Developer: Eversim
Publisher: Eversim, EVERSIM S.A.S
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
4th Generation Warfare – Review
Think you have what it takes to be like Frank Underwood from the television show House of Cards? Then this game is just for you. 4th generation Warfare is published by Eversim, a video game company that specializes in political strategy games. It was released on the 29th of February 2020. In this game, you become the leader of a nation and use all the resources available to you to ensure your country survives warfare in the 21st Century. Do this with an ‘all is fair in love and war’ mindset to form your nation’s strength. You can be the mastermind behind elaborate schemes in all fields where your political authority allows you to reach, from corruption to hacking, assassinations, sabotage, political tampering, military attacks and even more. This depends on your imagination and how cunning you can be. 4th Generation Warfare is a detailed strategy game as well as a role-playing game that gives you a lot of control. With great power, comes great responsibility.
Story
You are the Leader of the nation in the world of politics and you are given the choice of any nation you please. The game is relatively accurate in terms of the represented countries and leaders, although names have been changed for obvious legality issues. This is similar to Pro Evolution Soccer wherein football teams’ names are changed due to EA holding the rights of the actual club name. 4th Generation Warfare encourages more of a, ‘with great power comes great corruption’ approach. This is done while you fulfill your obligated duties and appointing people in your cabinet by choosing suitable candidates. Other duties include having to read through reports to analyze the needs of your country and work on ways to procure what is required which could be energy or petroleum prices. This leads you to interact with other nations and negotiate to procure what is needed.
The way you decide to handle the situation could increase favor with a nation or lead to a fallout, which could lead to war. Luckily you have appointed someone in the Head of Defence who can then help you out when going to war. As a Role-Playing you game you drive the narrative, not that every outcome is guaranteed with what you decide to do. The needs of each nation are different as well which would drive your focus point, meaning that ultimately how you decide to handle it is up to you.
Graphics
The game is presented in a birds-eye view with the map of the world when you start the game. There is an option of viewing in 2D or 3D. You enter into a 3D viewing when zoomed in on your playable character, who is then raised on the map including all those who serve you. This allows you to take in the city where your character resides. Capital cities are depicted as relevant as possible with tourist attractions standing out, like the London Eye for example showing London as a capital. When you send someone on a task in another country, a plane is then shown flying from their position to the required place. As it is a turned based game this is in sync with the turns being taken in the game. Sending the Prime Minister to the psychiatrist, for example, will show you how he is transported on-screen while seated on a chair. This gives you the impression he is on his way to a therapy session with the seating insinuating to you that he is about to talk about his concerns and troubles that have been bestowed upon him keeping the nation happy and running successfully.
The tools that are provided for your characters are presented in a way that reminds you that you are playing in the 21st Century. A smartphone is one of the tools you use in the game to stay up to date with alerts and decisions you have made with communication to those working with you or any other national representative you interact with via SMS text. A newspaper feed is on the screen at all times too, alerting you to situations within your nation or outcomes from a decision made on your part, shown in written and video format.
This is a highly detailed game, however, it does not require you to run it on the latest graphics card. It has a modernized feel of Red Alert, which is pleasing to the eye and gives a nostalgic feel.
Sound
The moment the game starts up, the music immerses you in this espionage setting as if you are working in a secret service facility. It makes you feel like you are trying to track down Matt Damon in The Bourne Identity. The sound amplifies the gaming experience as a turn-based game. When you scroll over a city or select it, you hear the busy sound of cars driving by and hooting horns. When you scroll onto a factory you can hear busy workers and machinery churning. When you erect a building or a military camp, construction sounds start to play. The sound brings the imagery alive which is what keeps you attentive. As mentioned earlier when a character takes a plane to another country, you can hear a plane take off and fly. In the news reports with video footage, you are able to hear protestors when the headline is about unrest in your nation. As a strategy game, the sound is on point and is possibly the greatest highlight of keeping a player captivated.
Gameplay
As this is a turn-based game, when it is your turn, you as the player, are able to select the head of the nation to execute a number of actions along with those who have been appointed by you. Each character is then able to carry out a task per turn which is related to their position of expertise. A spy can be actioned to sabotage, a hacker can perform a cyberattack or a diplomat can deal with contract negotiations. However, there is a limited number of moves you can make per turn. You can make a move with the head of the nation and one with each of the appointed members, depending on your game setting that you choose in the beginning. There are over 30 characters to utilize, more of which become available to you on your journey during the game. Military personnel can be used to deal with representatives from other nations, such as taking them to a restaurant to eat or offering them a bribe. Ultimately it becomes a game of chess as you can later push non-playable characters to do deeds that are favorable for your nation but detrimental to their own with bribes.
When you have chosen an action, the success of it plays on a number of factors such as the experience of the character chosen to execute the action and the psychological profile of the character. However, your opponents are countering in other deceitful ways as well, challenging you with their actions. The smartphone and the newspaper work as a notifier of what other players are doing with their nations and whether plans you have sent other characters to execute have become successful. There is a scoring system that goes up when you complete an action that pleases the nation or helps them out, including secret objectives which are where most of the bribing and cyberattacks come into play. The score goes down when you don’t deal with the increase in petroleum cost. It can also go down when one of the appointed members that help the head of Nation is bribed or assassinated which leads to the nation’s downfall. If the head of the nation loses power or is assassinated the controlling player is then eliminated resulting in a loss of the game. To win you would have to ensure you reach your goals in the 4 criteria (economic accomplishment, international diplomacy, military conquest, and popularity) of the scoring system and triumph over any threatening nations.
Conclusion
This game is highly detailed and it can be overwhelming as you begin to feel as if you need an analyst qualification or a knack for politics to fully get into enjoying it. Patience is also needed as you have to set up so many things in order to complete the main goal from an elaborate task. Sometimes a spy gets caught and other times he or she can infiltrate a building using all the necessary precautions. As stated earlier, Eversim publishes serious strategy political games. You would enjoy this game if you had a deep interest in politics or economics, or if you love political strategy games.
4th Generation Warfare - Review,
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