Earlier this year I wrote about how much I loved Introversion Software's indie PC game Darwinia. Introversion just released their newest game, DEFCON.
Jeff said, â⌠but the bottom line is itâs very difficult to win convincingly. Games often end with both sides obliteratedâŚâ Sounds very life like and realistic. Like real war, there may be a winner politically/militarily speaking, but in effect all sides lose.
Didnât we learn anything from the movie? The only winning move is not to playâŚ
I like the timing of this post.
I got quite heavily into Defcon on release day, but then (quite by chance) stumbled into Armadillo Run. And since then, I just havenât been able to get back into it, due to my obsession with a yellow bowling ball.
Defcon makes me pine for the good ole days of Hunt for Red October, and to a lesser extent Harpoon.
H4RO on the XT⌠now there was a game that could scare you off your seat.
â⌠but the bottom line is itâs very difficult to win convincingly. Games often end with both sides obliteratedâŚâ
As they say: War doesnât decides whoâs right, only whoâs left.
TristanK: If you liked both Harpoon and HfRO, did you also play Red Storm Rising?
It combined the submarine focus and playability of HfRO, and the campaign view of Harpoon.
I lost many a night to patrolling the North SeaâŚ
The best way to conduct Global Thermonuclear War is
with a couple of your closest friends
Hey! [insert cynical political joke here]
Why use nukes? Canât we just âgive awayâ our politicians?
I had the original Balance of Power. The problem with it was that you could only lose. The enemy was always pushy, irritable and uncooperative to unrealistic levels; if you ever stood up to them even once, that was it - you had magic mushrooms on the horizon; the very near horizon.
Still, it was a good way to finish off some chips, a Coke and the whole human race just before turning in to bed. Wasnât much of a game for playability though.
Red Storm Rising was OK until I figured out how to effectively hunt the Soviet Diesel Electrics and then it was too damned easy. You simply sat around dead silent for while and they would slowly come in towards you - the first you heard of any sound from them you went full active sonar and started firing torpedos and noise makers as fast as your little digits could tap the keys - they never could effectively deal with that tactic. However, watching a nice Soviet carrier slip under the frigid North Sea waters was also a nice reminder that the sun was about to rise on a new day and you had once again forgotten to sleep.
Of course, if you were really into showing up for work with red eyes, sunken cheeks and sucking back your third Big Gulp sized coffee, nothing could waste away entire evenings and nights like Sid Meierâs Civilization.
Is it any wonder why I donât play computer games anymore?
hmmâŚFollow the white rabbit into the rabbit hole
Just in time too. . I wonder how the korean part plays out.
I like their tag:
Itâs Global Thermonuclear War, and nobody wins.
But maybe - just maybe - you can lose the least.
âWhy does the single player experience need a narrative?â
A computer AI is predictable, however clever it isâŚ
A stupid online random, is unpredictableâŚ
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups ;))
I really liked Balance of Power on my old Atari ST.
It was possible to beat. As I remember a lot rided on the percieved credibility of your threats. e.g. if you really wanted to send miliary aid to Poland as USA and refused to back down you would often succeed if previous confrontations with Russia had resulted in them backing down.
âthereâs not much of a single player narrative to the game.â
I donât get it. Why does the single player experience need a narrative? In fact, I canât see any difference between playing against multiple AI players and playing against multiple human players, which in my opinion is a good thing. Actually, there is one key difference: the single player experience requires no network connection - also a good thing. Of course, I had to tinker with the game files to change the default for âAdvertiseOnInternet.â
dagnabbit - Tim, I meant Red Storm Rising, I always get those mixed up!
I still have a copy of it somewhere, and Iâm now itching to go dig it upâŚ
Holy crap! This is awesome. Love the graphics (just like I remember from the movie, but theyâve been updated for today which I know doesnât make sense) and boatloads of fun. Iâm buying this now after playing the demo for a short bit. Now all we need is this on XBL.
Why the beep is a nuclear missile launched from my city (Bucharest / Romania / Europe) ??!
As my great great grand-uncle âWillyâ (a/k/a âCumpâ) had said in the Civil War (You guessed damn right, thatâs General William Tecumseh Sherman Iâm talking about and proud of him as my ancestor on my fatherâs side): WAR IS HELL! Well, copy cat President Truman during WWII claimed that as his own - anyway, he stole those words! The Global ThermoNuclear War Game is only a simulation as I see it but as a futurist, when WWIII comes, itâs gonna be much worse than that even with the battle robots and high-tech UFO stuff going on as well as with the Book of Revelations from the Holy Bible itself together prophesied.
