I used to play Talon Soft's EASTERN FRONT and since that game became obsolete when I bought a new computer with an OS of Windows 8 I was looking for a new type of strategy game to replace it . I searched around the net wondering what I could buy and fancied getting something closer to 21st Century warfare rather WWII and AIRLAND seemed exactly what I was after . The Cold war has turned very hot and NATO and Warsaw Pact forces are in a battle to the death . Sounds like great fun and my mind was instantly made up when I caught some of the game play on youtube . I ordered it throough the seller Mangames and while I waited for a week for it to arrive I spent a lot of time on youtube watching countless sites that gave info for the game . What are the best units , what are the best tactics etc . The more I saw these videos the more excited I became and by the time the postman delivered my game I was like a junkie fiending for a fix
The positive ? "in-depth" isn't a good enough adjective . If a weapon , transport or logistic system existed during the height of the cold war you'll find it here somewhere . You can choose either side and there's 800 different units to choose from . Aircraft , tanks , artillery , anti-tank systems you'll find it here somewhere . Ive spent over a week playing ALB and haven't used a fraction of the equipment possible . You have a choice of playing either a full campaign as either NATO or Warsaw Pact or simply "skirmish" where you lead a side against their opponent and the skirmish mode is a very good opportunity to find out what tactics and equipment work best in a situation . You also have a choice of building a "deck" ie if you're using a NATO deck you can use the best aircraft which are always American , the best tanks which are usually British , and the best anti-tank missile crews which are usually French or German . It's entirely up to you to use the best coalition to save Europe from a Soviet assault . What I also liked is the capacity to zoom in and get a grunts eye view of the battle and then you can zoom out and watch the bigger strategic picture
The Negative ? Unfortunately the game is a bit too difficult for its own good to be genuinely enjoyable . So far I've always used the easy level and even here the game usually ends up being a draw . One aspect about the difficulty level is that it's perhaps too unrealistic in one way and that is in real life Western technology was far ahead of the Soviets . By this I mean Soviet military doctrine was that if they were attacked they could out produce an enemy by sheer force of numbers in tanks and aircraft . These tanks and aircraft were very inferior to their Western counterparts but this disadvantage didn't really matter because the Soviets had so many of them . Think back to the wars where the Israelis were heavily outnumbered by their Arab opponents and yet still managed to win or the two gulf wars where American and British tanks destroyed armoured divisions with minimal losses and you get an idea of how this game should turn out and not how it does turn out . Indeed one of the things I did like about EAST FRONT was inflicting catrastrophic losses on the enemy while only losing a small handful of my own units . Here in ABL there's no equivalent and finding it so difficult means it quickly becomes less fun . None of this is helped by a lack of in-game tutorials and with 800 different units it's very difficult to know what your opponents units are and how to counter them
I can understand why the developers have done this . If it's too easy then after you've mastered the game you're guaranteed to win nearly everytime so the difficulty means you can go up a level once you've reached a certain point . With several different maps and difficulty levels and time frames you can custom build your own battles but I reckon even Napoleon would hard pressed to string a constant line of victories together . It's a good game but one that's perhaps too in-depth and difficult for its own good and if you're constantly having to spend more time on youtube consulting for tips than actually playing the game this has to be a failure of sorts
