Scratch the surface of most RTS releases and you'll find they share a common theme: farm resources, amass huge amounts of units and pummel the crap out of the opposition – things I'm sure everyone knows. On the other hand, there are tenets to each genre that gives it that uniqueness, that special blend that makes a lot of people happy enough to keep buying the games released within it. But twist and spin a few of those old concepts and something good might just eventuate. In a case of watching a hairy and well fed caterpillar metamorphose into something different, Joint Task Force (JTF) takes our pre-conceived notions of how an RTS should normally behave, slaps it about the head with a 2 by 4 and buys it a new wardrobe. The resulting combination of changes makes playing this RTS an invitingly worthwhile experience.

The premise behind Joint Task Force is straightforward and perhaps a concept that may one day come to pass; in the year 2008 JTF is formed by a majority UN vote. With emphasis on action and minimal bureaucratic involvement, JTF's brief is to stem the tide of world-wide terrorism, stopping murderous dictators in their tracks and of course hunting down the odd ego-manic wielding inordinate amounts of firepower.

The game revolves around the efforts of Major O'Connell, a career soldier with hopes of righting past military injustices he's been party to. As a hero and the one character that accompanies players throughout the whole game, players get to see O'Connell jump experience levels that are awarded via actions on the battlefield in the form of new abilities. The range of abilities (max of 9 for each hero) that can be unlocked run in accordance with the type of solider. For instance, as the commander, O'Connell unlocks the Tactical, Assault and SpecOps skills from the skill tree with each granting bonuses to nearby allies as well as more immediate skills such as increased Perception and Toughness abilities.

Small road block in Iraq.

The great thing about the hero system is that every soldier can attain hero status. All your soldiers gain experience points during the course of the game, so making available other specialist types of heroes, each with their own individual skill tree options. Once a soldier hits level 5 (that's if they bloody stay alive long enough), players are faced with a list of possible promotion choices after each completed mission, effectively bumping the soldier to hero status.

Infantry options are varied with the Ranger, Combat Medic, Commando, Marksmen, Engineer, Pilot and Vehicle Crew highlighting the strategic potential each class can bring to the battlefield through their individual skill trees. A hero selection screen pops up before every mission, giving players the ability to mix and match what type of hero to bring on the particular mission. Perhaps this indicates the approach I took while playing through each mission, but almost 70% of the soldiers I kept promoting to hero status kept dying, thereby minimising any advantage gained by the new hero skills ... ungrateful lazy bastards.

For this fast response type of force, you'd assume JTF would have a wide scope for military action – a high stakes, results orientated with accountability issues running last. Not so, as a neat element is introduced by means of unwanted media attention. Coming by way of bulletins and live-broadcasts shown sporadically to players at the top-left corner of the screen from a CNN-style news agency, the unit occasionally comes under the intense scrutiny of TV cameras watchful for all manner of negligence by the military. With TV ratings starting on neutral, players will need to watch out for extreme levels of destruction, particularly in populated urban areas. That said, players should save their progress before deciding to blow up the TV van with 5 simultaneous tank shells and numerous RPG rounds. While it may be a great morale boost for the troops, folks back home start getting nervous.

This strict compliance with a low civilian death toll comes in two forms with a maximum of ten civilian deaths allowable on any mission, after which the game ends. Secondly and by way of introducing one of the best action-orientated approaches to resource management in an RTS, players will be deducted money for their civilian killing ways.

An example of the insane levels of detail

In a nod to real world sensibilities, bad publicity equates to trouble so you have a few missions where your actions may result in a severe lack of funding. Players will start accruing massive amounts of money once the first few primary and secondary objectives are met on any mission. So with money comes power which helpfully gets delivered almost to the player's feet. O'Connell, as well as other heroes that haven't died yet, can requisition Infantry, Vehicles and Equipment to be delivered within each heroes radius of control/line of sight (helpfully indicated by circles about each hero) via skill upgrades.

For instance, players may receive $665k in payment for completing the next few secondary on the way to the primary objective. Now while that may seem a high amount, the reinforcements that are air-lifted in can be expensive. A Ranger will cost $A55k including delivery, a Marksman costs $130k but a full load of six of the basic Rangers will cost $180k. Attempt to bring in the light vehicles such as the Humvee or the Infantry fighting Vehicle (armed transports) will set you back quite a bit. Fancy some air support? Light Recon choppers cost $250k while the Ah-64 Attack chopper and AV-8B fighter jet cost $650k and $700k respectively. Support doesn't come cheap but chosen wisely the additional units can heap an inordinate amount of punishment to the enemy.

In an attempt at keeping the action moving at a steady pace, objectives and new locations are updated whilst on the same mission map, resulting in huge maps, much more money both given and spent and plenty of tactical options via smart map design. Usually one of the first requirements on any map is to take control of the local airstrip. It might be a good time to beef up the troop and vehicle numbers. It's only at this point that players can call in the heavy armour such as the M1A2 Main Battle Tank, Artillery and Mobile Flak Unit [AA]. Of course, these babies don't come cheap so wise use of the one resource in the whole game can assure players victory or cruel defeat.

Located within one of the most incredible looking RTS worlds I've yet seen, the game's environment is fully realised in 3D. Moving the camera's a breeze as the middle mouse button gets a firm work out rotating every which way. Zoom right up to highlighted units and players will instantly appreciate the extreme levels of detail heaped upon each object. Be it an individual palm tree swaying in the confines of the Columbian jungle or homes in snowy Bosnia slowly burning away in the dead of night, it's very obvious a lot of effort went into making JTF look special and play well. The picture shown in this review showing a close-up of an attack chopper easily illustrates the crazy levels of detail in something you'd normally think wouldn't need it. In fact, I played most of the game at bird's eye view, so I can't help but feel the effort will be wasted on most.

Spot the choppers

Dynamic weather effects also change the effectiveness of certain units, as I found out to my misfortune while playing an Iraqi based map. Having spent a fortune on attack choppers, I was having a grand old time right up until the sand storm from hell came over and made them just about useless. I'm a sucker for huge explosions though (who isn't) and JTF roars with explosive fury. It's an incredible sight to behold what became my favourite weapon, the Cruise missile, slamming into a building and reducing it and its enemy occupants into waves of glorious fire and ash – as the pictures shows, beautiful stuff.

The game drips with great sound and a kick arse sound track. Depending on the continent being fought on, speakers were blaring out various beats that blended right into the action. From massive explosions, unit chatter to the distant crackle of gunfire in deserted Bosnian streets, audio certainly wasn't playing second fiddle to the graphics (thankfully).

With JTF seemingly entrenched in the world's present and short-term woes, players won't find a futuristic scrap within the game. Its very much real-world scenarios and locations with real equipment so to that extent, the developers visited military manufacturers in effort to gain the low-down on the very latest gear available (an excuse for the pasty devs to soak up some sun I'm sure).

So with all this military hardware and high level of detail about, you'd expect some real world levels of damage. Happily enough, players can lay down huge amounts of destruction no matter the location as buildings convincingly implode when damaged enough, tanks topple over trees, power poles come crashing down with wires strewn about. Of course, ever mindful of those watching cameras and the civilian body count, players can topple buildings with gusto, especially on levels where the only cameras are floating high above in the form of satellites or unmanned drones.

Aftermath of a cruise missile strike

During the combat phase, even with an assortment of modern weaponry at my disposal the enemy were always willing and very able to give me a good kick in the arse. Like wolves going for the weakest member of the pack, I'd have my defences down to the point I'd have to fall back on the save point all too damn often. Placing soldiers or vehicles low on health or armour away from harm's way made no damn difference. Important supporting units such as the FRSV mobile repair vehicles and its crew of engineers would be the first thing to see explode, as well as combat medics. I learnt all too fast not having a varied unit structure with main air and ground defensive and attack options covered would spell trouble. It all made for a solid and well fought battle to the death.

While my review copy didn't have multiplayer activated, JTF has it covered for online junkies with Death Match, Domination and Battle Royal being the three main options. Customs battles can be made and fought, but the multiplayer aspect I'm willing to have a crack at is the Co-Operative Mode which allows you to play the single-player campaign with a friend over LAN or internet.

In conclusion, 2006 seems to be the year RTSs look to dominate the playing field and Joint Task Force seems to have what it takes to lead the pack. Explosive fast paced action with great graphics and fresh new RTS elements will have you lining up to nab this title from release.