KEY POINTS:
WWII games have been so thrashed to death on PC there seems only one way to come up with something new.
Change history.
Digital Reality's Warfront: Turning Point (PC, classified M) is an alternative-history RTS.
Here is history as we never learned it. You lead German troops and try to assassinate Hitler, stop the D-Day invasion and halt the Red Army with the secret weapons of the Reich.
You command US and UK troops through the historical missions in the heart of Europe but reach Berlin before the Red Army does. In the Russian campaign, you set the Soviet flag on the Reichstag.
Yes you have to assume the Germans did what your history teacher never told you: they conquered London and much of southern England early in the war.
In the game the British are starting to succeed in taking London back while the German reistance has had enough and is out to kill Hitler.
Some weapons are a bit more advanced than they were for the time - such as an earthquake bomb and an ice-spitting tank that freezes the enemy in their tracks. Cool as!
After playing what feels like hundreds of war-themed PC games, it's actually a refreshing treat to play one where you don't know the ending.
Aside from the story twist, it meets the standard of RTS when it comes to gameplay. It has dual-campaign options for the single-player, which was an unexpected bonus with 11 missions from either the American or German points of view.
There is also a multiplayer mode with something different - a "secret orders" game type that gives every player a hidden victory goal.
You do the usual building of bases, extracting minerals from mines and heaping up trucks with your resources. Your armies take on battles with the enemies. People die. Usual stuff.
There are elements of Command and Conquer and Red Alert but how does this match up?
It has lots of potential and tries some interesting new things. Of course some work, and some don't. Sometimes the flaw seems to be too many ideas.
The impressive cut-scenes are filled with lots of action, noise and shooting going on, but really too much happening on the screen to cope with at any one moment.
Glance away for a second and you're lost by the time you look back. AI could be better at times and the voice acting is not one of the game's strengths.
But this gets big ups for trying to be different and breaking the conventional mould, though it's solid enough to be very enjoyable.
The twisted plot is a worthwhile change and kudos to the developers who have tried to be just that bit different.
MadGamer rating: 8.5 / 10
Which WWII game is your favourite?
