Sudden Strike 4, for the PS4, is a World War II military real time strategy game developed by KITE Games. The game relies on small unit tactics and does not require any resource gathering or base building. Instead of this it offers up limited reinforcements at predetermined points in a battle.

The game has three campaigns in single player mode with over twenty battles scenarios which follow the course of the actual war. You can play as either the Germans, the Allies or the Soviets. The game can be played as either easy or normal mode.

As well as the stand-alone missions, the game also support online quick skirmishes and a larger multi-player mode. Now, this isn’t well supported with few games to choose from but, of course, this may change if the game gains popularity.

There are a number options for you to play with. Under Gameplay there are numerous changes that can be turned off or on, but seriously I can’t see why any of them would be turned off, except maybe the voice acting which is somewhat repetitive. You have a handy schematic for the button layout, which unfortunately cannot be changed, under language you can change the unit’s commands from either English or their native tongue. Lastly under sound you get the usual options to turn the voice, sound and music up or down.

Context for the game is presented partially as introductions to each of the battles, but also in the extras folder there is actual footage from the second world war.

There seems to be a real problem with the control mechanism. In theory, it's simple: you use the x button to select a unit, or you can select multiple unit by pressing the left joystick which brings up a resizable circle for selecting units.

The problem with this is that it’s not always discerning enough - a circle is not necessarily the best shape for this. So, you find yourself moving individual units away from each other to form separate squads, there should have been a better way of doing this.

Even if this works, you're supposed to use the O button to give the troops movement orders, except this does not work one hundred percent of the time and there is no rational reason why it shouldn’t. Even if you succeed, some of the units tend to either block one another, in narrow places, or spend too much time trying to untangle themselves. This only becomes a problem it they decide to do this during a battle.

The playing areas tend to be well detailed with lots of opportunities for using cover, something that you’re going to need as the old tank rush techniques will quickly see your men decimated before your eyes.

The game progresses by giving you various waypoints to complete: capture a town, destroy a gun emplacement, that sort of thing. With your small number of troops and a large area to cover the game moves quite slowly, which gives you ample time to plan your strategy.

The game uses a fog of war rational so there is only a small part of the map that you have total overview at any one time. So rushing up a road with your tanks and infantry may be walking them smack into a bunch of tiger tanks and your mission is quickly over.

The main screen shows you the whole battlefield which you can inspect with the proviso of the fog of war so at least you can see the terrain into which your walking into, what you won’t see is the enemy positions or possible snipers which will cut down any isolated units.

Ultimately, there is much to like with this flawed game, both the graphics and soundscape add much but it depends on whether you’re willing to put up with the game's control issue limitations.

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Charles Packer