World in Conflict: Soviet Assault

World in Conflict: Soviet Assault
Developer(s)	Massive Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Ubisoft
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	NA March 10, 2009 EU March 12, 2009 AUS March 17, 2009
Genre(s)	Real-time strategy
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: T PEGI: 16+ USK: 16 (cut)/18 (uncut)
Media/distribution	DVD, Online Download

World in Conflict: Soviet Assault is an expansion pack developed by Massive Entertainment and Swordfish Studios for the real-time tactics video game World in Conflict. It features the ability to play as the Soviet Union in the single player campaign, against which the player fought in the original World in Conflict as well as adding additional multiplayer maps.

The game is set in an alternate 1989 in which the Politburo of the Soviet Union elects to take military action to sustain itself, rather than collapse. Failing to achieve aid diplomatically, the Soviet Union invades Western Europe. However, in addition to the standard US campaign, the player also assumes the role of Romanov, a Lieutenant in the Soviet Army under the command of Colonel Vladimir Orlovsky. Orlovsky also commands two other subordinates in his battalion, his nephew Captain Nikolai Malashenko and old friend Major Valeriy Lebedjev, a KGB officer attached to the battalion. The expansion adds a total of six Soviet missions interspersed between the original game's missions, thus completing the story and acting as an update for the campaign while retaining the original game's units and features.

The World In Conflict Complete Edition and stand alone Soviet Assault Expansion Pack were released in the United States on March 10, 2009 and later on in Europe and Australia on March 12, 2009.

Gameplay

The new expansion features 6 new single player missions and 2 new multiplayer maps. It features new missions in the single player campaign and will integrate these new missions with the current US campaign, meaning the two will be interwoven with one another. The Console versions were to feature voice commands that would allow units to be ordered and deployed onto to the battlefield through a headset. However this feature was never implemented for the PC version. The 2 multiplayer maps are available free of charge for owners of the original World in Conflict.

Plot

In 1989, the crumbling Soviet Union demands aid from the West but declares war when this fails. Spetznaz infiltrate and destroy US anti-air installments in West Berlin to make way for a full scale invasion. The Berlin Wall is destroyed as the Soviets move through, destroying the US 6th Armored Battalion, uniting Berlin and thus beginning World War III. Months later, Soviet forces launch a surprise invasion of Seattle and Orlovsky and his forces are tasked with pacifying the countryside. Guerrilla resistance has begun harassing Soviet forces and they respond with an attack on the guerrilla command. The guerrilla leader is captured but Orlovsky reprimands Malashenko for attempting to massacre American civilians.

Months earlier in the outbreak of the war in Europe, a stalemate in the fighting between the USSR and NATO results in a new task to conduct a raid on a Norwegian coastal base, thereby opening a bombing corridor to fly sorties against Britain and Europe and giving the Soviets the edge. During this successful attack, Orlovsky and his men learn that a NATO task force made an incursion into the Soviet Union. Orlovsky and his officers are ordered to return to the Soviet Union, where they defend a POW camp from a NATO attack force. Malashenko receives news that his wife and daughter were killed in a raid by NATO forces, and is motivated further by hate. He also states his disdain over the Soviet government and its agencies' lies to the Army over enemy statistics.

The events return to the aftermath of Cascade Falls, in which US forces ordered a nuclear strike on the town to annihilate the oncoming Soviet forces. The Red Army retreat from Cascade Falls back to Seattle to prepare for the inevitable US counterattack. Romanov is given command of Frontal Aviation assets and is tasked with defending trucks with injured Soviet troops. During the mission Malashenko shoots and kills Orlovsky for ordering the forces to go back home instead of attempting the impossible defense of Seattle. Lebedjev assumes command of the remaining Soviet forces and as they hold off a massive US attack he quickly realizes, like Orlovsky, that Seattle cannot be held and makes plans for them to go home. A deluded Malashenko, however, proceeds for Seattle where he is sure to meet certain death.

Distribution

The expansion was delivered through two methods: online download and retail. There are two retail versions, with one consisting of the expansion only, with another, called "World in Conflict: Complete Edition", containing the original game and the Soviet Assault expansion. The online download only contains the Soviet Assault expansion and is designed for players who already have the original game.

All the multiplayer content released for Soviet Assault (new maps) is available free of charge to the World in Conflict community via Massgate. However the new single-player missions must be purchased for the user to access the content.

Development

Soviet Assault was going to be released in Q4 2008 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as a stand-alone game, and for Windows-based PCs as an expansion pack. However, the console versions were cancelled.

On July 29, 2008, Sierra dropped World in Conflict: Soviet Assault, among other games from their productions, putting the future of World in Conflict: Soviet Assault in question.

On August 6, 2008, Sierra put Massive Entertainment up for sale. On November 11, Massive was acquired by Ubisoft.