DESCRIPTION

While the classic Avalon Hill board game "Axis & Allies" has enjoyed a number of computer game conversions throughout the years, this 2004 version from Kohan developer TimeGate Studios is the first to translate the World War II turn-based strategy for real-time play. The game features two dozen single-player scenarios in all. There are 12 missions in which players control the Allied forces, through a linear campaign that follows the history of the war. In control of the Axis powers, players faces 12 additional scenarios, which present an alternate reality in which the Allies are ultimately defeated.

In addition to the real-time play of the main campaigns, Axis & Allies also offers a "World War" mode, which is turn-based and may be played similarly to the original board game. When forces meet on the map, battles can be resolved by the computer or in real-time play. Real-time battlegrounds are dynamically generated, based on the actual environments of the locations in which they are set on the world map.

Borrowing a few innovative concepts from the Kohan series, Axis & Allies has players controlling their troops in groups, and managing warfare from the position of a "master strategist." Instead of continually clicking to assign individual soldiers to attack individual targets, players assign orders to whole companies of soldiers, to conquer an entire enemy group or take over a town. Of course, real-world tactics become even more important in this kind of gameplay. Also as in the Kohan games, troops may be lead by powerful "General" characters, who bring bonuses to the soldiers under their command and gain new powers as they successfully progress through the campaign. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide