Faces of War

You won’t construct bases, produce units, or command vast forces in Ubisoft’s latest WWII real-time strategy Faces of War. No, this time, the Great War takes its cues from a completely different genre.

You're in charge of a single squad, and while you can direct units with traditional point and clicks, Faces of War’s unique Direct Control command allows you to move, aim and fire manually with the keyboard and mouse, much like you would in a first-person shooter. This feature works well with the game’s realistic physics engine, as line of sight, range and cover all play a role in how damage is dealt and received. However, you'll want to remap the controls from the arrow keys to the standard "WASD" movement keys you're familiar with. Also, due to the unpredictable AI, you can’t count on your troops to behave sensibly or shoot accurately without it.

Faces of War takes micro-management to a frustrating new level; you’ll constantly switch between your troops with Direct Control to prevent them from throwing grenades at each other. The result feels like a disjointed first-person shooter from a third-person perspective where you try to prevent the entire team from killing itself.

Although it adds depth to the gameplay, managing your squad’s inventory will drive you nuts. Looting the corpses of fallen comrades and foes will replenish ammo and supplies, but it’s easy to accidentally load up on ammunition or medkits that someone else sorely needed - and it's cumbersome to correct. War is messy in more ways than one, it seems.