World in Conflict (PC) performance review - Page 1

World in Conflict - 2007 where graphics finally got superior

Impressive gameplay and graphics that will make you go into shock and awe. Yes, World in Conflict has been released. This game offers a serious graphical challenge to you guys the gamers. Wars often end in either victory, loss or compromise.

Hello everyone and welcome to a quick mini-review on one of the most anticipated games of 2007, World in Conflict. Vivendi Universal was kind enough to send us a copy a couple of days prior to the release of the game. You are an avid Guru3D reader so that means you also know we'll do things a bit differently. It's not going really quickly, but slowly we see more and more DirectX 10 titles becoming available on the market.

World in Conflict is a late-Cold War real-time strategy game with a strong focus on unit tactics, action, team play, and destruction. Players take on a specific role commanding air, armor, infantry, and support units to form a combined arms force against the enemy. By controlling key strategic points on the map, you sway the battle in your favor. There is no resource-gathering, so every second not spent fighting the enemy over a piece of land is a second wasted.

Super-Powered Warfare: Unleash the arsenals of the great military superpowers in the gripping single-player story created by Larry Bond
Bleeding-Edge Graphics: The latest version of Massive's proprietary Masstech engine allows for a full 360 range of camera control and features advanced lighting and physics effects
Complete Destructibility As the battle rages, the world environment pays the price -- every object in the game will crumble under the force of war, including cars, buildings and forests
Deep Multiplayer Modes: Using Massive's proprietary Massgate multiplayer server system, World in Conflict will support up to 16 players for head-to-head, team-based battles
Real World Units: Players will take control of the most devastating arsenal of military weaponry ever created, including Soviet, American and NATO tanks, planes, trucks, troops and helicopters as well as nuclear weapons
Player Roles: Players will choose to play as Infantry, Armor, Support Forces, or Aerial specialists; multiplayer teams will need to master each role for maximum effectiveness

What I wanted to do for you guys today is not produce an actual game-review but rather I wanted to show you what you can expect from the game in terms of performance.

We'll do this with mid-range to high-end based graphics cards and we'll test in both Direct 9 and DirectX 10 mode.

Why are we doing this ? Because this game is so intense on your graphics card you won't believe it. Example: when I received my copy of the game I popped in a GeForce 8800 Ultra into our high-end system (Vista/2GB 1066 MHz memory/Core 2 Duo 6800). I selected high-quality settings and had a peek at the built-in benchmark. Now believe it or not but at a resolution of 1600x1200 I was able to achieve 32 FPS (on average) with a 650 bucks costing GeForce 8800 Ultra, the current flagship graphics adapter.

Arnold Schwarzenegger would say: "uhm, what just happened wisz my powerfoel Oeltra ?"

Shocking but true. This also tells me that owners of a graphics cards class of GeForce 8800 GTS 640 and higher are the only ones being able to play this game with the DX10 code path enabled, plus a little anti-aliasing also.

But be amazed by the image quality as honestly it is just stunning when you'll be able to select and play in the best quality, yet be shocked by the performance as to date there is no game more system challenging than World in Conflict. As far as Guru3D is concerned, it's also the first title worthy being called a DirectX 10 game, as there's a difference in IQ between the two code paths.

But make no mistake; both the DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 will make a superior impression indeed. Ground will be deformed from explosions, smoke will react realistically to the world with the help of volumetric clouds, and rays of sunlight will shine (volumetric lighting (God rays)) down upon the devastated battlefield. Without a doubt this is one of the most visually stunning games out there especially for the RTS market.

Oh and guys and gals; if you decide to purchase this game answer me one question: what is it about a mushroom cloud that makes you go "oooh" ?

We took a couple of cards to see how well this game runs.