The Great War: C&C creators try their hand at World War I

A real-time strategy game from the time of the First World War sounds absolutely interchangeable at first glance, but according to developer Petroglyph Games, The Great War: Western Front should still do a few things differently than comparable genre colleagues. One would like to believe them, after all, the studio was founded by former Westwind programmers and is responsible for the Command & Conquer Remastered Collection, among other things.

The title should stand out with a number of features that are characterized by authenticity and attention to detail, as well as the combination of turn-based strategy on a large scale and real-time strategy on a small scale. The latter is a novelty within the First World War settings, there has never been a comparable game (to our knowledge). In practice, the system then works similar to the formula on which all Total War games are based. The Great War features are also borrowed from other games. But well stolen and provided with sensible adjustments, the result is still an independent game that should serve its niche from the previous impression.

The Great War: Western Front – Homage to the Great War of the C&C Makers (2)

Source: Petroglyph Games

Before we lose ourselves in comparisons and check out all the unique selling points, let’s first look at the overall structure. According to the historical model, the Central Powers are fighting the Entente or the Allies, i.e. the two major First World War parties.

We are in the years 1914 to 1919. History connoisseurs know, of course, that the First World War ended in 1918, but depending on the course of the game, the end of the global conflict can also be delayed here.

The Great War: Western Front – Homage to the Great War of the C&C Makers (1)

Source: Petroglyph Games



On the campaign map, we first see a large tactical map divided into hexagonal tiles, on which we can view the course of the border and on which we can decide where we want to fight the next battles.

We can participate in in-game events that are based on historically real events. There are bonus points here if we fight the battles in a certain order. Alternatively, we can also go our own way, which leads us to victory away from the actual history of the war.

Overall, there are two victory conditions: On the one hand, we win when we capture the tactical center, i.e. the capital of the enemy faction. On the other hand, and according to the developers this is the primary way to win, we can also try to set the opposing powers’ national will to war to zero.

We can either skip the battles by auto-combat, or we fight them manually. The automatic battle management usually leads to a worse outcome for us. Our success or failure is measured by points.