Call to Arms

Yay! Time for another one of my excruciatingly long reviews!
Straight up, this game is outright tons of fun. Zero regrets on the purchase if the concept appeals to you, but you don't plan on going in expecting something like the second coming of Lord GabeN. It's not that. Take it for what it is.
This may be an odd comparison to make, but for the older Millennials out there, you can almost think of it like "What if Company of Heroes, but Command and Conquer: Renegade." Minus the C&C Cheese and more attention to detail given. It's not hyper-realistic, but also not overtly arcade-y either. Balance where it should be for what the game is.
As far as the level of detail goes, if you're wondering if vehicles and infantry and vehicles are treated like just one big hitbox, and if you shoot the main gun barrel for long enough the whole thing explodes, then worry not. It's not that. They took the time to actually include some amount of various sections/systems on vehicles (and infantry to some extent) that can be damaged independently as their own thing, but not to the level of nuance of something like Gunner HEAT PC. Your engine, track, or wheel might get taken out (or you might take said component(s) out) but the turret and various relevant weapons systems will still function, and vice versa. You can score mobility kills to where the crew may bail out because at that point they're just sitting in a steel can in the dirt, or it might just become a stationary pillbox you have to deal with.
Perhaps my only main criticism would be that the singleplayer AI leaves some amount to be desired, but it's not outright horrific or anything. Still, it's not that versatile. It'll react to your positioning, but it's not going to probe, notably adapt, and then try to exploit your weak points.
In regards to how I approach the majority of games across all genres, it's worth mentioning that I'm not one to just try to find the most optimized way to cheese the AI with some singular common tactic, and then constantly do that mostly that thing, and then complain "WHY AM I ALLOWED TO DO THIS?! TOTAL GARBAGE!" I'd rather experiment and try new things, poking around at what else works, what doesn't, and just new ways to approach things. (Probably why I'm a big fan of sandbox games, regardless if they lack any explicit preconceived objectives, tasks, or goals given to the user, as I just conjure up my own, but I digress. This isn't a sandbox either, so no worries if you hate sandboxes.) I mention all of this because there is absolutely a few ways I found that you can cheese the AI to hell and back. You can probably find it on your own if you experiment a bit. That kind of thing is fun for a spell, sure, but then it just feels stupid in short order. It's like, yeah, you CAN do that, but there aren't singular approaches being given to you where you HAVE to go about it in that kind of way. At some point it falls on the user to also mix things up of their own volition, imo.
When it comes to whether or not we'll see more updates or DLC? Yeah, probably not. That shouldn't come as a shocker since the game is over a decade old. It's not overly realistic if you're expecting perpetual development (beyond core functionality) and additions for a title like this, that's this old, at this point.
Final verdict?
- It's fun
- It's not expensive
- I'm glad at least someone took a solid jab at an RTS/FPS hybrid.
- I was/am entertained
- I felt I got my money's worth, and still am getting my money's worth since I'm still going through it.
I'd recommend it if you:
- Like the idea behind the concept and find it intriguing. It basically lays what it has to offer on the table well enough in what's shown on the store page.
- Like the prospects of being able to take manual control of individual units so you you can just slay the enemy by your own hand at a low-level rather than as the commander from an aerial perspective the whole time.
- Are interested in something that's not insanely difficult to progress in nor stressful.
- Get a sensible chuckle out of inadvertently discovering that if you take manual control of a tank while your own guys are actively using it for cover, you can indeed squash them. (Oops.)
- Are looking for something that's not a time-sink, but also isn't mind-numbingly simplistic.
- Want to show the world that your units across RTS games really do have bad aim and that you, indeed, could do better than them at slaying the intended target.
- Don't care if ♥♥♥♥♥♥ of your infantrymen aren't rendered with 8K resolution textures with ray-traced lighting.
- Aren't expecting ArmA3 meets Gunner HEAT PC meets Combat Mission: Shock Force 2 levels of simulation,
- Like single malt scotch.
I would NOT recommend it if:
- You have a tendency to seek out the best way to cheese through things with the least amount of effort input.
- You're a Grognard looking for something on the level of nuance and simulation in the Combat Mission series, but with an FPS twist.
- You're a Grognard who was hoping there'd be some deep logistical and management system included. (Not that I'd think any fellow Grognards would have expected it to be somehow comparable to Gary Grigsby's War in the East 2 on that front or anything.)
- No more new content from the devs for this game specifically is a deal-breaker for you.
- Don't like the idea of stray rounds hitting livestock and stray animals in a game.
- Graphics from yesteryear are a dealbreaker for you.
- Need a highly adaptive AI in order for you to enjoy a singleplayer game.
- Are looking for something more within the realm of ArmA3 (or Reforger) meets Combat Mission: Shock Force 2 levels of detail.
- Are that one single person in the whole of Phoenix, Arizona that saw the movie United Passions in its opening weekend. (Seriously, who tf is that one guy?)
Just in case anyone is wondering if I had an AI write this, please... LLMs are so comically consistent and repetitive in their style, tone, voice, syntax, phrasing, and formatting that the only comparison to be made would be... Well... This is just long too, I guess. Something original vs LLM-generated sticks out DRASTICALLY, provided that one's reading comprehension skills are at least just ok-ish. I've just been seeing a whole TON of AI generated reviews popping up on Steam lately that I figured it's worth mentioning. For posterity, if anything. I'm just a wordy mofo.

Great idea for a game, i especially love the skirmish mode against AI or friends. The Warfighter mod is a must have.
if you loved playing with toy soldiers as a kid this is the game for you. Especially good fun if you're stoned.
Horribly optimized, super slow, laggy and crashes alot.
Just a good war simulator

As someone who likes the idea of milsim games but would rather not play online, this game provides the opportunity for me to completely control my military through RTS point of view and quickly switch to 1st Person for that FPS experience as well. It may not be for everyone, but I genuinely enjoy this game for exactly what it is. I hope it continues to grow.

Soldier runs out of ammo.

Tank stuck on rock.

One guy refuses to take cover.

Realistic leadership experience.

Get the warfighter mod and the game is 200x better.

The game was amazing when I first played on release, but this game has been utterly neglected by the devs in favor of Gates of Hell. No updates or new content in 5 years. The game was only consistently getting new content for 1 year after release. I would still recommend just for the one fact that mods keep it new. But don't expect anything new from the Devs

IDK Who is even playing this, but the campaign is still fairly buggy even after playing this like ages ago. but it's fun and I'm too poor to afford Ostfront so like this is nice enough