It’s hardly the battle-ravaged scene you’d expect from the genre, but this is just the beginning. Massive has carefully chosen their environments to enable you to easily relate to them, so forget carefully laid-out military bases - here, you can expect to see battles raging around shopping centers and parking lots.

Our first objective, eliminating a sniper nestled in a nearby tower, gives a good demonstration of some of the special abilities available. Our APC vehicle draws near to the base before unloading its troops, who use the cover of a neatly chucked smoke grenade to dash across the unprotected gap, plant some explosives at the base of the tower and rush back to the armored security of the APC. A few seconds later, the explosives detonate and the tower crumbles, falling to one side before smashing into the ground and eliminating our sniper problem. It’s also the first example of the destructible scenery we bear witness to, with every building being a valid target for swift destruction.

Forgoing the traditional RTS habit of resource-collecting, this achievement swells our collection of credits, and with our new-found wealth, we purchase reinforcements to aid us in my next task: taking control of a gas station.

A few moments later, the transport aircraft swoops low over the camera and airdrops several large boxes of goodies via parachute. With our forces boosted by a few friendly tanks and a jeep or two, the convoy heads off.

Two circular “perimeter points” surround the gas station. Currently flagged up in red, these indicate that the enemy has control of the area - but after swiftly knocking out nearby forces and moving our own gang into the circle, we see a friendly green instead. Once we’ve taken the other point, control of the gas station command point is ours and our forces instantly start constructing fortifications - in this case machine-gun nests. With these built and our units dug in, a wave of enemy forces sent to try and recapture the gas station are swiftly dispatched.

Once this is accomplished, orders start coming thick and fast. Next, we move downtown, nab several other command points and begin the push towards the seafront. By now it’s become more than apparent that we’re far from alone on the map. Friendly allied forces are fighting furiously against enemy units in other sections of the town, adding to the feeling that we’re part of a much larger conflict. After one big push towards the beach (replete with amazing water), allied reinforcements arrive. However, it’s not long before trouble looms again and we’re called to reinforce a local shopping center, which is handy since we need to pick up a doorstop anyway.