A modern-war RTS you can also play on foot
Call to Arms is set in modern warfare and mixes real-time strategy with third-person and first-person control. From the command view you can control several dozen units, place squads in cover, flank enemies, support allies while advancing on key objectives, plant claymores, fortify FOBs and set up mortar positions. At any moment you can drop out of the commander role and take over an individual soldier, playing them in third person or first person. Vehicles work the same way: you can take over a tank and fight directly, down to choosing the ammunition type you fire at a target. Helicopters are available for air support in online matches. Missions take place across rural areas, factories, railway stations and towns, where cover is everywhere and almost everything can be destroyed, so the environment is worth using.
Playing together with your group
The game supports online co-op and online PvP through Steamworks, so your group can either team up or fight each other. In co-op you run the cooperative campaign together, and you can also play user-generated content and set up custom battles in the editor. In competitive online combat each player decides how to contribute: one person can stay in the RTS view directing squads, covering advances and coordinating mortars, while others jump into individual soldiers, tanks or helicopters and handle the fighting themselves. That split works well for groups, since a few players can hold the big picture while the rest push objectives on the ground or from the air.
Before you start
Call to Arms is in Early Access, so expect things to change over time. The base factions are unlocked right away, and extra items let you customize your army further. Additional factions and singleplayer campaigns arrive through DLC and the Season Pass, and some of that content may not be available to every version of the game, or may arrive later. The game is heavy on both strategy and shooting, so a group that only wants to click around a map, or only wants to run and gun, will need to meet in the middle — the fun comes from switching between the two.