War Leaders: Clash of Nations

Sometimes babies are ugly. Try as you might to see some inner beauty, there are ugly infants out there. I'm sure that they're full of potential and they'll grow into beautiful people if fed properly, but right here and now they're a snotty, weird looking baby.

You want to love it, you want to smile at it, but those eyes are starting to freak you out and you end up sort of staring back like it's daring you to look away. Except you can't look away because then the mother will notice that you're avoiding eye contact with her offspring and she'll be offended.

War Leaders is a WWII RTS featuring a turn-based Total War-style campaign map and seven playable factions. Like the ugly baby scenario, there's a lot of potential here. The open-ended campaign structure allows the player to change the course of history and declare war on any nation they wish, and the presence of war leaders as units on the map means that assassination is both a threat and a tactical opportunity.

When units clash on the campaign map, the game shifts to a real-time battlefield. The battles are tactical, with diverse scenery and the inclusion of naval barrages from ships visible off the coast, but all of these solid features are marred by the game's ugliness. Lengthy load times, dated visuals, an obtuse interface and an unnecessarily decentralised recruitment system are some of the many features that'll have you eyeing this game with suspicion.