Sierra / Vivendi have just made our day, with the release of the first World in Conflict screenshots, showing off this promising new strategy game coming from the makers of the Ground Control series! The scenario, as we mentioned last week, will explore an alternative history, in which the two super-powers of the Cold War will make the decisive step towards World War III.

Fearing a certain collapse of the Soviet republics, in the year 1989 Russia invades Europe and the United States, shortly after. At this point, the single-player campaign will trow you at the command of a yankee army, while desperately trying to defend the country. The real fun, however, I expect to see in the multiplayer, where up to 16 players will be able to pick sides, clear out forests, buildings and bridges (by brute force), deploy infantry units, tanks, helicopters, planes and even atomics, but not before choosing one of the four specialties: Infantry, Armor, Support Forces, or Aerial.

The initial release date announced for World in Conflict is Spring 2007, so you'll have plenty of time to drool over this first set of screenshots. Later on, the game's official website will be www.worldinconflict.com; but for now, there's not much to see there.

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)