By Kieron Gillen on August 5th, 2010 at 4:20 pm.
No demo yet, but the just released Battlefield Academy does seem at least its own thing, which is always intriguing. Well, if not totally own thing, a continuation of something which was its own thing. Battle Academy was a 2004 webgame for the BBC – which is still available – and Slitherine has made a stand alone expanded commercial re-imagining with the aid of John Buckley, Military Historian at the University of Wolverhampton. Multiple theatres, accessible style, lots of details, multiplayer and modding – full feature list on the site, where you can also buy it. A little footage showing some basic tactics follows…
(The title is from “School is a battlefield for your heart” from top 90s cancelled teen-drama My (So-Called) Life. Which didn’t fit, which makes me sad. Sigh.)
05/08/2010 at 16:32 Mr Chug says:
Why don’t we ever see any Daily Mail articles about games training teenagers to fight entire wars? I’m willing to bet you could find a few Sandhurst officer candidates (or in Mailspeak, NATION’S FUTURE HEROES) who were inspired to seek a command position by enjoying strategy games.
05/08/2010 at 16:45 Steelfists says:
They’re all too busy polishing to remember their motivations.
05/08/2010 at 16:34 Dyst says:
Slitherine Software are the gentlemen (and possibly women) that made that miracle software that they use on Deadliest Warrior. Basically you put in a bunch of numbers and it generates a hyper-realistic simulation of two random people having a fight in the woods.
Game doesn’t look brilliant to be honest.
05/08/2010 at 21:03 pipman300 says:
if this is anything like the show there’ll be like 50% trash talking between the two sides, 30% cool stuff about weapons and 19% preparations for the combat part but none of it will matter because the two judges will just go fuck it and pick whoever they like the most so the 1% you’ve all been waiting for will suck so badly people will be killing themselves.
05/08/2010 at 21:04 pipman300 says:
if you say those don;’t add up correctly well you are wrong because my super-duper post simulation percentagiser says it does.
05/08/2010 at 16:38 dancingcrab says:
My So- Called Life is awesome. ‘Nuff said.
05/08/2010 at 16:38 dethgar says:
But Kieron, is it good? Wot Do U Think?
05/08/2010 at 16:39 Kieron Gillen says:
Dunno. Just released. No Demo yet.
KG
05/08/2010 at 16:42 dethgar says:
This is unfair. I’m a spoiled american. I demand answers!
05/08/2010 at 16:42 Fumarole says:
You could have used Love is a Battlefield, since you like pop music so much.
05/08/2010 at 18:39 westyfield says:
Something a chap on a forum I frequent made: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9S4hk9c240
05/08/2010 at 16:57 Mad Doc MacRae says:
Good for Slitherine, they were Total War modders who went on to bigger things (and just in time, too).
05/08/2010 at 17:13 BooleanBob says:
I think the only thing I’ve really learnt from that vid is that the secret weapon that won the war for the allies was x-ray vision.
05/08/2010 at 18:14 Rich says:
Really it was down to their omniscient disembodied commanders, with the ability to telepathically give orders to hundreds of units in an instant. It’s surprising the war lasted five years really. If I had to guess at a reason why, I’d say it was drawn out by less than peak efficiency in the allied resource gathering operation, coupled with Axis turtling.
05/08/2010 at 18:37 Andrew Dunn says:
It’s particularly surprising since Wehrmacht veterancy really gives the advantage to the Axis in the late game, and the Americans didn’t really do very well with their M8 rush.
06/08/2010 at 18:23 Ginger Yellow says:
Yes, but the Axis got crushed on the Eastern Front by the OP Russians and their many uber engineers.
05/08/2010 at 18:39 jackflash says:
Does anyone on here play Axis and Allies Miniatures? Just curious.
05/08/2010 at 22:33 Gnarf says:
I’ve done the tutorials and 4 proper missions. It’s been good fun so far. It’s turn-based and tactical and it has tanks and Nazis and opportunity fire and things like that. Those are mostly good things.
It also has neat PBeM-like multiplayer system, where you totally just submit your turns to their server and then the games show up in your inboxalikething when it’s your turn again. Like in Field of Glory and Frozen Synapse and stuff. Being murdered by Nazis have never been easier and so on.
05/08/2010 at 23:07 MasterGH says:
Kieron, the buy link you’ve made goes to the an image rather than the purchase page.
Also, the game looks pretty neat, but at that price I’ll definitely be wanting a demo first.
06/08/2010 at 09:53 apa says:
This is not related to the other Battlefield games, is it?
06/08/2010 at 10:55 battles_atlas says:
Why is my license fee being spent on this?
06/08/2010 at 12:59 Kieron Gillen says:
This seems to be a licenced product, therefore exists to make the BBC money.
KG
06/08/2010 at 16:49 Diogo Ribeiro says:
‘Cause, mamma,
mamma, Sherman’s coming home!
Sherman’s comin’ – HOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMME
07/08/2010 at 19:36 Jajusha says:
Simply love the game. As others have said, its a steel panthers “light”. And the PBEM multiplayer is simply simply lovely, no hassle to you, the user, moving save games left and right, all is done automaticaly in the slitherine central server. You can setup private game servers to play with your friends or simply public ones, i wish games like Solium Infernum would have this PBEM system.