With the first expansion pack for the critically acclaimed Act of War: Direct Action, Eugen Systems and Atari are introducing a massive amount of new features and content to enhance and extend the overall experience.
Naval Combat
The new naval combat in provides a fully-fledged modern naval RTS within Act of War. With over a dozen new units designed specifically for naval warfare – from Tarawa class carriers, Typhoon submarines and SH-60 Seahawk anti-sub helicopters, to Harrier attack aircraft and Zubr class amphibious assault hovercraft – this feature alone promises to make this expansion pack one of the most interesting new RTS offerings in 2006.
To support the naval combat feature, Eugen Systems have developed brand new real-time physics technology to simulate waves and the heave of the ships, ballistics code for ASROCs, Tomahawks, Harpoons and Typhoons and other maritime weaponry, and normal mapping and deep parallax water surfaces for the waves.
Mercenaries
Instead of introducing a fourth faction, Eugen Systems have introduced a different kind of feature which promises to mix things up considerably during different phases of the game – mercenary units. The concept is simple: these are units for hire. Only one player at a time can hire each mercenary unit, and to hire a mercenary team you need to pay a hefty insurance policy. If the mercenaries are injured or even killed, you won't get a full refund of your insurance deposit at the end of the contract.
The nine mercenary units range from close assault troops with Benelli shotguns, to Roland SAM systems, SU-25 Froogfoot CAS aircraft, and even F-117 stealth bombers that can be called into any part of the map.
New Units and Upgrades
For extra variation in the basic game each of the three factions also receives 2-3 new units and as many new upgrades; in some cases they will cover previous holes in the tech tree, in others just reinforce the strength of each side or introduce a new use for existing units and upgrades. Examples are Stinger infantry and Kiowa recon helicopters for the U.S. Army, SCUD launchers and Hind AT-6 Spiral missiles for the Consortium, and GUOS mine upgrades and experimental BLU-144 bombs for the Joint Strike Fighters of the Task Force Talon.
About Act of War: Direct Action
Unconventional French developer Eugen System's third RTS game and their biggest success to date, Act of War: Direct Action, was one of the big PC surprise newcomers of 2005 with unanimous critical acclaim and reviews consistently in the eighties and nineties in both U.S. and Europe. Gamerankings.com rates the game second in the chart of best new RTS games of 2005.