It never looks much good, and nor does it make many suggestions as to what you're supposed to be doing.Р”В«ut if you do remember to bring your tanks, and if those tanks actually capture something, then you'll accrue victory points. This, regrettably, is representative of Shattered Union's generally crappy interface. The fact that there's no default attack force can be a bit annoying, and you'll find yourself entering battle with a single jeep if you're not paying attention. These units must be selected pre-battle, and must be deployed and used to capture a number of hexes across the map. With each battle you have access to a basic 40-odd units, which inflates as you spend money on new death machines. It's annoying, in ways that will induce mild cussing.Р”Р„nyway, Shattered Union sits right in the middle ground of turn-based gaming, failing to do anything that would be unfamiliar to gamers who have squatted in this hexagon-based territory during the past decade or so. Whilst on the theme of tedium I'll mention the camera controls: they aren't good enough, and don't allow a decent overview of what's going on. That in itself can get a bit tedious, which is a shame, because tedium doesn't mean prizes. Upon these terrains you must deploy, move, and capture, one unit at a time. With hexes present, you are able to make tessellated tank war across the American terrain maps, which are of the muddy kind familiar to wargamers of any era. If it weren't for the hex then the turn-based strategy of Shattered Union would be significantly less interesting.

The other is the tactical kind: a geometry versatile enough to divide terrain up into lots of useful little segments. One is the fun kind: useful in witchcraft and voodoo amusements. As all gamers know, there are two kinds of hex. This portion of the game gives you time to fix battered Humvees and to make decisions about where to invade next, and also to admire poorly-directed cut-scenes about events in this farcical Yank war. The campaign consists of boardgame-style rounds, and is played out on a 2D map divided into strategic regions. Sure, the United States probably should be balkanised to bring about world peace, but if it doesn't make a decent videogame then it's really not doing anyone any favours. Yup, there's more to Shattered Union than some thinly-veiled swipes at Mr Bush and chums, even if that is enough to justify its existence to spineless liberals like me. Your war, should you choose to spend your cash on it, is one of turn-based strategy. They must wrestle, if tanks and helicopters can be said to wrestle, to bring mega-death and vicarious entertainment to our tired gaming souls. Texas, California, The Old Confederate States, New England, The Central Plains and er, the Microsoft Zone (not really), are all at each other's throats. The Europeans have - for some reason - captured Washington, and everywhere else has gone to the dogs (of war). Disagreements about who gets to be Mr President ends in the American Civil War Mk 2 and the greatest army of all time becomes confused and starts to shoot at itself. It goes like this: the United States is no more.

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