(Review by Shawn)
4th Generation Warfare is a political strategy game taking place in the
Modern age. You take on the role as leader of a country such as Afghanistan,
Bangladesh, Syria, Uganda, and most major countries.
To win, you must be ranked first out of the other countries at the end of
the game based on your score. Your score is influenced throughout the game
by popularity, international diplomacy, economic performance, and military
conquest.
First impression, I really like the music. It sets the mood and sounds
like a Hollywood movie score filled with political intrigue. I was blown
away with the amount of options and replayability in the game.
When starting a new campaign you are presented with a lot of customization
options. You can choose how many turns in the game, along with turn
duration and number of actions per turn. You also decide the number of
countries run by the game to compete against, with online matches also
being available.
I like the streamlined user interface. Your available actions are shown on
a toolbar, which then expands to a more detailed menu. When various actions
take place, not only will animations happen on the world map, but message
and notifications are also displayed via a virtual tablet and smart phone
which are shown onscreen.
My first playthrough, I chose to play as the USA. During my first few
rounds I was setting up Directors of Homeland Security, Foreign Affairs,
Intelligence Agency, and Armed Forces. Each director has their own set of
actions such as request a financial investigation or recruit a spy or cyber
analyst.
Throughout the game you have other choices on how to further advance your
goals which could be viewed as moral or immoral. Whatever it takes to win
such as influencing people by inviting them to a restaurant, establish a
national budget, request meetings with foreign diplomats, bribe,, or
assassinate.
As of this writing, 4th Generation Warfare is still in early access. EVERSIM
company has created a game in which you could lose many hours playing and
replaying.
