The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming!
The expansion for World In Conflict, Soviet Assault, came out last week. You may remember that I was a fan of the original game, and I've been looking forward to the expansion since it was announced a year ago. Unfortunately, it's had a bit of a rocky evolution; it started out as a console version of the game, became both that and an expansion for the PC game, and then got held up when Ubisoft acquired Massive Entertainment. I assumed it was pretty much dead in the water after there was nothing new about it for several months.
When word began to trickle out that it was finally getting a release, I was a bit surprised, but needless to say I was optimistic. In retrospect though, the fact that the console portion had been dropped and that it had disappeared off the radar for so long probably should have been a warning sign.
The final product is, sad to say, rather lackluster. For $20, you get six new single-player missions which are integrated into the original WiC campaign. While the missions are up to the same standard as those in the original game, the small number makes the expansion feel a bit overpriced. This is only compounded by the fact that of the six maps for these missions, four of them use previously-released multiplayer maps. While I suspect that the reason they were released over the last year is because Massive's level designers finished the maps for Soviet Assault and figured they could release them for multiplayer when the fate of the expansion was up in the air, it does feel a little cheap.
The two new maps -- the Berlin Wall and a Norweigan base -- are pretty neat, and the missions that take place there are impressive. Storming West Berlin and leading an amphibious assault from ekranoplanes are pretty impressive things to be a part of, equal to the Seattle fighting and Cascade Falls missions in the original game. Unfortunately, the other maps are a bit boring (especially the two farmland-style ones), and really left me wishing there was a bit more heft to them.
As far as the story for the Soviet missions, I found it a tad bit cliched but it did manage to surprise me a bit at a few points; it wasn't as good as the story with the original campaign, but it had half as many missions, so that's not particularly surprising. I did like the fact that it tied in at least a little with the American campaign, and I wish it had actually done that a lot more.
Overall, Soviet Assault feels very much like something Massive felt like that had to just get out the door in order to recoup the development costs. If that's the case, it's unfortunate, and I hope they get the chance to do a real sequel in the future. At this point, it's hard to recommend paying $20 for the expansion, since as far as I can tell it doesn't give you any new vehicles or content other than the new single-player missions. At $10, I'd say it was worth it, and if you don't have the original game, I highly recommend picking up the combined pack from Steam for $30.
When word began to trickle out that it was finally getting a release, I was a bit surprised, but needless to say I was optimistic. In retrospect though, the fact that the console portion had been dropped and that it had disappeared off the radar for so long probably should have been a warning sign.
The final product is, sad to say, rather lackluster. For $20, you get six new single-player missions which are integrated into the original WiC campaign. While the missions are up to the same standard as those in the original game, the small number makes the expansion feel a bit overpriced. This is only compounded by the fact that of the six maps for these missions, four of them use previously-released multiplayer maps. While I suspect that the reason they were released over the last year is because Massive's level designers finished the maps for Soviet Assault and figured they could release them for multiplayer when the fate of the expansion was up in the air, it does feel a little cheap.
The two new maps -- the Berlin Wall and a Norweigan base -- are pretty neat, and the missions that take place there are impressive. Storming West Berlin and leading an amphibious assault from ekranoplanes are pretty impressive things to be a part of, equal to the Seattle fighting and Cascade Falls missions in the original game. Unfortunately, the other maps are a bit boring (especially the two farmland-style ones), and really left me wishing there was a bit more heft to them.
As far as the story for the Soviet missions, I found it a tad bit cliched but it did manage to surprise me a bit at a few points; it wasn't as good as the story with the original campaign, but it had half as many missions, so that's not particularly surprising. I did like the fact that it tied in at least a little with the American campaign, and I wish it had actually done that a lot more.
Overall, Soviet Assault feels very much like something Massive felt like that had to just get out the door in order to recoup the development costs. If that's the case, it's unfortunate, and I hope they get the chance to do a real sequel in the future. At this point, it's hard to recommend paying $20 for the expansion, since as far as I can tell it doesn't give you any new vehicles or content other than the new single-player missions. At $10, I'd say it was worth it, and if you don't have the original game, I highly recommend picking up the combined pack from Steam for $30.
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