The History Channel: Great Battles of Rome Review

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(More customer reviews)For those ancient wargamers who have played Slitherine's Legion & Spartan Legion Gold, SPARTAN, you will find the battle mode of THC's GBR game very familiar. The game plays very differently from its two predecessors, as there is no strategic play. You play a series of battles in chronologial sequence, starting as either a Roman or a Celtic leader. The time line follows the historical sequence of events and regardless of your victory or defeat, you don't change the fixed sequence. The Roman time line ends with the Civil Wars circa 40 BC. The Celtic time line ends with combat with Caesar's expedition to Britain. You can't advance to the next battle unless you win the scenario you are in. After each battle, you have the opportunity to purchase new units and/or upgrade your existing ones. Upgrades can be equipment for better leathality, protection, mobility, level of training, or formation drill. There are different types of units from militia to Praetorian heavy infantry, light/heavy cavalry, skirmishers/archers, with tribal/national characteristics. There is a leader unit, which over time and with upgrades, can command more units, extend range of command influence, and give more commands, and therefore very important. There are limited command options once a battle begins, which is a change from the earlier games, where you set your formation commands at the start, then just watched the action. Leaders can redirect units and there are more tactical options for the formations to start a battle. The battle graphics are improved from the earlier mentioned games and you can zoom into a unit-on-unit engagement. There is a historical narrative between the each battle that gives you the context of each scenario, which is a nice teaching tool. The graphics are not state-of-the art, but also don't make heavy demands on your computer either. You don't need much more than a basic laptop to play the game, a plus in my book. For the $[...] I paid, I found the game a great value - I only rate it 4-stars because, as far as I can tell, once you have played through the Roman and Celtic time lines, that's it. You can restart at the beginning, but you will go through the same sequence of battles.

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Hearts of Iron Anthology Review

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(More customer reviews)Be Encouraged! This is the BEST WW2 detailed strategy game to date. I have played this genre since the 1970's on board games to computer games.
Be Warned! This is Grand Stategy played on a clean world map, not a "point and shoot" first person. Graphics and sound are good but are not designed to target an "action game" buyer. This is a "board game" done on the computer. This is a Thinking game. It is a "Real Time" game but you can pause time, make decisions, and change direction for units and national management. Then let time go "live" again. The time increment is HOURLY starting 12am 01 January 1936 to 1953 with the "Doomsday" edition, or until 1963 with the "Armageddon" pack. And you can vary the speed of the game so that a day goes by in less than a minute.
Your units are divisional size. Battles are abstract. The computer does the losses and retreats, but you get to attach the best commanders. And YOU develop the tecnology of hardware AND types of tactical knowledge used in battle. The computer doesn't miss a step here. Smaller units CAN prevail over larger ones easily if you manage to develop the crucial details. And the Details here are excellent, as is. However tweeking the coding and cheats are available as well. In short, much customization or moding is possible and is manufactuer condoned. That's how this company's games get better. There is a strong fan base on the web, a large intelligent community. Albeit a better tutorial is needed to get your "feet wet" before diving into this deep pool of strategy.
Details needing attention? Espionage could be better handled. Diplomacy needs more "power". Swifter troop movement by rail before any ground movement needs attention. A possible encirclement or capture of whole enemy divisions is not handled, as they simply retreat very weakend, even through your lines on occassion. One assumes the region has not yet been secured. But weak units can cease to exist through attrition over time if out of supply. All Regions won surrender easily, but Nations do not, and regions gained are rarely traded perminantly for peace and a new "status quo". This again needs to be addressed in Diplomacy with negotiation to consider "national morale" versus unit or Regional morale.
On the whole, Nation Management for Money, Resources, Unit Supply, etc. are well handled and easy to adjust. The Reasearch process for Weapons and Tactics is outstanding with photos of actual people and companies of the time to direct. Leaders of the cabinet are also choosable with photos and personalities of people of the time. Combine this with photos of unit types and technology at that time and you begin to see the fantastic research done to make this product. It includes all countries of the world of 1936! Amazing. And if there is an incorrect photo or two, you can correct them behind the scenes or add your own in the database before your next session. Also amazing.
There are lot's of "what if" possibilities. In one game I played, Nazi Germany did not attack Poland, but successfully Allied with it to fight Soviet Russia! There was no British or French belligerant reaction, and the computer alowed Wendle Wilkie to be elected U.S. president on a non-interventioist platfom! In another game, Japan remained on its own and did NOT attack the U.S. but rather concentrated on China and the oil in South East Asia. No Pearl Harbor! Whatever small complaints, this game is VERY playable, and the product is Five-Star.

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Making History 2: War of the World Review

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(More customer reviews)The 1930s and 1940s are a critical time in world history. The Great Depression and World War II dominate these years and our history. Fascism is on the march; communism is completing control of the USSR and testing the waters elsewhere. Democracy is reeling as the Depression causes massive problems that have no easy solutions. In the middle of all the politics, real advances occur in manufacturing techniques as technology builds the foundation of our modern world. Horses give way to automobiles; wood and fabric aircraft disappear, paved roads improved transportation and lifestyles changes.
Making History II puts you in control of a nation trying to survive this difficult and exciting time. As a national leader, you will allocate resources to nation building, international trade, research and defense. A careful balance will keep you popular, balance the budget and make others reconsider attacking you. Mess it up and you can lose you office or see your nation defeated in war. No two nations are the same. Technology is not uniform. Highly advanced nations have paved roads, universities and modern factories. Less advanced nations have dirt roads and small factories. The game allows you to play as any nation starting you with a government, technology level, cash on hand, alliances and relationships with the other nations. After that, it is up to you. Espionage allows you to steal research. Pay money to influence a nation to like you or make their government unpopular. Give them aid to help the government. Build up the military and go to war. Each action makes nations like you more or less. The less a nation likes you, the more likely they are to attack you. One of the failings of the game is the large democracies are more belligerent than the historical record. This can result in unexpected attacks; Great Britain attacking Brazil in 1938 surprised me. However, Brazil had several espionage operations exposed and was conducting an aggressive military buildup. Two small wars had resulted in the annexation of Uruguay and Paraguay. The Unites States had Brazil under a full trade embargo but came into the war on the side of Brazil. Play IS NOT forced into the historical norm, just about anything can and will happen.
Documentation is almost useless. Rushing the initial game into production resulted in major problems, corrected in the current version. However, the documentation problem remains. You cannot learn to play the game with the supplied instruction manual. Muzzy Lane maintains an active Making History site that can supply all the documentation, tutorials and answers to question needed. This site and a stable game with no obvious problems makes for an interesting and varied game play.
Making History II is NOT a click fest. This is NOT a fast-paced shoot `em up style gaming experience. This is a thought fest. You need to consider where you are and what direction you need and want to go in. Long-term goals need to be set and plans worked. Espionage can help, to a point, but national development has to occur. Each weekly turn, allows you to allocate production, conduct diplomacy, spy, set trade policy, monitor progress of existing projects, respond to offers of trade or alliances, declare war, make peace, fight battles, swear and any number of other things.
To learn the game, I played Brazil. This is a regional power with a small industrial base. After two games, I have master the mechanics and can move to a major power. The graphics are very good with nice animation. The AI is challenging and online game play is expected in early 2011. In addition, a large fan base has developed additional scenarios for the predecessor games and is starting to do the same for this one. I expect many, many hours of enjoyable gaming and recommend the game for anyone who is interested in this era.


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Europa Universalis III: Complete Review

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(More customer reviews)Europa Universalis III Complete contains the original game and the two online-only expansions. This is the best grand strategy game on the market for several reasons. It is chock full of content: you can control any of the game's 313 countries from the year 1399 until 1820. It is very deep and you are constantly doing things: forming colonies, trading, declaring war, sending missionaries, undertaking specific missions, building troops, fighting rebels, declaring national ideas, forming your administrative court, drafting laws, balancing your budget, researching new technologies, and way too much more. Europa Universalis III has a very active modding community that has come up with some fantastic changes to the basic game, from more historically accurate simulations like Magna Mundi to simple map changes. In short (too late!), if you have ever wanted to run your own country and you lack the money to run for president/prime minister/dictator for life, then this is what you need.

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Europa Universalis III Review

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(More customer reviews)I have had the game less than a week and have already spent WAY too much time playing. It's great! The AI is very good. Lots of decision making in the form of alliances, builing up your country, manpower, diplomancy, war, merchants and more. Yet, you don't get bogged down "micromanaging" everything. Planning for the long term is necessary and acheiving "victory" is what you make of it. Just surviving for 300 years could be considered a great victory for the likes of Barvaria or Serbia. You have control to make and create history.
The game has been visually redesigned as well. It looks great. It's not World of Warcraft, but compared to EU2 it's leaps ahead of it. An upgrade is already available (for free) from the publishers on thier website. The game comes on one CD and is quick to load. A great game for lovers of history and gaming.

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