Act of War: Direct Action

The game includes a combination of pre-rendered cut-scenes and over an hour of live action film. Live action was shot in Montreal, Quebec, Canada during the summer of 2004. Pre-rendered cut-scenes were done using machinima technique, wherein one person plays while being recorded from different angles (with all interface elements hidden). The recorded video is then post-processed and provided with sound effects and dialog.

In Act of War, heavily wounded soldiers are immobilized and are unable to engage in combat until they receive medical attention. They may bleed to death or be taken as the prisoners of war by the enemy. Buildings are realistically destructible and barricades can be created. Unlike RTS games in which all-around-effective units may be mass-produced and used almost exclusively over other units, Act of War requires the player to use a variety of units.

The soundtrack is composed by Marc Canham and Jonathan Williams, and performed at Nimrod Studio Orchestra. It was released on 7 July 2006.

Act of War is set in what is only referred to as "a near future" (presumably 2017 or 2023, since the game starts on Wednesday, May 10) where the gasoline prices in the United States have reached over $7 a gallon due to an economic crisis. One week before the "World Energy Forum" meeting in London, a terrorist bombing destroys an oil facility in Houston. As such, an elite top-secret military unit known as Task Force Talon is assigned to guard the World Energy Forum. The squad thwarts an attack but two VIPs are kidnapped: Arthur Kingman, CEO of TransGlobal Energy corporation (TGE), and Yegor Zakharov, the representative of the world energy consortium. Task Force Talon manages to recover these VIPs apparently before they are murdered. Later, an unknown terrorist faction launches a massive military assault in San Francisco. With the aid of Task Force Talon, the attackers are eventually neutralized. To protect against further attacks on United States soil, the U.S. government orders a full troop recall: U.S. forces from all around the globe are ordered to return to the United States.

The commander of Task Force Talon, Major Jason Richter, however, is not satisfied with the troop recall order. He has noticed that the primary target of the terrorist attacks in Houston, London, California and other places around the globe has been TGE, the oil company that is on the verge of resolving the oil crisis. Richter thinks that without U.S. troops in Egypt, terrorists will destroy TGE. Therefore, Major Richter goes against presidential orders and deploys Task Force Talon forces to Egypt. They manage to gather enough intelligence to convince the President to support their military defense of the TGE complex in Egypt. In a battle within the Egyptian TGE refinery, Task Force Talon deploy cutting-edge military technology against an enemy that now possesses self-propelled artillery and invisible tanks. Eventually, Task Force Talon prevails.

During the battle in Egypt, Task Force Talon finally discovered the identity of their enemy: The Consortium, led by Zakharov, who owns two of the labs that produced stealth tanks. The United States government, Task Force Talon and the Russian government launch a joint assault against Zakharov who has a stronghold in Russia and is now in possession of a full army, a small air force and even 9K720 Iskander ballistic missiles. Through the joint effort, Zakharov is eventually captured.

Major Richter personally takes Zakharov to the United States. Upon arrival however, he finds Washington, D.C. under the military occupation of the Consortium. Even as the U.S. forces struggle to liberate the United States Capitol, the 81st U.S. Armored Division, taken over by the Consortium, rescues Zakharov and occupies the White House area. The President of the United States attempts to escape but his helicopter is shot down. Only with the aid of Task Force Talon, the president manages to evade capture. Eventually, the U.S. army and Task Force Talon mount a counter-attack on the occupied the White House, facing cutting-edge enemy technology that is supposed to be top-secret U.S. prototypes. Even as they take back the White House, Zakharov unleashes The Falling Star, a space-based superweapon. Having deployed Patriot batteries to counter the Falling Star, Task Force Talon and the United States Army deploy cruise missiles to destroy Zakharov's base. Zakharov is discovered dead after Major Richter, standing atop of a massive smoldering crater, orders a DNA analysis of the remnants of the bodies.

The game was a runner-up for Computer Games Magazine's list of 2005's top 10 computer games.[2]

The game received some updates (patches) :

• 2005: v1.06.[3]
• 2014: v1.063[4] about screens resolutions.

Officially, Installed from a DVD is only Windows 2000 and xp will work and later versions(Windows Vista, 7, 8.1, 10) will not work. but, Officially digital distribution GOG.com and steam plates may work on more computers.

Unofficially, there are reports that D3D9.DLL works by putting it in the Act of War installation folder and applying Windows XP compatibility. However, Tomahawk missile bugs occur when operating system after XP is operated.