In order to make this work, they had to develop a brand new AI system to ensure that every single soldier on the battlefield is smart enough to hold their own. "These soldiers act and react like real soldiers - not like clowns or clones," Subbotin says.

He explains that the soldiers fight independently and behave differently from one another, and they're able to think a problem through if the tactics they're employing aren't working. So if a sub-machine gunner finds he can't hit that bloke on the second floor of that building after a few attempts, for example, he will pull out a grenade instead.

Or, if a soldier sees a tank approaching while he's busy wasting a load of troops with his machine gun, he'll switch to his bazooka and attack the tank - from the side, of course, because he knows he won't be able to do much damage to the front. Soldiers will also watch each others' backs and step up when needed, so if one of your snipers is killed, his mate will take over his position.

In fact, the AI is so good that you needn't do much work at all if you don't want to. If you've set the game's difficulty level to easy, Subbotin explains, "Some of the missions could be played like a big movie. So you just do a few clicks - okay, attack here, attack there - and then you can sit back, relax, and see how your tactics unfold on the battlefield."