Act of War: Direct Action is a real-time strategy game developed by Eugen Systems and published by Atari. The game was released in March 2005 and features a detailed story written by Dale Brown, a retired captain of the US Air Force and a bestselling author. An expansion pack called Act of War: High Treason was released in March 2006 in Europe and Australia. The original game and expansion were later released as Act of War: Gold Edition, on 28 September 2007 in Europe. In September 2015 Eugen Systems released Act of Aggression which is considered a spiritual successor to Act of War. Gameplay 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. Plot 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