Released on April 17th, Wargame: Red Dragon is the third installment of the Wargame series developed by Eugen Systems and Published by Focus Home Interactive. Featuring a ridiculous number of units and what may be the largest number of playable teams ever available in an RTS, Wargame: Red Dragon aims to push the envelope in every way possible across air, land, and now sea.
If you’re a fan of RTS games you may already be familiar with the Wargame series. Set in the not too distant past, Wargame: Red Dragon looks to rewrite the history of the Cold War focusing on the 1970s to early 1990s. An interesting single player campaign takes you through the Cold War from numerous points of view that will surely appeal to war and history buffs alike.
If you’re familiar with the Wargame series already you likely know that the series is known for having a massive amount of playable units. Wargame: Red Dragon is no different here, in fact the developers managed to almost double their playable unit count from 750 in Wargame: Airland Battle to over 1450 in Wargame: Red Dragon! Add in an additional 5 nations on top of the previous 12 and you’ve got a recipe for some seriously intricate battle planning.
Further expanding upon the previous game, Wargame: Red Dragon now features sea based combat complete with Warships and other amphibious units to round out your army. During our playthrough we did experience a few strange warship interactions but overall the expansion to a 3rd field of battle was a very welcome addition to an already phenomenal series. There’s something uniquely gratifying about shooting things with a giant boat from far away.
Multiplayer battles can range in scope from tiny 1 vs 1 battles to full on 10 vs 10 mayhem. Consider for a moment that it’s possible to have a 10 vs 10 battle with almost every player being able to choose a different nation and units to play as, that’s insanely epic. Each of the over 1450 units are highly detailed and feature true to life statistics including armament types and sizes. It’s almost as if Eugen Systems set out to build a modern war encyclopedia and once they were finished built a game around it. We’re talking about a crazy level of detail here.
Powered by the IRISZOOM Engine v4, Wargame: Red Dragon’s graphics are presented at a photo realistic quality. Maps can range from small to up to 150km in size, with the player being able to seamlessly zoom all the way in or out. The impressive IRISZOOM Engine v4 allows players to get right in the action as they command their forces in battle. Wargame: Red Dragon may be the best looking RTS we’ve ever come across on any platform. It’s impressive to find that lag was virtually undetectable on our upper mid-range test system.
Players unfamiliar with the Wargame series will definitely want to check out the tutorials and take their time with learning the game as there is a lot to learn by this point. In some ways Wargame: Red Dragon is very different from traditional RTS games. The learning curve is going to be a bit higher compared to learning how to play Starcraft
We highly recommend this game for players looking for a robust military simulatoresque RTS or anyone interested in Cold War era conflict. If this is your first Wargame title be prepared to learn a good deal before you’re ready to play online as the competition is fierce on the digital battlefront. With so many units and very large battlefields things can get pretty crazy. If you want to make your console playing friends jealous, show them Wargame: Red Dragon.
Steam Cards: Yes | Steam Achievements: Yes | Version Reviewed: v231
Wargame: Red Dragon
Summary: An incredible level of detail mixed with an encyclopedic number of military units puts Wargame: Red Dragon on top of the must play list for military combat fans.
