I'm enjoying it. It plays somewhat like Axis and Allies, but in a modern setting and with a map limited to Europe and northern Africa. Keep in mind I'm still playing through my first game, and on easy.
The majority of the game is played via the strategic map, where units are produced, placed, and moved around, research, diplomacy, and espionage are undertaken, and provincial improvements are constructed. combat makes up the rest of the game, and it takes place in a hex-grid tactical map.
Strategically, the game is fairly solid.
Like other games of this type, you declare war on a nation, and conquer its territories to increase your income, which in turn you spend on doing more of the same. Unlike paradox titles, there are no long-term penalties (revolts, etc) for conquered provinces, so this plays much more like Risk or Axis and Allies, though there is usually some collateral damage inflicted on captured provinces which reduces their output until they are repaired.
The game offers the usual assortment of units: infantry, paratroopers, tanks, artillery, fighters, bombers, and the like. There are also spies and special forces, which have no combat roles, but act as (nearly) invisible scouts and saboteurs. There are a few units which can be unlocked through research, such as nuclear subs and 3 or 4 types of missiles, but otherwise the units are very standard.
Reaserch is one of the game's weaker areas. There are 5 (or 6?) linear trees, of which about half the "levels" provide nothing beyond access to the next level. There is one "good" tree, however, which provides units with special abilities in combat and gives access to a number of battlefield buffs.
Diplomacy seems standard enough, though in my game I've only had one nation ally with me, and he backed out when things really started getting hairy.
Another aspect of diplomacy is the AN, the game's United Nations clone, which tries to step in to defend smaller and more peaceful nations against large aggressors. I haven't seen them really succeed yet, but there seem to be options when creating a game to make them stronger, and it looks like you can help prop them up by donating units, which could be interesting if you are feeling altruistic.
There are also missions. There are two types: general missions, and story missions. Both types offer the same types of rewards for fulfilling the same kinds of tasks, such building a number of a specific units, or capturing a specific city, in return for units, morale boosts, and the like. The difference between the two is that story missions, available only in a story-mode campaign, are designed to direct the paths "big" nations take. As Germany, for instance, my missions tended to revolve around controlling the North Sea for its oil reserves, and carrying out acts of sabotage against my coastal neighbors. As I understand it, this means that storyline campaigns will tend to carry out in a similar fashion every time. General missions, in the meantime, are more random, and aren't meant to play a role in the game's story, though their rewards make them worth undertaking. General missions also often seem to give you a choice between three similar objectives which very in difficulty, offering greater rewards for the harder one, and so on.
Though I can't find any value for it, it seems that the game has a similar "bad-boy" mechanic as the EU series; as I becan gobbling up my neighbors, I found myself the target of numerous new wars.
Tactically, the game is pretty good. The hex maps are large enough to allow you to really move around and make use of faster units. The terrain in battle is varied somewhat, but so far boils down to open, forested, urban, and mountainous. There are provinces with rivers, but I've yet to fight in one, so I don't know if it has an impact on the tactical map. The different terrain have their standard effects, such as limiting line of sight or providing a defensive bonus. In addition, there are a number of victory location, which, while controlled, give a boost to morale and accumulate e-war points.
Some units can gain special abilities or bonuses--though I don't yet understand how these are assigned--though all infantry are the same, some might have an attached UAV which allows them to reveal a portion of the map, while another might be mechanized, greatly increasing their speed.
One thing I like is the lack of a cookie-cutter rock-paper-scissors set of mechanics. Besides, obviously, the anti-air gun, no one unit is really designed to be specifically strong against one unit while weak against another. A tank is simply stronger, faster, and tougher than an infantry unit, but it comes at a significantly higher price, upkeep, and production time.
There are a number of buffs and debuffs that effect units on the tactical map. Units under heavy fire might become suppressed, reducing their speed and firepower, or freezing them in place entirely. Units taking fire from multiple adjacent units are caught in a crossfire, which really weakens them. Additionally, you can use e-war points to "cast" a buff or debuff each turn, which you can use to do fairly mundane things such as increase the firepower or defense of a unit, or more interesting things, like make a unit immune to ambushes or suppression, or jam an enemy, which stops your opponent from issuing new orders to it.
Aircraft, aside from the helicopter, are abstracted. Instead of being controllable units, each plane you bring to combat can perform one scouting or bombing action.
Attacking a province from multiple directions also allows you to deploy units from multiple directions, allowing you to not only surround enemies, but also reach more victory locations, both of which are great help.
It should be mentioned that the battles are not truly turn-based, though they work in almost the same way. There are two stages to each combat round. In the first, both players (more, if more nations attack the same province??) submit orders to their troops: move to this hex, attack that unit, drop artillery on that other hex. In the second stage, those orders are actually carried out over the course of 10 seconds, and depending on what the other guy ordered, things may or may not go according to plan. You may have ordered your artillery to bombard a hex with an enemy tank in it, but if that tank had orders to move, you might only get a few seconds worth of damage off, and the rest of the attack is wasted. On the other hand, you could try predicting the movements of a unit, and order an attack on the hex you believe he will move into. Or hell, just use your e-war points to jam the unit and fire on him as he sits there, exposed.
Conclusion: It's a good, solid, wargame game. Doesn't really bring anything new to the table, but it seems to do everything just about right.
