Whilst trawling through my emails and scanning my junk mail for items to include in the column it became apparent that small unit combat games are becoming the in thing. Following on from Close Combat: Normandy and Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far, which were both Microsoft, it appears that the other publishers are getting in on the act. If you are into this type of real-time tactical action then you should have available by Christmas the following: Soldiers At War published by Mindscape; Spec Ops: Rangers Assault published by Interactive Magic; 101: 101st Airborne in Normandy published by Empire Interactive; and the somewhat peculiarly named Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six published by Take 2 Interactive.
This might lead you to think that the large scale strategy games involving whole armies, even whole wars have been shelved, but no, they are also still alive and kicking. You can choose from Western Front published by Empire Interactive, Peoples General published by Mindscape or Alpha Centauri published by Fraxis.
There are of course the, too numerous to mention, and I won't, clones of successes earlier in the year but then that's par for the course these days. The budget labels are also churning out re-releases like Outpost 2: Divided Destiny, Command and Conquer: Red Alert with C & C Red Alert: Counterstrike thrown in, Settlers II, Railroad Tycoon to name but a few.
Right having whet your appetite just a little let me pass on a few quick previews of some of the games mentioned above. Remember if any of you spot something on any type of game, fantasy, role playing, whatever you think of interest then send it in to me by email on lonewarr@netcomuk.co.uk, by post to my address on page 2 or even carrier pigeon and I will print it. As I repeatedly say this is your corner and your views are important. I am only the editor.
People's General developed by SSI and published by Mindscape [Andy 'Flight Sim' Midgley]. Knowing you are a Panzer General fan I thought this might be of interest. It is based on the PGII engine and is set in the near future with a war between the Peoples Republic of China and the rest of the world, well, except for North Korea who are an ally of China and Vietnam who have a little internal war of their own. As you would expect the map is overlaid by a hex grid which can be toggled on or off, the icons are 1/300 scale tanks and vehicles, the point and click interface tells the units where to move and who to attack. It follows along the same pathway as PGII so has superb graphics, lovely sound, excellent gameplay, challenging scenarios and includes fictional footage of the growing crisis facing the world. Really the next in what will probably turn out to be a series based on a single engine but then a good game is a good game for all that.
101: The 101st Airborne In Normandy by Interactive Simulators published by Empire Interactive [Sandy 'Destroyer' Weaver]. Spotted this and it seemed to be in your arena. It has extensive background information on the operations using the same information given to the troops in 1944 which should immerse you into the action very nicely. You are in command of a stick of 18 paratroopers and suffer the same problems of disorientation on landing as they did which introduces some nice fog of war. It has the expected sound and graphics, modem play and works on Windows 95 and above. Got to be worth a look at least. [Review in progress. Kenn]
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six by Red Storm Entertainment published by Take 2 Interactive [Michael Tarrant]. Saw this billed as 'A strategist's dream' which attracted my attention {its supposed to Mike}. The idea is that you take the elite of the elite forces of the world and create the ultimate anti-terrorist force then you set them against enemies based on real extremist organizations. As you progress the missions become ever more difficult and you have to take the missions through from planning to execution. So there you are. The blurb says it has a high degree of realism and stretches the strategist to his limit with a difficulty rating of advanced and an age rating of 13+, but that won't bother a veteran like you anyway.
Alpha Centauri by Sid Meiers published by Fraxis. Another game from the pen of Sid Meiers which the previews and reviews I have read looks like another winner. It is in the same vein as Civilization and Civ II ( Civ III in all but name 'cause the name is owned by Microprose). So the real questions are: Is it Better? Is it more challenging? Is it a good game? Well from what I have read the answer to all the questions is YES so all you Civilization fans get out there and have a look see. Don't forget to let me know.
Other Review
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