Soldiers: Heroes of World War II review

If they ever bring back the draft, I'm going to ask for all the time I've spent fighting on digital battlefields to be taken into consideration.

I'm sure it would take longer to complete all the World War II games that are out at the moment than it did to fight the war itself.

Soldiers: Heroes of World War II tries to be a bit different. Its premise - you control a small crack squad of soldiers whose aim is to outwit a much bigger enemy force - is strongly reminiscent of Eidos's Commandos series, but there are some big differences.

The most striking thing about Soldiers is the attention to detail that has been lavished on the game's 3D world. Your men vault fences and swim rivers; shells and grenades leave craters; tyres roll away when vehicles are blown up.

You can either tell your units where to go and let them get on with it, or take direct control of a single unit's movement and firing.

As in the classic game Cannon Fodder, when you're controlling a single soldier, he fires far more rapidly than your other units. Exploiting this advantage is crucial to winning battles - left to their own devices, your men will get themselves killed quickly. Even your tanks can be disabled with surprising ease.

Unfortunately, this close supervision becomes a bit of a chore. You spend far too much time fiddling with the clunky inventory system. A slow-motion mode helps with more complex battles, although that drags down the pace from bafflingly fast to gruellingly sluggish.

The game's maker, Codemasters, claims you can choose the way you tackle each mission. In reality, most missions are disappointingly linear. Some involve a frustrating amount of trial and error. When there's a strict time limit involved, you're doomed to failure on your first attempts. The 'stealth' sections also suffer from the fact that it's hard to judge enemy sightlines.

If you're patient and enjoy a challenge, you might enjoy playing Soldiers. But you might be left with the sneaking suspicion that your real enemies are the game's designers.

Author: Ben Henley