An example, I think. One such situation came about when I had two control points left, and a large enemy strike force - about twelve medium tanks and hordes of infantry - was swooping towards one of my few remaining points. What remaining reinforcements I had were used to shore up the defences there, which at the time consisted of a group of mortars, a half-destroyed unit of heavy tanks, and a heavily wounded unit of light infantry. Bringing in anti-aircraft vehicles (for their infantry-murdering machine guns) and a group of anti-tank guns was about the only option remaining that could potentially work.

Things went awry, initially, when the enemy tanks reversed and turned towards the flank the anti-tank weapons weren't aiming at. Pause. Order of War has a feature we've not seen in traditional RTS for some time - you can pause the game at any time to take a deep breath, assess the situation, and then give your orders. Unpause. My heavy tanks quickly switched position and held them up just long enough for the anti-tank guns to roll into place on the new flank, annihilating the advancing armour and allowing the anti-aircraft vehicles to chase down and rip apart the now fleeing infantry. It was glorious.

This proved to be the turning point: the other enemy control points on that side of the map were still heavily defended but it bought enough time to drop a paratroopers onto the enemy position, distracting their anti-tank guns for just long enough that my armour could mop them up. Again, the anti-aircraft vehicles came up trumps against what remained of the infantry, and that side of the map was ours.

Order of War's shaping up well. It looks to be simple enough that newbies to the RTS genre can get into it, yet the simplified-but-tactical combat, thus far, smacks a little of a Total War game, which is a rather good thing. The addition of a pause function that lets you take time to queue up orders and work out what's going on gives it a more gentle pace that focuses less on clicks-per-minute and more on exactly how you're going to deal with the situation at hand, while the game's lack of base-building keeps the action moving. And then, when everything's ready and all hell's about to break loose, there's the cinematic camera option that switches between angles to give you the best possible view of the explosions.

It's an oddity - more of a World in Conflict than a Command & Conquer - but it's a fascinating one that I look forward to spending more time with.

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