I had followed this game while it was in development and had high hopes - While it does stick (more or less) to the ToW theme and style, it attempts to make the game more playable for the "casual crowd" and as a result, it was somewhat dissapointing.
That being said, it's still got all the things which made ToW great - Penetration system, realistic damage from mortar/artillery rounds (there is a very detailed explanation of how this was improved from ToW2) and the standard feeling of helplessness when your plan goes wrong and you have to watch infantry drop like flies.
Being more of a fan of WW2 I wasn't thrilled to see that they took a step forward and into the Korean war but considering there is very few games on this conflict I can see why they made this choice.
As others have said it isn't optimized all that well, this seems par for the course when it comes to the Eastern Europe developed games. However I must disagree with those who say the game looks bad, the detail in the tanks and weapons of infantry/support troops is well beyond anything the generic RTS titles have given us. Just like ToW2 it is a beautiful game.
The complaints people have about annoying AI behaviour can more or less be chalked up to "user error" - There are many controls available which make the job easier, stopping them from moving unless ordered to, holding fire, telling them where to fire, organising the formations etc..
I have never once thought "these infantry are useless" but have often thought "I really used those infantry poorly" - Armour is a similar story, while this was a war of movement, I stuck to my halt and fire techniques from WW2 and did fine.
Mortars, while annoying that they can't be transported by vehicles, work just as well as they did in Kursk - Area fire on suspected enemy positions worked a treat, and when used just prior to the assault it often resulted in a quick defeat.
The maps and scenarios, while varied, offer little replayability due to the fixed AT positions and AI scripts - However, there is the option of creating your own missions/maps and indeed campaigns. This alone would make the game (or any ToW games) worth the purchase. But of course this is only something that would appeal to a portion of the customers and many people won't ever use this - It is a true shame, it is just as easy as the Quick Battles from Combat Mission - Within a minute or two you can be playing a mission you've never seen or played before.
This adds dozens of hours worth of playtime, even more if you want to play as all the available factions.
There's still MP, but for me MP doesn't work in a game like this - I spend most of my time thinking, planning and pausing the game to issue orders.
All in all I think this is worth the buy for ToW fans, but I would also issue the warning that it is not as polished as Africa or Kursk and there are indeed bugs - I am not aware of any fixes or patches coming but it works well enough to warrant a purchase if the price is "right" ;)
