History VideoGame / ActOfWar

* HeroMustSurvive: If either Jefferson or Oz show up in a mission, they have to survive or it's game over.

* MissingBackblast: Probably ''over''averted, where the player can have infantry occupy buildings for added protection. Attempting this with rocket-armed troops will result in the death of the rocket guy, some or all of any other infantry in the building, and considerable damage to the building itself the instant something hostile comes within range of the garrisoned building and those rocket guys open fire on it.

There are three factions in the game, [[YanksWithTanks United States Army]], [[EliteArmy Task Force Talon]] and the [[NGOSuperpower Consortium]].

The ''Act of War'' series is a RealTimeStrategy franchise developed by Eugen Studios (now better known for the ''VideoGame/{{Wargame| EuropeanEscalation}}'' series) and published by {{Atari}}, which is based on the works of DaleBrown and features modern warfare along with some TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture sci-fi technology, excellent 3D graphics, pre-rendered CutScene videos and its own music. The game was originally released as ''Act of War: Direct Action'' and has an ExpansionPack named ''Act of War: High Treason''. There's also a SpinOff TowerDefense game called ''Act of War: Urban Defense''.

* DaleBrown: The mind behind the plot of the game.

* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Chamberlain, the US Secretary of Defense in ''Direct Action''. [[spoiler: He turns out to be a member of the Consortium, so that might be the real reason for his interference.]]

A SpiritualSuccessor, ''Act of Aggression'', [[http://www.pcgamer.com/uk/2014/08/09/eugen-systems-announces-act-of-war-successor-act-of-aggression/ has been announced.]]

* YanksWithTanks: Of course, with virtually everything they use on the battlefield being taken from real life.

* YanksWithTanks: With more focus on elite special forces and advanced tech.

* GaulsWithGrenades: The French AMX-10 RC serves as their main tank unit.

* RussiansWithRustingRockets: A considerable amount of Consortium equipment is Russian in origin: Mi-17 construction copters, AK-74 assault rifles, RPG-7 rocket launchers, SA-7 AA missiles, Kornet guided AT missiles, BTR-80 IFVs, Tunguska AA vehicles, Tu-160 bombers and Mig-21 fighters (campaign only).

* YanksWithTanks: Consortium units that don't use Russian equipment tend to use stolen prototype tech from the US, like the YF-23 Black Widow and Falling Star WMD. They also use captured US equipment quite often during both campaigns.

* RussiansWithRustingRockets: Quite a few of the mercenaries are using Russian equipment.

* SuperiorFirepowerBombers: US Army have access to the B-2A Spirit.

The ''Act of War'' series is a RealTimeStrategy franchise developed by Eugen Studios and published by {{Atari}}, which is based on the works of DaleBrown and features modern warfare along with some TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture sci-fi technology, excellent 3D graphics, pre-rendered CutScene videos and its own music. The game was originally released as ''Act of War: Direct Action'' and has an ExpansionPack named ''Act of War: High Treason''. There's also a SpinOff TowerDefense game called ''Act of War: Urban Defense''.

* MightyGlacier: The Mi-35 Hind-D copter is slower than its counterparts, but it has enough armour and HP to survive loads of punishment. Once upgraded with rocket batteries and missiles, it can win a one on one fight even against most AA units.

** The M2 Bradley, which packs a fast-firing 25mm chaingun. Can be upgraded to fire TOW missiles.

* InvisibilityCloak: The Electronic Fighting Vehicle (EFV) in the expansion can give this to any friendly unit nearby, except for other [=EFVs=].

* FunWithAcronyms: [[PoweredArmor S.H.I.E.L.D]] stands for '''S'''uper-'''H'''igh Mobility '''I'''nfantry '''EL'''ectronic '''D'''efense System.

* SemperFi: Task Force Commandos are drawn from the USMC's Maritime Special Purpose Force, if one of their order confirmation lines added in ''High Treason'' is to be believed.

* MagneticWeapons: The Consortium's only defense buildings are railgun turrets, which are exceptionally effective against everything. Their Akula stealth tanks can also be upgraded with dual railguns.

The ''Act of War'' series is a RealTimeStrategy franchise developed by Eugen Studios and published by {{Atari}}, which is based on the works of DaleBrown and features modern warfare along with some TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture sci-fi technology, excellent 3D graphics, pre-rendered CutScene videos and its own music. The game was originally released as ''Act of War: Direct Action'' and has an ExpansionPack named ''Act of War: High Treason''.

* CriticalExistenceFailure: ZigZagged. Infantry will lose speed when their health drops below half, and infantry, vehicles and ships can't shoot when badly damaged enough. Structures and aircraft, on the other hand, don't lose any of their capabilities as they take damage.

** In the second San Francisco mission, [[PoweredArmor SHIELD units]] are deployed to halt the Consortium's invasion despite Chamberlains concerns over revealing them to the public.
** In the final mission, [[spoiler: President Baldwin authorizes the usage of [[YouNukeEm "Wolverine" tactical nukes]] in ''Washington DC'' to bring down the targeting systems for the [[ColonyDrop Falling Star WMD]] before it can destroy the White House.]]

* TheMasquerade: A mundane version occurs in the second San Francisco mission in ''Direct Action'', when Richter asks General Kelly to authorise the use of SHIELD units. Chamberlain rejects it on the grounds that there are reporters all over the city and the revelation of the US military having PoweredArmor would be the icing on an already disastrous situation. Richter counters that [[GodzillaThreshold things will get even worse without them]], and Chamberlain concedes.

* PoweredArmor[=/=]SuperSoldier: SHIELD units, soldiers wearing massive mechanical exoskeletons which allow them to [[LightningBruiser move faster, take more damage and carry bigger weapons]] than normal infantry can. Unfortunately, they become more vulnerable to anti-vehicle weapons.
* MagneticWeapons: The Spinner Drone defaults to a 105mm railgun, and the DD(X) Destroyer from ''High Treason'' has a pair of 155mm railguns.

* {{Nanotechnology}}: All TFT infantry and SHIELD units wear special nanotech uniforms that can heal them when activated by a Nanotech Healing Center.
* SemperFi: In ''High Treason'', Task Force Commandos are apparently drawn from the USMC's Maritime Special Purpose Force.

* ColonyDrop: The Falling Star project, the Consortium WMD, works by making a satellite fall over enemy targets, it can be upgraded with Ebola virus to deal additional damage to any unfortunate survivor.

* WeHaveReserves: Both in gameplay and in story, the Consortium can easily afford to take heavy casualties.

* InvisibilityCloak: The "Shadow Hawk" F-117A Nighthawk is, of course, an stealth plane.

The story centers around the efforts of Task Force Talon, an elite US counter-terrorism force led by Major Richter, to fight back the actions of the Consortium, an extremely powerful international organization [[WarForFunAndProfit conspiring to manipulate the economic order of the world for their own gain]]. Task Force Talon must counter their operations across the world, including in America itself.

** More prominent in ''High Treason'', since the plot of the game is about an attempted coup d'état of the US government.

* CriticalExistenceFailure: ZigZagged. Infantry will lose speed when their health drops below half, and both infantry and vehicles can't shoot when badly damaged enough. Structures and aircraft, on the other hand, don't lose any of their capabilities as they take damage.

* DecoyProtagonist: Jefferson is a lot more prominent in the first quarter of the game than he is in the rest of it. The expansion downright blurs him with Richter at times.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: The US President, who was rather prominent in the original game, gets killed at the start of the expansion, triggering the plot.

* TheMasquerade: A mundane version occurs in the second San Francisco mission, when Richter asks General Kelly to authorise the use of SHIELD units. Chamberlain rejects it on the grounds that there are reporters all over the city and the revelation of the US military having PoweredArmor would be the icing on an already disastrous situation. Richter counters that things will get even worse without them, and Chamberlain concedes.

* PutOnABus: General Kelly gets arrested for bogus charges at the start of the expansion. Like [[DroppedABridgeOnHim President Baldwin]], he was a prominent character in the original game and most likely dropped due to the lack of live action cutscenes.
* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: [[spoiler: While he's technically betrayed the US already, Chamberlain is killed by Zakharov after he targets Falling Star at the White House.]]

* ColdSniper: Excellent in their role, but you better make it fall back against any other kind of unit.

* SemperFi: Ironically, the basic infantry for the U.S. Army are Marines.

* AttackDrone: They love this trope a lot. They have construction drones, tank drones which can switch between a 105mm railgun, a rack of AA missiles or suicide bomber drones and drone planes. The expansion adds mine drones and a version of the aforementioned tank drone that carries a cruise missile instead.

* MagneticWeapons: The Spinner Drone defaults to a 105mm railgun.

* {{BFG}}: The Kornet team, which require two soldiers to be fired and only needs one to two shots to take down most tier 1 vehicles, they are also a GlassCannon.

* FlawedPrototype: The YF-23 Black Widow, a real-life plane which was cancelled because the US military preferred the more flexible and agile F-22 Raptor, can be built by this faction. It's the weakest plane in terms of damage output, but it can attack both air and ground units and drop bombs against structures, making it the JackOfAllTrades of aircraft.

* NGOSuperpower: The Consortium has enough money and tech to wage open war against America, even managing to occupy Washington DC.

* RenegadeRussian: Zakharov, the leader of the Consortium, is Russian. He also convinces a Russian army unit to join him.

* XMeetsY: According to Atari's official UK website for ''Direct Action'', PC Zone's exact words are "''CommandAndConquer'' goes to UsefulNotes/{{Hollywood}}".
** That said, ''Act of War'' is rather different from [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2 that time]] Command and Conquer actually ''did'' go to Hollywood.

[[caption-width-right:267:Tomorrow war has begun]]

The Act of War series is a RealTimeStrategy franchise developed by Eugen Studios and published by Atari, based on the works of DaleBrown, and features modern warfare along with some TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture sci-fi technology, excellent 3D graphics, pre-rendered CutScene videos and its own music. The game was originally released as ''Act of War: Direct Action'' and has an ExpansionPack named ''Act of War: High Treason''.

There are three factions in the game, [[YanksWithTanks United States Army]], [[BadassArmy Task Force Talon]] and the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Consortium]].

In terms of plot the Act of War series centers around the efforts of the United States Task Force Talon, led by Major Richter, to fight back the actions of the Consortium, an extremely powerful oil organization [[WarForFunAndProfit whose leaders conspire to manipulate the economic order of the world for their own gain]]. There are many twists in the story and many international organizations and governments end involved, as a result of this war is waged worldwide.

Weapons of mass destruction and air raids are available, the latter working with air control towers instead of the usual airfields. ''High Treason'' introduces the option to call for [[PrivateMilitaryContractors mercenaries]], powerful specialist units which can fight for you in exchange for periodical payments.

* CriticalExistenceFailure: ZigZagged. Infantry will lose speed when their health drops below half, and both infantry and vehicles can't shoot when badly damaged enough. Structures, ships and aircraft, on the other hand, don't lose any of their capabilities as they take damage.

* MonumentalDestruction: In ''Direct Action'', the Golden Gate bridge gets badly damaged during the campaign, and the last two missions have several Washington DC monuments that can be destroyed, though this causes mission failure for a couple of them.

* RidiculouslyFastConstruction: ZigZagged. Buildings are built ridiculously fast, but vehicles are dropped in by helicopter instead of being manufactured in the field.

* BadassArmy: To give you an idea, their basic infantry unit, the Task Force Commando, can easily dispatch any of their counterparts from the other factions without really much problem, and in ''High Treason'' you can upgrade them to Future Force Warriors to become even deadlier.

* PoweredArmor[=/=]SuperSoldier: SHIELD units, soldiers wearing massive mechanical exoskeletons which allow them to move faster and carry bigger weapons than normal infantry can. Unfortunately, they become more vulnerable to anti-vehicle weapons.

* CannonFodder: The Consortium can easily afford this, both ingame and in the story.

* FlawedPrototype: The YF-23 Black Widow, a real-life plane whose project was dropped due the US military preferring the Raptor due the later being more flexible and agile, can be built by this faction, however, although it's the weakest plane in terms of damage output it can attack both air and ground units and drop bombs against structures, which ironically makes it the JackOfAllStats amongst the planes of the game.

* MagneticWeapons: The Consortium's only defense buildings are railgun turrets, which are exceptionally effective against everything. They also have the Akula, a heavily armored stealth tank which can be upgraded with dual railguns.
* MightyGlacier: The Mi-35 Hind-D copter is comparatively slower than their enemy counterparts, but it has enough armour and HP to survive loads of punishment and once upgraded with rocket batteries and missiles it can win a direct fight against AA units.
* {{Mooks}}: The standard AK-74 soldier is this, as one TFT Commando can kill three of them.
* NGOSuperpower: The Consortium has enough money and tech to wage war against America, even managing to occupy Washington DC.

* WeHaveReserves: This is how Tier 1 works for this faction, most of their early units are cheap and fast to build, the Consortium had no problems in sacrificing them against their enemies forces, nevertheless a good player can maximize their utility while not losing them.
* RenegadeRussian: Zakharov, the leader of the Consortium, is Russian, he also convinces some Russian forces to join him.
* RussiansWithRustingRockets: Not just in the campaign, a considerable amount of units from the Consortium are Russian in origin: Mi-17 construction copters, AK-74 infantry, RPG-7 soldiers, SA-7 soldiers, Kornet teams, BTR-80 IFVs, Tunguska AA vehicles, Tu-160 bombers, Mig-21 (in campaign only).

* ZergRush: Considering how cheap is the basic infantry of this faction it's an affordable tactic, although it can be countered with a decent amount of effort.

* MacrossMissileMassacre: The "Rawhide" Smerch Rocket battery (misnamed in the game, it's actually the Russian TOS-1), which has even missiles than the US MLRS, great for annihilating the enemy in a rain of fire.

* RussiansWithRustingRockets: Some of the mercenaries seem to be Russians: The "Deathwing" Su-27, the "Iron Rain" Su-25 and the "Burning Legion" T-80.

In terms of plot the Act of War series centers around the efforts of the United States Task Force Talon to fight back the actions of the Consortium, an extremely powerful oil organization [[WarForFunAndProfit whose leaders conspire to manipulate the economic order of the world for their own gain]]. There are many twists in the story and many international organizations and governments end involved, as a result of this war is waged worldwide.

Along with the plot another highlight of the game is the realism of the combat mechanics, instead of more classic RTS where units are relatively cheap, have a wide range of sight even behind structures they are in front, keep fighting until having 0 hitpoints Act of War brings a delicate combat balance were units range of sight depends on the terrain and usually deal heavy damage and can be combat crippled, on this sense the long term economy of the game centers around prisoners of war, a result of critically injured enemy troops or non-combat personal from destroyed vehicles and buildings being captured and sent to detention camps where they produce additional income.

Weapons of mass destruction and air raids are available, the latter ones working with air control towers instead of the usual airfields, also, ''High Treason'' introduces the option to call for [[PrivateMilitaryContractors mercenaries]], powerful specialist units which can fight for you in exchange of a periodical funds taken from your resources.

* CommandAndConquerEconomy: All three factions run on one single resource, money, this can be adquired through oil derricks and [=POW=]s.

* CripplingOverspecialization: The natural result of ingame balance demand this trope.
* DaleBrown: the mind behind the plot of the game.

* EliteMooks: The U.S. Army and Consortium have the Delta Force and Optical Camo Soldier, respectively. TFT is stuck with Task Force Commandos as their only basic infantry type until High Treason when they get access to Future Force Warriors.

* FullMotionVideo: Perhaps the only recent game bar CommandAndConquer to use these, with some surprisingly high production values.

* GarrisonableStructures: Civilian structures can be occupied, with the counter options being snipers and and sending men in. You can also place troops on top of them.
* GlassCannon: Some of the infantry units and even vehicles are this, they can deal a massive amount of damage but cant survive too much enemy fire.
* HitPoint: the game takes an interesting twist on this sense by making the units lose combat capabilities after having their hp reduced to less than a fifth of their total life, in the case of the infantry the move slower after losing half of their life and will not viable to move after suffering critical damage, making them easy to capture. The structures and planes on the other hand follow the CriticalExistenceFailure trope.
* HonestCorporateExecutive: Not instantly apparent, but the oil CEO you rescue at the first quarter of the game comes off as this when one realises that he was resisting Consortium efforts to take over the Egyptian oilfields (which were the only viable oilfields left in the world) and paid a heavy price for it.
* HumanResources: more like POW resources, you receive money for every enemy infantry unit captured, and every faction has an special structure which can generate money with the enemies you hold in custody.
* TheMasquerade: A mundane version occurs in the San Francisco missions, when Richter asks General Kelly to authorise the use of S.H.I.E.L.D. units. Kelly rejects it on grounds that there are reporters all over the city and the revelation of the US military having PoweredArmor would be the icing on an already disasterous situation.
* MoreDakka: What you can expect from a game about modern (and plausibly futuristic) armies.
* NighInvulnerable: In campaign mode, Sgt. Major Jefferson. He has a ridiculously high health bar and a very, very fast HP regeneration rate. Additionally, whenever his HP goes below a fifth (where any other infantry would slowly die a painful death) Jefferson keeps regenerating and gets back up soon thereafter, making him very hard to capture. The downside? If you lose him, it's game over.
** Oz can also be considered this in High Treason.
* PutOnABus: General Kelly gets arrested for bogus charges at the start of the expansion. Like [[DroppedABridgeOnHim The President]], he was a prominent character on the original game and most likely dropped due to the lack of live action cutscenes.
* RidiculouslyFastConstruction: while on the practice this is basically what is going on, the developers added the visual animation of the vehicles coming in containers carried by helicopters from outside the map, it's interesting to notice the helicopters are untargetable.
* ShootTheMedicFirst: This is particularly important because they can actually bribe your chance to make some [=POW=]s.

* TankGoodness: The Tier 3 tanks are very powerful.
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard, particularly evident with the artillery weapons, seems to know where are your forces, of course you can play it against it.
* TitleDrop: In the first game, there are two: when it is stated that Task Force Talon is a "Direct Action" team, and during the invasion of [[spoiler: San Francisco]] when Jefferson says that this isn't just a terrorist attack, but an "Act of War."
* UnitsNotToScale: Mostly subverted, while the soldiers are a bit out of scale with some of the vehicles most of the things keep a very realistic proportion, this is well noticed in urban combat, where the infantry can be seen inside the structure and and fire through the windows.
* WeaponOfMassDestruction: Every faction has one of this, ''and their counter system''.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: So, about that world oil crisis that triggered the plot...?
** It does receive a brief {{Handwave}} about the Egyptian oil fields being the most potent ones discovered yet, but that is it
** Also, we hear that the Consortium took over Cuba in the expansion, but that plot goes nowhere once the the TFT leaves the country.
* XMeetsY: According to Atari's official UK website for ''Act of War: Direct Action'', PC Zone's exact words for Act of War are "''CommandAndConquer'' goes to UsefulNotes/{{Hollywood}}".
** That said, Act of War is rather different from [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2 that time]] Command and Conquer actually ''did'' go to Hollywood.

* ColdSniper: excellent in their role, but you better make it fall back against any other kind of unit.
* CripplingOverspecialization: One of the main characteristics of this faction, they have units which are far superior than any other in a particular area, but are basically useless out of their main role, the F-15 is a good example, being the strongest fighter plane of the game but not having any weapons outside AA missiles.
* DeflectorShields: The Abrams tank can be upgraded with temporal shields which reduce any incoming damage.
* InvisibilityCloak: The Electronic Fighting Vehicle (EFV) can do that, along with some other tricks, see a few tropes below.
* MacrossMissileMassacre: The MLRS is all about this, and ''you will hate it'' when the computer uses it, on the other hand, you can use it too.

* ArmorPiercingAttack: The Heavy Sniper rifle, which is logical if you consider it's bullets dont just deal massive damage to infantry units but also to vehicles.
* AttackDrone: TFT loves this trope, they have construction drones, tank drones with suicide bomber drones, air drones and even mine drones, and of course we cant forget the Spanner drone, which launches a Titan cruise missile, which can be controlled by the player and has no range limit.
* AwesomePersonnelCarrier: The Stryker deserves a special mention, since you can upgrade it become a mortar platform or an antitank unit.
* BadassArmy: To give you an idea, the basic infantry unit, the Task Force Commando, can easily dispatch any of their counterparts from the other factions without really much problem, and in ''High Treason'' you can upgrade them as Future Force Warriors to become even deadlier.
* CoolCar: ''This is a buggy!''
* InvisibilityCloak: The Comanche and the V-44 have this.
* PoweredArmor / SuperSoldier: The S.H.I.E.L.D units count, they are soldiers using massive mechanical exoskeletons which allow them to move faster and carry bigger weapons than normal infantry could have, on the downer side, they become more vulnerable to enemy anti-vehicle fire.
* MilitaryMashupMachine: The Spinner is a drone tank which can transform into a suicide drone platform or AA battery, the S.H.I.E.L.D units may count too.

* FlawedPrototype: The YF-23 Black Widow, a real-life plane whose project was dropped due the US military prefering the Raptor due the later being more flexible and agile, can be built by this faction, however, although it's the weakest plane in terms of damage output it can attack both air and ground units and drop bombs against structures, which ironically makes it the JackOfAllStats amongst the planes of the game.
* InvisibilityCloak: Except for the Piranha artillery and the Blackjack bomber all the Consortium high tier units have stealth technology.
* IronicNickname: You have 2 technology levels for this faction, first one is "Undercover", you have no stealth units, the second one is "Revealed" with most of the units belonging to this tier being stealth.
* MagneticWeapons: The Constorium's only defensive system are railgun turrets, which are exceptionally effective against everything, they also have the Akula, a heavily armored stealth tank which can be upgraded with dual railguns.

* {{Mooks}}: the standard AK-74 soldier is this, as one TFT Commando can kill three of them.
* NGOSuperpower: The Consortium is basically this. Lots of money and lots of fancy weapons to wage war against America and give players an excuse to blow stuff up.

* RussiansWithRustingRockets: Not just in the campaign, a considerable amount of units from the Consortium are made in Russia: Mi-17 construction copters, Ak-74 infantry, RPG-7 soldiers, SA-7 soldiers, Kornet teams, BTR-80 IFVs, Tunguska AA vehicles, Tu-160 bombers, Mig-21 (in campaign only).
* ThePlague: Basically the objective of the Consortium in High Treason, and of course the Ebola loaded weapons they normally use.

* MacrossMissileMassacre: The "Rawhide" Smerch Rocket battery (misnamed in the game, it's actually the Russian TOS-1), which has even MoreDakka than the US MLRS, great for annihilating the enemy in a rain of fire.

* XMeetsY: According to Atari's official UK website for ''Act of War: Direct Action'', PC Zone's exact words for Act of War are "''CommandAndConquer'' goes to {{Hollywood}}".

[[/folder]]

* CommandAndConquerEconomy: All three factions run on one single resource, money, this can be adquired through oil derricks and POWs.

* ShootTheMedicFirst: This is particularly important because they can actually bribe your chance to make some POWs.