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Rod Humble's Eastern Front Game
Posted June 22nd, 2011 at 10:09 PM by S.R. Krol
Hey, it's June 22nd! Break out the bratwurst or the black bread and vodka, it's Barbarossa Day!
Rod Humble just released a free game on the conflict, STAVKA-OKH. You can grab it here.
When the game begins the side in which you will be playing is chosen for you by the game. From there you're given three strategic plans to choose from, along with the choice to go along with the Nazi or Communist party. Each plan has a chance of being overruled by Uncle Joe or Der Führer. Choose the plan, see what happens. Eventually one side wins and your personal fate is revealed.
While I find the general gameplay idea a really nifty concept, since I've always wanted to see more games of broad, sweeping player strategies as opposed to the usual God-control, I'm not entirely sold on the end result. The plans are a little too removed, too abstract, for my tastes and it often feels like randomness reigns. Also, while I get the "support party" bit I'd argue that the military issues were not as entangled as Humble sees them.
So, an artsy-pseudo wargame. Worth a few minutes of your time to at least check out.
Rod Humble just released a free game on the conflict, STAVKA-OKH. You can grab it here.
When the game begins the side in which you will be playing is chosen for you by the game. From there you're given three strategic plans to choose from, along with the choice to go along with the Nazi or Communist party. Each plan has a chance of being overruled by Uncle Joe or Der Führer. Choose the plan, see what happens. Eventually one side wins and your personal fate is revealed.
While I find the general gameplay idea a really nifty concept, since I've always wanted to see more games of broad, sweeping player strategies as opposed to the usual God-control, I'm not entirely sold on the end result. The plans are a little too removed, too abstract, for my tastes and it often feels like randomness reigns. Also, while I get the "support party" bit I'd argue that the military issues were not as entangled as Humble sees them.
So, an artsy-pseudo wargame. Worth a few minutes of your time to at least check out.
Total Comments 5
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Looks interesting, I'll check it out. Hey, any news on World Supremacy. The forum is pretty dead at present, and I'm getting no responses from Aaron anymore (I've also contacted customer support and waiting for a reaction on some bug reports, savegames etc. (which I had already mailed to Aaron, but since Annette complained we didn't send any bug reports via the support system, I sent them there too). Something must be done to finally fix and improve this game.
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Posted July 14th, 2011 at 08:24 AM by spillblood
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Interesting little game, reminds me of an old DOS political simulator/wargame called Conflict: Middle East Political simulator.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflic...ical_Simulator You can get it through various abandonware sites, for example Abandonia (it's not available for sale anymore, I think). |
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Posted July 14th, 2011 at 09:22 AM by spillblood
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Cool, seems there's also a free Windows remake of Conflict: Middle East:
http://ilfera.blogspot.com/2009/02/end.html |
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Posted July 14th, 2011 at 09:29 AM by spillblood
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Hey, thanks for that blog post, S.R. Actually, this is a fine game, pretty abstract, but when you get the hang of it, you can win against Russia with the Axis or achieve other war outcomes than the historical ones, which is pretty cool. The only problem with this game is that it doesn't scale right to other resolutions. I have to set my screen to a very high resolution (about 1400*1200, I think) to see all the text, because the game seems to be optimized for Widescreens. Hehe, but it has quite a lot of addictive potential, played it about 20 or 25 times yesterday. Expanded and polished (more tactical options etc., maybe different theaters of war) this would make a pretty fine wargame.
By the way, be sure to check out the Conflict: Middle East Political Simulator remake (link above). Pretty amazing remake. He hasn't just copied the original game, but expanded it, added 3d-graphics, more options etc. But it's always limited to 15 turns, whereas you can play the original indefinitely (but die certainly after some turns, I think). Pretty amazing for a free game. Hehe, you should contact this guy and ask him to make a commercial version of this game via Shrapnel Games. This would fit in nicely into the Shrapnel Games catalog (because it's comparable to War Plan Pacific, for example). |
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Posted July 15th, 2011 at 04:58 AM by spillblood
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Also be sure to check out this game:
http://www.saschawillems.de/?page_id=114 It's a pretty detailed freeware sci fi world conquest game made by a German programmer, but it also contains English language and an English manual. Pretty refined for a free game, maybe better than World Supremacy, but I haven't played in enough. He wants to release a sequel called Project "W" Phase 2 some time that includes more options, maybe commercial. |
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Posted August 2nd, 2011 at 06:10 AM by spillblood
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Recent Blog Entries by S.R. Krol
- Rod Humble's Eastern Front Game (June 22nd, 2011)
- The Bloodiest Game Ever: John Hill's Battle for Stalingrad (SPI) (April 10th, 2011)
- Michigan Toy Soldier Company: Of Crime And Punishment (February 14th, 2011)
- Hail Of Bullets: Perfect Music When Playing War Plan Pacific (February 13th, 2011)
- The Slippery Slope Of Game Pricing (January 9th, 2011)
