Call to Arms is a Real-Time Strategy game developed by Digitalmindsoft, the same developers behind the Men of War series, and shares a lot of game mechanics in common with the aforementioned series, but also brings its own twist to the genre: mainly by allowing players to assume direct control of the units under their command, where the game changes to a third or first person perspective and the player uses similar controls to that of a shooting game.
Call to Arms is set in the near future, where the United States forces and their allies are engaged in a war in the middle east against the Global Revolutionary Movement (GRM), a faction that started out as a small insurgency and managed to occupy vast portions of the region (alongside with parts of North Africa).
Not to be confused with the old kung fu film with the same name.
This game contains examples of:
- Arbitrary Gun Power: With the exception of Hardcore mode, direct hit, even point-blank and to the head, isn't enough to kill an enemy soldier, possibly to prevent the direct control mode abuse.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: The UAF General in the GRM campaign will pick up a rocket launcher and try to fight you.
- Black-and-Gray Morality: The GRM vs UAF conflict. The GRM is the gray side here. The UAF has no qualms regarding executing innocent unarmed civilians (according to the GRM view, anyway).
- Break Out the Museum Piece: Lee-Enfield bolt action rifles were common for the insurgent arsenal, before they upgrade to the infamous AK rifles.
- Civil Warcraft: The final GRM mission is a civil war within the GRM.
- Enemy Exchange Program: Very strongly encouraged in the game. The first GRM mission tells you to order your poorly armed militia to pick up UAF weapons. Even in the US campaign it is told that the GRM tanks and technicals are useful addition to your forces and that you should try and capture them by forcing the crew to bail out and have your engineers restore them to working order.
- Combat Medic: Most medics are just as capable in combat as their regular squadmates. On the other hand, Elite Mooks squads of all factions do not have a medic because each squad member is a capable medic themselves.
- Expy: The GRM for the GLA, although the GRM did not resort to inhuman tactics such as suicide bomber, human wave attacks, or toxin attacks, which the GLA are infamous of. The Eastern European Rebels is this for The Consortium.
- Faction Calculus:
- For the Coalition, USA is the powerhouse with the strongest vehicles and tough but few infantry, Germany is balanced with weaker but more versatile vehicles while still having strong infantry. The UAF is the subversive with weaker but more numerous infantry and vehicles only better armored that GRM vehicles that is until they can get their late game tanks.
- For the Resistance/Opfor, Russia is the powerhouse with infantry and vehicles on par with the US but fewer in number per squad. The Rebels is the balanced faction, while they have Glass Cannon lower tier vehicles like the GRM, their infantry are fairly well armed and quite tough. The GRM is the subversive faction with weak and poorly armed infantry but having more soldiers per squad and strongly rely on picking up battlefield salvage early on until they can get the stronger vehicles.
- Fauxrrari: While most vehicles have their proper names, the Humvees are called 'LAC' and the various Technicals which are obviously Hilux and Land Cruiser has 'Moyota' brand.
- Full-Circle Revolution: Once the GRM almost completely defeated the UAF, their leaders start doing the same thing that caused the GRM revolution in the first place.
- Heel Realization: Colonel Abu realized he has been used by the GRM leaders just before the final GRM mission, and took a bloody vengeance on the GRM leader.
- Game Mod: Like the Men of War series, Call to Arms has extensive mod support.
- Genre Shift: While the USA campaign has you playing as the well-equipped US military armed forces, the GRM campaign has you often resort in guerilla warfare and tactics.
- There are some Stealth-Based Mission as well as missions where you are driving a vehicle War Thunder style for the entirety of the mission.
- Good Guns, Bad Guns: Played straight with the US, Germans, and GRM. Averted with UAF and Rebels since they use weapons from both sides.
- Gray-and-Grey Morality: From the perspective of the United States forces, all they are doing is keeping the peace and stability in the region, something the GRM threatens to destroy. From the GRM perspective, they are just fighting against opressive governments, and they will fight whatever stands in their way.
- Jerkass Has a Point: The GRM is completely ruthless in the pursuit of its goals, but many people joined it because they had legitimate grievances against the authoritarian governments that were toppled by the GRM. They would have been the 'good guys' if they are not fighting the US-allied UAF.
- La Résistance: The GRM.
- Mook Commander: Squad leaders combat wise are the same as the other non-specialized soldiers, but they are able to automatically distribute items to their squad members.
- Reporting Names: Zig-zagged, sometimes Russian weapons used their original names (9M113 Konkurs, 9K115 Metis, 9M133 Kornet) but at other times the very same weapons are displayed with their NATO reporting names (AT-5 Spandrel, AT-7 Saxhorn, AT-14 Spriggan).
- Tank Goodness: From old Gen 2 tanks like the T-62 and M-60 Patton to the newer Gen 3 tanks like the T-80, Leopard 2, and M1 Abrams are present in the game.
- Tanks, but No Tanks: Some of the IFV and APC are called 'Tanks' in the game.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: Averted with the GRM, while they do resemble stereotypical Middle Eastern insurgent armed militia, they only attack military targets and never perform any terror attacks and most people immediately throw their lot with them until much later where the new regime becomes just as oppressive as the UAF.
- Uniformity Exception: Usually it is easy to pick out squad leaders among the troops because most of them are wearing something obvious like a red beret or bandana and to a lesser extent medics and engineers because of the backpack they carry. Elite Mooks and insurgents on the other hand looks identical to each other that you can only pick out the squad leader from the unique loadout they carry. This is more to help the player rather than the enemy since squad leaders can automatically distribute items like medikits and ammo to squad members.
- Russians with Rusting Rockets: The Russians are one of the last DLC faction, along with...
- We Are Not the Wehrmacht: The German Army.
- Weaponized Car: Just like the GLA before them, the Technical is the GRM's most common vehicles. They are Boring Yet Practical due to their low cost and powerful weapons they carry at the cost of having no armor.
- Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: How the GRM views the USA.
