Sudden Strike 4: European Battlefields Edition - Xbox One

Sudden Strike 4 marks a return to a more thoughtful breed of real time strategy game. Where many RTS games in recent years have focused on a relentless drive forward in each encounter, Sudden Strike 4 encourages greater deliberation and consideration of every unit under your command.

Much of that comes from the fact that there's no base building in this World War II game, and no other way to produce new resources. So, barring the occasional wave of reinforcements, what you're given is what you get. That means that you can't afford to throw away units as cannon fodder - at least not without very carefully weighing up the merits of doing so. Each asset must be used carefully. That extends to immobilised units - where in many games a disabled tank or artillery unit is to be discarded, here their carcasses litter the battlefield, affecting play, but you can bring them back into the action with repair units or medics for downed troops.

There are three campaigns to be played through, with some 20 missions to complete. Developer Kite Games has put a lot of emphasis on variety across the missions, so expect to see a range of different battlefields to test your mettle on. There are also over 100 different units, including the German bomber Heinkel He111, the British Hawker Typhoon fighter plane, the Russian T-34 tank and the infamous German Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger. Furthermore, there are nine different commanders to play as, including the likes of George Patton and Bernard Montgomery, and each changes the field of play with different abilities. Then, if you finally exhaust all that, you can test your prowess against other players with online multiplayer.

With this European Battlefields Edition, Xbox One owners get the added bonus of three exclusive maps! more