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12 months ago
Feature: Hit Parade
An entirely objective ranking of the 50 best PC strategy games ever made, now freshened up to include our favourites from 2017 and 2018. From intricate, global-scale wargames to the tight thrills of guerrilla squads, the broad expanse of the genre contains something for everyone, and we've gathered the best of the best. The vast majority are available to buy digitally, a few are free…
2 years ago
Feature: Graham recommends Pip a WW2 strategy game
Game Swap is a new series in which one person recommends another a game they might like. This week, Graham suggests Pip play turn-based wargame Unity of Command [official site]. Graham: Pretty much everyone who has ever written about Unity of Command, myself included, has described it as a gateway into the normally inaccessible historical strategy genre. That's because it has simple, clean artwork and…
5 years ago
Unity of Command is the wargame that non-wargamers should play. At least in my eyes - Tim Stone has his doubts, and he knows more than I. It's a difficult game, but not because of an overabundance of numbers or an obtuse interface like many of its kin. It's unforgiving AI and the need for clever battlefield tactics that will see your men falter and…
In a world where it's increasingly likely that game bundles will soon be given away with Happy Meals, people are often flabbered right down to the gasts when they see the prices over on planet Matrix. The wargaming/strategy publisher doesn't discount its back catalogue as often as some companies discount their front catalogue, so when the annual holiday sale rolls around, it's worth paying attention…
Feature:
Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time. Proving that sometimes the simplest games are the most effect, Unity of Command distilled the wargamer's love of hexes and history to create and Eastern front game that is all about the cold number of war. Strange, then, that it should be one…
6 years ago
Feature: Simulation & wargame blather
Knickers. I've just drawn Reader #3232 in the RPS Secret Santa draw. This year I'm buying for a chap who scribbles scores on his two-year-old son's art, described Papers, Please as “adequate”, and last smiled in 1998*. Perhaps something in his reader file will trigger a gift idea. Hmm. It appears he “tolerates wasps” and has a “grudging respect for the work of 19th Century…
Unity of Command is a historical, turn-based strategy game set on the Eastern Front of World War 2. Wait! Come back. It's also accessible, setting your tank-commanding tactics and supply line-supporting strategies upon a clean, communicative map and making the hows and whys of your decisions as obvious as possible. Kieron liked it. Jim liked it. Adam liked it. John probably still hated it. So…
General Gillen dropped the turn-based strategy goodness of Unity Of Command behind RPS lines and hoped that it would conquer hearts, minds and hard drives: "PC-gaming everyman Alec would like it. I suspect Adam has already played it, and I equally suspect he likes it. But I suspect its poise isn’t enough to get the Jims of the world on board." Well, hear this -…
7 years ago
Feature: Simulation & wargame news
We spent the morning prodding it with anti-tank rifle rounds and DP bursts, and the afternoon nudging it with mortar bombs and rifle grenades. Nothing worked. The sun was disappearing into a hole in the museum roof when Persikov turned up with the captured flamethrower. “The trouble with you city boys is you don't know no zoology! Give me covering fire and I'll show you…
I hadn't played Unity Of Command until last night, and wow, was I missing out. "Hexed-based World War II wargame" doesn't usually add up to a crowd-pleaser, but this one has me (and even Mrs Me) completely engrossed. It's one of the strategy games that is relatively simple in its construction, and yet complex enough to demand lateral thinking about how your moves will impact…
Feature: Simulation & wargame loot
The Flare Path turns one this week. Here in the UK that means it can legally get its navel pierced, buy wine gums, point at clouds, and read Knut Hamsun on public transport. To commemorate the occasion there'll be no game newscasts or inscrutable intros today. The entire column will be given over to quizzes. Dozing adorably beyond the jump are five bushy-tailed Foxers, each…
Feature: Simulation & wargame news
RPS likes to give the impression that it's one big happy family, but believe me, behind the scenes you can't move without tripping over a feud, a grudge, or a hefty hunk of personal enmity. Just this morning I pulled into the office car park and found the 'the team' bickering like battlefield vultures. It seems Mr. Grayson had parked his Ferdinand in the spot…
You will recall that one of Comrade Gillen's many, many, many returns from retirement included this Unity Of Command review, in which he reported a strategy experience that was "accessible yet deep, attractive and with an AI which teaches you the core of the game by beating you around the head." Despite that kindly recommendation some folks thought it was a little pricey to take…
Feature: STALINGLAD!
I'm a shit Nazi, me.
Feature: Simulation & wargame news
The Flare Path has a bust of Napoleon on his mantelpiece, and a bust of Wellington on his piano. Sometimes, when he comes into the room unexpectedly, he finds these busts side-by-side on the sofa puffing on clay pipes, or stretched-out on the carpet poring over old maps. Last night he came downstairs in the small hours and discovered the pair riding around the room…
8 years ago
Feature: Simulation & wargame news
Most years I celebrate Trafalgar Day by getting tanked-up on Nelson's blood then nipping down to Warsash and chucking lit matches through Ian Brennan's workshop window. This year I thought I'd try something different. I thought I'd stay in and relay news of The Hunter, Unity of Command, rFactor 2, Automation and Kart Racing Pro, with the aid of my trusty Mackenzie Mk. IV electro-semaphore machine.
Feature: Simulation & wargame news
In the game development playground, wargame and sim devs are easy to spot. They're the ones sitting on their own in quiet corners with noses in history books. They're the ones transfixed by warring ant colonies, feathery vapour trails, and distant trains. This conspicuousness and level of distraction makes them soft targets for playground predators. This week's Flare Path commences with a tale of despicable bullying.
