminated instrument panels. Each vehicle also looks detailed and realistic, but it's a bit of a shame that the same level of detail isn't present when, for example, soldiers take cover in buildings. You can't see individual soldiers in the building, and there are over three hundred different types of infantry units, armoured vehicles, aircraft, helicopters, and more. All of the ones I've examined closely look good. This is accompanied by a technically competent soundscape, where explosions, vehicles, aircraft, and other effects sound good. It's extremely rare for the soundscape to become uneven or too chaotic to cause problems for you as a player, but the title does also offer a wealth of settings for sound, graphics, performance, and user interface to help personalise the experience, plus you can even customise which keys on the keyboard do what, if necessary.

Some things are marked on the map to make it easier for you to know where to go.

An early mission in the campaign allows you to escort allied armoured vehicles along a motorway.

{Broken Arrow} is a competent strategy game with a relatively long campaign, and it has a robust multiplayer mode with a varied set of levels. My criticism is mainly based on the fact that the single-player mode completely lacks the ability to save, cheating computer opponents, and at times, deplorable voice acting. The solution to the problems with the computer opposition is to give us more options in how it works and how difficult it should be, but it remains to be seen whether this will be the case and whether a save system will be implemented. Otherwise, it's a technically-broad, visually-impressive game with good sound and a complex gameplay structure. It offers an acceptable number of battlefields and just over three hundred detailed troop types, whether you play as Russia or the United States, and there is a lot to be gained on both sides. Although this takes place in the near future, drones are absent and sea-based forces are also missing, meaning the focus is entirely on conventional land and air forces. If you enjoyed {Warno}, {European Escalation}, or {Regiments}, this is worth your time.

Replacing the weapon systems on many of the vehicles is no problem if you are not satisfied with the basic range.

The number of options in the menus is definitely acceptable. You can customise a wide range of settings as needed.