Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
Migrating, as many PC wargamers did at the turn of the century, from the Close Combat series to Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord, was like clambering out of a Carden Loyd Tankette after a long cross-country drive. The revolutionary 3D battlefields felt vast, the length of the Grim Reaper’s scythe preposterous. The countless Shermans I lost to distant specks of dunkelgelb gave me a new respect for the Allied tankers compelled to push Berlin-ward in the days following D-Day.
Demos are a digital wargamer’s Predator drones and PR Spitfires. They allow us to scout new battlefields safely and smartly. They furnish us with the information reviews, AARs and Let’s Plays can’t provide. I wouldn’t be without them, yet, these days, often am thanks to the questionable policies of sector-dominating militaria-mongers Slitherine/Matrix Games.Read the rest of this entry »
Soldier! Get a move on! Assault that Communism now! Quickly, it’s getting away! It’ll spill pinko juice everywhere if you don’t catch it on time. COMMUNISM MUST BE ASSAULTED OR WE SHALL ALL PERISH.
John has barely stopped playing Strategic Command World War I since he drew the attention of the world to the demo. Occasionally Alec will try to distract him from the giant, glamorous maps that have become his life by dangling a copy of Super Mega Picross Puzzle Evolved in front of him but, while his catlike reflexes will cause him to swat at the intruding item, he’ll soon return to strategising. I occasionally complain that “there’s something in my eye”, then nudge him in the ribs, jostling him from the Vollmer biography he’s reading, and add “or perhaps I’m just weepy because of the highly emotional ending in this new point and click adventure from Luxembourg.” He is unmoved. Don’t let him see the trailer for the expansion or we may never hear from him again.
The Flare Path has the full debrief on Combat Mission: Fortress Italy, which contains three campaigns covering the battle for Sicily. A clever waypoint system and strong choice of maps and missions led to the game being deemed a “grand old time”. If the notion of Sicilian skirmishes appeals but you like to take your tanks for a test drive before exchanging currency and driving them off the lot, today’s demo release may well be cause for rejoicing. Go ahead, rejoice, I won’t stop you. The demo includes three scenarios, a functional scenario editor and multiplayer. It’s available for PC and Mac.
People of Argentina, people of Britain, for the past week The Flare Path Strategic Studies Institute has been conducting detailed simulations of a possible Second Falklands War. Using Custer II – an engine built with the assistance of Bohemia Interactive, Battlefront.com, Turbo Tape Games and PopCap – we’ve run over 1000 separate conflict scenarios. Of these, 54% ended in stalemate, 19% were won by the defence industry, 12% by TV news networks, 8% by politicians, 5% by oil companies and 2% by anthropomorphic sunflowers. The FPSSI boffins are still analysing defeat data, but preliminary findings indicate that the biggest losers in any future Falklands bust-up would be hapless civilians, and servicemen and their families.
If you know Rock, Paper, Shotgun, then you’ll know about my love for strategy games. If I can’t find a bit of time for playing a strategy game in day, I quite lose my mind. Whether it’s a campaign in Men Of Battles, a quick squirmish in Company Of Men In Conflict, or some multiplayer co-op at lunchtime in Total Men: War Of Men At War, I have to get my fix. And today that’s going to be the Strategic Command World War I: The Great War 1914-1918 Demo. Catchy name, crazy game.
In June 2000 a metaphorical Tiger Tank burst from a metaphorical Norman wood and proceeded to blow the turrets off 14 metaphorical Shermans. I was those 14 metaphorical Shermans. Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord was the Tiger. Nobody is quite sure about the Norman wood.
War-gaming supremos Battlefront have released some footage of Akella’s naval simulator, PT Boats: Knights Of The Sea, and I’ve post it below for your inspection. The game is supposedly a strategy-action hybrid in which you can control warboats from German, Russian and Allied forces in World War II at both strategic and tactical levels. It certain looks intriguing. We first spotted this on the horizon early this year, and release is supposedly imminent, but there’s no firm date. Anyway, go take a look at boats firing their large weapons, below. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Tis the season to be inundated with World War II real-time strategy games. The most recent is this: the dusty North African sequel to the original Theatre of War, and what the creators claim is the “most realistic WWII game ever”. So realistic it’ll leave sand in your tea, or something. The 786mb demo features a tutorial level and what is apparently a single level from the US campaign, “The Battle of Sidi Bou Zid”. I’ve not had a chance to play it yet, so perhaps someone who has will kindly share their thoughts on it below.
The full game is out in the 24th of April, and there’s a whole bunch of money-saving pre-order shenanigans going on over at there developer’s online publishing portal here.
