Will of Steel with Free Headset (PC CD)

The strategy part itself is also very good although I must say it's not anything completely new. The weapons you control and commands you can issue are standard which is fine with me, I guess that's just how new strategy games are. And the voice system is interesting, it lets you say your commands instead of typing or clicking, nice.

This game is appalling.

Starting with what you get. A box containing the headset and the CD in a paper sleeve. That's it. Nothing else. No manual, no keyboard reference card, no install instructions. Not even the usual gumph advertising other games or trying to get you to register, simply a box, a CD and the headset. The headset is more than adequate for free but to be honest if you need a new headset and are planning to get a game into the bargain I wouldn't bother, just spend a little more and get a better headset.

Starting the game I expected some sort of tutorial due to the lack of and printed material. Wrong. Straight into the mission with no clue about what you are doing. Now this may have been my fault as I chose not to add a start menu group during installation but a bit of googling pointd me in the direction of C:\Program Files\GMX Media\Will Of Steel\Data\doc and sure enough there it was all six pages of it. Still better than nothing I thought so armed with half an idea I started the game again with all sorts of ideas about being able to set my attacks up and call in all of my units with voice commands. Wrong. The voice recognition is poor at best, I have yet to get it to recognise the word Humvee despite trying every UK local dialect I can do. It's as simple as this, voice recogntion through software simply does not work very well, if it did we would all be using it every day. That said you still have the trusty keyboard and mouse so after 15 minutes of impersonations I decided I would go for that option instead. That was a shame because the impersonations were much more fun than the actual game itself. The game does not work for one very simple and inescapable reason. The pathfinding of the units is appalling they get stuck at the slightest rough terrain and even worse they get stuck amongst each other when moving across wide open ground. Games like Starcraft and Command & Conquer generals are years old and their unit pathfinding is streets ahead of what you will find in this game. There is a patch which improves it but frankly it's still pretty poor after that. I am getting sick and tired of software companies issuing unfinished games simply to meet production schedules and passing the burden onto the gamer to download the patch and finish off the game themselves. If you bought a car with no windows you wouldn't merrily drive around while they worked on sending the windows to you. No, you would send it back. Alas with software when you remove the plastic wrapping and throw it away you are also throwing out your consumer rights too.

The box boasts "No Resource Gathering and building" which is absolutely true but by the same token there is also no delvelopment of existing forces or chance to build the army to your specification which makes for a very shallow gaming experience.

I may be being too hard by basing this review on less than an hour in the game but frankly there is nothing in the game that gives you the will (of steel?) to continue unless you are very much into this type of game. If you are then try 'Act of War - Direct Action' that really will provide you with a worthwhile gaming experience.

When playing with the headset I really felt like I was in control of the Army, but not only that, I can control the camera with my voice too!!!

This game is a must buy, when you zoom into the action, the level of detail on the tanks & exposions is awesome. I'm not going to write too much as I don't want to spoil it for you + I want to get back to playing it.

'Left right, left right, left right, left right, left right'... my voice command to the camera!!!!

Enjoy......