World War III: Black Gold

Although basically all the vehicles run on gasoline, not to mention the factories and the various products derived from oil, people seem to forget the fact that there's a finite amount of it on Earth and we are slowly running out of it. However, things are not yet that bad, which makes it rather hard to believe in a world without the black gold.

World War III: Black Gold is a real-time strategy game that poses the question of what would happen if the world suddenly runs out of oil, due to a miscalculation of how much of it is actually left. Thus, after an announcement from the scientists about the imminent oil shortage, the entire world is thrown into chaos and the economy plummets, giving the nations around the world the perfect excuse to light the fuse under World War III.

Hence, the game centers around the battle between three superpowers, including the United States, Iraq and Russia, which are at each other's throats in order to gain control over the remaining oil supplies. The differences between the factions can be clearly seen in the gameplay, since each one of them has a few special abilities that can turn the tide of the war.

While the actual concept may not be revolutionary in any way, there are a few things that differentiate the game at hand from the rest of the RTS horde, mainly when it comes to the building mechanics and resource gathering. Hence, in order for you to start making an income, you must pump oil from the ground, which in turn allows you to deploy more buildings and train better units.

As far as the battle sequences are concerned, the experience might leave you a bit of a sour taste, especially since the pathfinding is lackluster and the units quickly scatter around just to find a way through the trees ahead of them. The interface uses the left-click to move and attack, which can be kind of a bother for experienced RTS players.

While World War III: Black Gold certainly does not impress or turn the genre upside down, it does bring a few nice things to it and you can spend a few hours enjoying the good AI, interesting plot and satisfying battles. On the other hand, the rest of the elements can be a deal breaker, especially if you are an avid RTS fan and you know how to recognize bad gameplay.