Act of War: Direct Action

A pretty fun RTS and while similar to C&C generals it does enough to be different and in some ways better (mainly in terms of campaign gameplay and storytelling).

The campaign is pretty fun and builds up pace nicely with more advanced units being introduced across time so as not to overwhelm with in which way to kill the enemy and every unit does have its place though some are better than others but without any glaring redundancies in the rosters.

In terms of how it plays as an RTS, its pretty generic and while a bit thin on the building an economy side, the urban combat, terrain acquisition and combat mechanics are done well and are simple enough for anyone to get into and reward tactical play.

I don't really want to say negative points as I don't think this game really commits any cardinal sins so things that could have been better:

- More context in the story, villain is very one note who gets too many lucky escapes with their infinite supply of back up plans
- Lack of campaign for the antagonist is a missed opportunity however the campaign we have is just long enough for a good experience and ends on a tough challenge without wearing out its welcome
- Economy is pretty flimsy with all factions effectively making bank off taking prisoners of war, the oil is good but since it runs out quickly, everyone goes for a POW economy instead
- Feels like there's a missing fourth faction such as a Middle Eastern faction or Russia to aid the mixed consortium forces.

20 years and this game deserves a remastered or a remake.

I remember getting the physical copy of this game way back in the day and it not working because we couldnt decipher the CD key that came with it LMAO.

Now that I actually got a chance to try it out... its...alright I guess. It certainly FEELS dated and primitive. I do like the military rts aspect though. I'm only recommending it because it was part of my childhood.

This game still holds up somewhat well to this day. The biggest issue with this game is that it has not been optimized for multiple monitors. What that means is that the mouse does not lock constraints to the primary game monitor. So your mouse cursor can go off screen and into your other monitor and if you click off the game screen or if the cursor triggers a pop up, then the game will minimize then reset to window and it will also mess up all your desktop settings.

This is absolutely incompetent as pretty much everyone runs more than 1 monitor these days. There's no options within the game to lock the mouse to the game screen or even to run the game's resolution in a window. Even entering "-window" in the Steam launch properties does nothing. So be prepared for accidental clicking outside the game window and having to restart your system constantly because this game will mess up your desktop settings constantly.

This was one of my favorite games back in the day. I played it for many hours until the point I got sick of it. I played 90% of the time against enemy AI. Really cool and fun game, I would prefer to play it with a like minded human and take it very slowly and in a more milsim way.

7/10

Cheese live action cutscenes and real army units next to futuristic weirdness, also we most protect our oil from terrorist so enough said.

An amazing game for its time that still holds up today. Stellar campaign, great music, and tons of live action cut-scenes. Great hyper-focused detail oriented action with tons of cool unit abilities you don't see in other games. They don't make'em like this any more!

blast from the past. at $2.99 why isn't this in your library?

Boots up the game and started the campaign, just like that, I spent five hours until the game crash without knowing it.

Luv the 2000s. Luv me cheesy cutscenes. Simple as.

a truly awesome game from 2005 and it still fun to play when ever get the chance

I found this one of the coolest games i ever played, back in the day.... and now i feel old.