History VideoGame / OriginalWar

** Glimpses of the Soviet homeworld include Trotsky coming to power instead of Stalin, Hitler never raising to prominence and implicitely no WorldWarTwo, no Warsaw Pact, no Berlin Wall, no fall of the USSR (obviously), and a crisis or war where "North China" was supported by the USSR.

** In Soviet timeline, Trotsky became successor of Lenin and Stalin is completely unheard of. This leads to entire slew of people killed during https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Purge left unmolested and be prominent figures in Soviet history. Hitler is also unknown and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, at least in a form as we know it, never happend.

* AlternateUniverse: The Americans in the first timeline go back in time to steal the time machine, creating a timeline where they are dominant. The Soviet Union from the second timeline sends people back in time to counter this, and meet the Americans from the first timeline. Rather than creating a StableTimeLoop, a third timeline is created where everyone fights; the choice of campaign determines the events in this timeline.

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: Both campaigns require you to kill people who is not a threat at some point.

** In general, just try to picture this game from the perspective of the apemen.

* RegeneratingHealth: Downplayed significantly. As long as any character has above 2/3 of total HP (so it stays "green"), it will slowly regenerate to full value. Dropping below 2/3 (yellow) will prevent that effect and require a medic to heal back.

* AndroclesLion: [[spoiler:Berezov]] is a human example. If you don't kill him [[spoiler:and he doesn't escape your custody,]] he will allow [[spoiler: Andy Cornell]] to escape when he is taken prisoner by the Russians.

%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

The titular war revolves around a rare mineral called [[UnObtainium Siberite]]. Originally found in Siberia, it is discovered by the US military during the allied intervention in the [[RedOctober Russian Civil War]] in the 1920s, along with an alien artifact, EON. The artefact and a small amount of Siberite is smuggled out of Russia, and experiments eventually determine that Siberite is both a catalyst for cold fusion and fuel for EON -- which is revealed to be a TimeMachine. With no safe way to acquire the priceless Siberite from the Russians, another approach is decided upon: to send a task force back in time 2 million years on a one-way mission to mine and transport the Siberite over the then-intact land bridge between Alaska and Siberia. Upon arriving, however, the task force members are scattered in both time and space, and much to their surprise find themselves beset by hostile Russians.

* ChekhovsGunman: Many characters have an impact later in the game than you might assume at first, if you can keep them alive.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Apemen soldiers. They fire slowly, wear no armor and gain very little experience. They are really only useful for garrisoning buildings or [[CannonFodder attracting the attention of enemy units]] while your ''real'' soldiers kill them.

* CoolBike: All Arab vehicles are bikes. They can be wheeled, tracked, both, and even inflatable and capable of going over water.

** Kirilenkova [[spoiler:is revealed to have become a mercenary in Yugoslavia the American home timeline. This earns her the loyalty of Xavier, even though she has never met him before.]]

* StrongFamilyResemblance: Burlak's older brother, Vsevolod, looks like him except with brown hair and a short beard. You are excused if you thought he was a Burlak from another timeline at first.

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The "present day" of the game is 2004, three years after the game was released. Amusingly, UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin is mentioned as a ''past'' president of Russia in the American home timeline, who by 2004 [[HilariousInHindsight he has been succeeded by a fictional one.]]

* DisasterDemocracy: A really bizarre case happens in American campaign. [[spoiler: After General Harrison dies, the troops cast a vote for new commander of their mission, instead of simply following military protocol and chain of command. What makes it weird is the fact Powell would take over in standard situation (he's 2nd highest ranking officer) anyway, but instead you have soldiers ''willingly voting on that jerk'' for no apparent reason and he barely wins over [=MacMillan=] by just a handful of votes]].

** Quite a few moves of [[GeneralFailure Powell, Platonov and Pokhriskin]] in the campaign.

* DisasterDemocracy: A really bizzare case happens in American campaign. [[spoiler: After General Harrison dies, the troops cast a vote for new commander of their mission, instead of simply following military protocol and chain of command. What makes it weird is the fact Powell would take over in standard situation (he's 2nd highest ranking officer) anyway, but instead you have soldiers ''willingly voting on that jerk'' for no apparent reason and he barely wins over [=MacMillan=] by just a handful of votes]].

* VideoGameCaringPotential: Every human unit in the game is a unique individual with RPG-like stats, and when they die, they are KilledOffForReal. It is often better to deploy inferior remote-controlled or computer-controlled vehicles just to avoid risking your precious soldiers. In the campaign, you also tend to miss out on story content if someone dies.

* BlackBestFriend: Andy Cornell is an OldFriend of John MacMillan.