By Joseph Luster

In the realm of competitive World War II games, there are plenty of options out there for folks who want to go head-to-head against like-minded wargamers. One recent crack at PvP (Player versus Player) arrived earlier this year in the form of World War Armies, which ultimately proves interesting while falling victim to the pitfalls of its genre.

On the surface, World War Armies has a ton of promise. It’s a cross-platform real-time strategy game that pits players against one another across the various platforms on which it’s available. You can build up your own unique deck—including over 70 units you can unlock as you progress—and win battles by capturing strategic points across the map. It’s a formula that’s incredibly familiar, but also somewhat novel in the setting of cross-platform play. Unfortunately, game-crashing bugs are just a portion of what takes World War Armies from intriguing to occasionally egregious.

Out of all the complaints one might have about the multiplayer experience, there’s a single demerit that can be found in all too many mobile and mobile-adjacent games. With the ability to purchase superior units, there is very much a pay-to-win issue at play depending on who your opponent is. The matchmaking isn’t quite up to snuff either, mixing in matches against bots with battles against real human opponents, particularly in the early stages. These AI battles are disguised with genuine-sounding usernames, but you can generally tell when you’re playing against someone who isn’t the computer.

On the bright side, all of the issues with World War Armies are fixable, if the developers choose to do so. What we have now is essentially a mobile game ported directly to PC, which is never an ideal scenario. Hopefully Hypemasters sees some of the apparent flaws for what they are and makes this a more enjoyable experience no matter what platform the player is currently using.

Publisher: Hypemasters, Inc.
Genre: Strategy
System: PC
Available: Now

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