Introduction

The editorial staff of The Wargamer has been contacted recently by numerous mainstream press outlets for our opinion on the impact of the ongoing conflict against Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Iraq on war gaming.  War games (as the mainstream press calls them) are those games which feature war or military combat as a prominent theme; the recent popularity of both World War II and modern era first-person shooters seems is most indicative of that trend.  In a move to capitalize on this mainstream interest, a new game is in development which recreates the actual scenarios from the recent war on terror in the Middle East, as well as other scenarios from recent history.  That new game is Kuma\War, and a recent public beta release allowed us to get our first hands-on time with the game.

At first brush, Kuma\War will seem quite similar to many other squad-based shooters on the market today.  It is a 3D squad-based first and third-person shooter in which players control military soldiers, but it differs dramatically by recreating missions such as Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan, the last stand of Uday and Qusay, and (soon to be released) the capture of Saddam Hussein.  Kuma\War sets up each mission with a video feed which contains a background on the actual operation, commentary by a retired U.S. Army Major General, and an introduction to the game mission.  While they may seem cheesy and lack the credibility of a CNN news feed, the addition of Major General Thomas L. Wilkerson makes Kuma\War's set up is far more credible than briefings found in other games such as Ghost Recon, Raven Shield, or Delta Force: Black Hawk Down.  Because the game isn't a simulation, the actual scenarios recreated in Kuma\War are by no means exact order of battle recreations, but rather a translation into the confines of a tactical-level computer game. 

The missions are straightforward, and should prove to be reasonably challenging to gamers familiar with the squad-based format.  Much like Hidden & Dangerous 2 or Conflict: Desert Storm, a four-man squad of soldiers is led through the mission equipped with a variety of modern military weapons.  Vehicles also come into play to cover some of the larger maps, but I was most successful with a sniper rifle and my squadmates in tow for cover.  The free demo that was released contains three missions, including the aforementioned last stand of Uday and Qusay (in two parts), Operation Anaconda, and a South Korean mission based on a 1996 event in which North Korean forces were beached in South Korea after their spy submarine broke down.  Each of these four missions can be played in the single player mode or in a multiplayer environment as either an adversarial or cooperative game (the latter being the best choice).  

The developers are planning to release further missions a steady rate to entice players to sign-up for the game's subscription service.  Subscribers who pay the estimated $10 per month fee will have access to new missions released on an ongoing basis.  If all goes as planned, players will read about events happening around the world, and those events will take on the form of a game mission just weeks after.  The game will be released through retail channels much like MMORPGs are: the basic game is purchased, but the subscription entitles players to ongoing play.       

The Kuma\War demo is now available for free download through 3D Gamers and FilePlanet.  The full game should be released later this spring.

Screenshots

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