We had only a short amount of hands-on time with a development build on the Xbox 360, but the thing we noticed quickly was the control scheme. Although it's a daunting task to take something as complex as an RTS and map its many menus, unit selection, and objective lists to a console controller, the developers have done a great job making it intuitive without dumbing it down. In the early part of the campaign mode, you'll need only the A button to progress, using it to select your units, move them where they're needed, and attack hostile targets. This isn't to say the advanced control options you'll learn later are unavailable, but first-timers shouldn't have any trouble picking it up, because the learning curve is nice and gentle. As you progress, you'll learn to use the primary and secondary weapon options, mapped to the X and B buttons, while the left and right bumpers will let you control your reinforcements and tactical aid.

here's no minimap function to be found here, but it's surprisingly tough to lose track of your troops. If you zoom out to the maximum game-field distance, you're presented with all of your forces clearly marked by green arrows and your foes in red--which gives you the option to survey the lands before you at a glance. If you're an up-close-and-personal kind of gamer, you can zoom in to watch your characters battle it out.
World in Conflict: Soviet Assault will also see the addition of voice support on both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 via headset. Unfortunately, during our demo the feature failed to work properly, but we were told it would be used to control the player's tactical aid and to order reinforcements. The technology, which is also being used in Ubisoft's upcoming Tom Clancy's EndWar, allows for quite granular control, letting you bark orders like "One jeep, two armoured transport" to have units selected. You won't be able to launch a multitiered attack sequence through voice, but you can tee up an impending missile bombardment with your dulcet tones, needing only a simple press of the A button to fire and forget. Massive did confirm that the feature would not be a part of the PC version of the game when it ships. Console users will also be able to use voice commands in tandem with Xbox Live and PlayStation Network chat multiplayer games, with the game muting your microphone when orders are given.

We'll hold off on passing judgement on the game's visuals until we see a more advanced build running, but from our short introduction, it appears to be a faithful reproduction of the high-spec PC-eating graphics we saw in the previous game. Explosions are just as chunky, smoke is thick and plumed, and environments are suitably verdant.

Is there enough here to satisfy the player who purchased and played through World in Conflict on the PC? At this point we don't really know, but for those who missed its original incarnation or are interested to find out what all the fuss is about, this version looks to hold plenty of promise for console gamers with a penchant for real-time strategy.