The official topics for this issue's Sounding Off were to be War in the Pacific and Air Assault on Crete. But, in case any of you had the idea that we were going to run this column systematically, we decided to run this review of Atlantic Wall instead. We'll save the first two games for next issue (although if you want to write on something else, go right ahead). Keep those reviews coming in!

SPI has acquired a deserved reputation for doing things big. One need only look at the titles we have been offered since War in the East to see the developing trend toward monster games.

Lately, SPI has been scaling down the size of the battles from which they generate their big games. Terrible Swift Sword and Wacht Am Rhein are games of single battles, albeit large ones, rather than simulations of entire fronts, as in the earlier giant games.

The latest of these is Atlantic Wall, a monster game of the D-Day invasion. For $26, you get five full color maps and 2000 unit and informational counters, plus storage trays, all stored in the latest of SPI's standard boxes.

This one looks a lot like a big shoe box. The worst thing I can find to say about this one is that the storage is insufficient. The trays have only 40 slots each, the snap-lock lids don't always fasten tight and there's no way to get everything in the box without some baggies or envelopes. Even then it will take some effort. I have watched the evolution of SPI boxes, and I don't think they are improving.

On the other hand, this is a pretty good game. As I write, I am still learning about it, so my opinions are still sketchy.

Atlantic Wall is a close relative of other SPI modern games, particularly Wacht Am Rhein. In fact, the meat of the game will be familiar to almost everyone. Basic play involves turn segments for mutual air allocation and separate portions for movement followed by combat. This is pretty conventional stuff, but the game is really rather innovative in many ways.

For example, the Allied player will be forced to confront all of the problems related to staging an invasion of this size. There are plenty of those. Which units should receive the available supplies? Where does the air support go? Is it possible to maintain organizational integrity and achieve the combat bonuses that accrue? How about naval support? The first few turns of almost any game can be nightmarishly complex but things simplify as time passes.

There is a heady dose of organizational difficulty that goes with this game. Units included with the game are as small as companies (Allied landing units), but the common units are battalions. Each of those is identified by division, regiment, and brigade or battalion of the parent organization. This has some effect on play, and there will be headaches aplenty for the players, at least as they learn the system.

The thirty-six page rulebook is formidable, but not appalling. Players with gaming experience should be able to make short work of learning the rules, and even amateurs should be able to decipher them. They are not complex, only long. There are, for instance, 2 1/2 pages devoted to the sequence of play. Each individual portion of the sequence of play receives its own treatment, of course, but there are still 21/2 pages just about the sequence. I think much of the rulebook should have been edited out, but then I've been playing wargames for a long while.

The game is so big that I don't believe the campaign game will ever be played by most gamers. That one covers the invasion from 6 June through 1 July and takes 104 turns. My life expectancy is not that long, I think. Like me, I believe most gamers will play the mini-games, six of which are included in the separate booklet of scenarios and optional rules. These are short enough to be played by human beings and be enjoyed.

For size alone you get your money's worth. At the price, you deserve no less. More than the size, there are some very good ideas in this game. It is not the ultimate D-Day game. It is not the ultimate invasion game, either. There are still ways to treat those subjects beyond the systems in this package. Since the revision of Avalon Hill's classic D-Day, this may not even be the best D-Day game available. There's still a lot of room for opinion and development.

What we have here is the biggest D- Day game yet and also a pretty good one. The errata are few and minor. The systems are, when you crunch through the rules to find them, basically familiar with some good new items. Is it worth $26? Yes and no. There's certainly a lot of game here but it's not a game for everyone. I recommend it, tentatively, to those of you who like this portion of World War II and have some familiarity with gaming. If you liked Wacht Am Rhein, you'll probably like this one.