Wargasm (PC)

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From a game-playing standpoint, Wargasm is certainly one of the more demanding combat simulations available today, requiring intense concentration, physical as well as mental dexterity, and incredible patience to emerge victorious. All too often, the typical battle devolves into a brutal slugfest, with you haphazardly jumping around from unit to unit attempting to engage and destroy the enemy instead of making the best use of your available forces. And given the nature and intensity of the conflict, the incorporation of multiple points of view within a vehicle leads to a situation known as "work overload," whereby you have to wear too many hats and fulfill far too many functions to succeed.

Furthermore, from a ground-level perspective, it isn't always clear when you are driving the vehicle and when you are operating its guns. In retrospect, it probably would've made more sense to incorporate all of the vehicular functions within a singular crew station, thereby alleviating the need to constantly shift back and forth between the crew positions and removing some of the guesswork as to what system is, in fact, being operated. I was also stymied by some of the weaponry's effects. For instance, an infantryman can raze barbed-wire obstacles with sweeping machinegun fire, but a tank isn't able to destroy a simple tank trap or dragon's teeth with its cannon.

And then there's the user interface. For some reason, you are limited to using one of five predefined controller sets, unable to remap or reconfigure the individual key and joystick commands as in the typical 3D shooter. Again, this leads to some confusing situations where it isn't always clear which key or joystick command is used to aim and fire the weaponry and which controls movement. Furthermore, to move from unit to unit, you must return to the tactical map, locate the unit you wish to control, then double-click on it, a tedious procedure that has a pronounced impact on gameplay and leads to more confusion. I'm not sure exactly why the designers opted to go with this method for commanding and controlling, but suffice it to say the end result leaves a lot to be desired.

So, while Wargasm manages to capture the intensity and flavor of tactical-level firefights, and marks the debut of Digital Image Design's especially impressive 3-Dream graphics technology, the clumsy interface and frenetic gameplay undermine what could have been an extraordinary real-time wargame.

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