Category: Strategy and War Games

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Roger Keating GAME DEVELOPER:Strategic Studies Group (SSG) GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1999, Strategic Studies Group (SSG) The Ardennes Offensive by SSG is yet another in a long line of great wargames based on the Battle of the Bulge, and it follows in the tradition of the 1965…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Zono GAME PUBLISHER:Take 2 Interactive Copyright 2000, Zono One of the best giant robot games I’ve ever played, Metal Fatigue is an excellent real-time strategy games in the same mold as Command & Conquer, but with enough innovations to stand above the crowd. The…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Nihon Falcom GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1999, Nihon Falcom A great (and free!) PC version of Falcom’s 1992 console hit of the same name, Lord Monarch is a fun real-time medieval strategy game in cute “SD” (stumpy heads) style of Japanese anime. In Lord Monarch,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Julian Gollop GAME DEVELOPER:Mythos Games GAME PUBLISHER:Virgin Interactive Copyright 1998, Mythos Games One of the best games I’ve played in the 1990s, Magic & Mayhem is a severely underrated real-time fantasy strategy game designed by Julian Gollop, of X-COM fame. The game is in many ways…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Gary Grigsby GAME DEVELOPER:Matrix Games GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Matrix Games The Steel Panthers trilogy was one of the most decorated and praised wargame series from SSI. Now Gary Grigsby and Matrix Games, the company he now works for, has licenced the name and came out…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Advanced Software Technologies GAME PUBLISHER:Advanced Software Technologies Copyright 1993, Advanced Software Technologies One of the most famous computer chess engines ever created, Socrates 3.0 is the engine behind EA’s underrated Kasparov’s Gambit and was, in mid ’80s, THE engine commonly considered the best chess…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ken Lightner GAME DEVELOPER:Holistic Design GAME PUBLISHER:New World Computing Copyright 1995, New World Computing One of the best and most original turn-based strategy games ever made, Holistic Design’s Hammer of the Gods is an addictive empire-building game set in the world of Norse mythology. Despite it…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Sean Cooper GAME DEVELOPER:Bullfrog GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1993, Bullfrog Syndicate is an outstanding, incredibly atmospheric action-strategy game by Bullfrog, one of the best of its kind. The game is set in a bleak future where “Syndicates” control the world. You’re a young executive in a…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Blue Byte GAME PUBLISHER:Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) Copyright 1993, Blue Byte History Line (released as The Great War: 1914 – 1918 in the US by SSI) is a World War 1 tactical wargame based on an improved and modified engined used in Blue Byte’s…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Microids GAME PUBLISHER:Microids Copyright 1992, Microids Dominium is one of the early real-time strategy game that focus on planet conquest and resource management – as they have become so common nowadays. Overall fairly poor and far inferior to similar games such as Dune 2.…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Nick Wilson GAME DEVELOPER:Electronic Arts GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1990, Nick Wilson A very complex futuristic strategy game about galactic domination and a very special anagathic drug. You have been elected as the leader of Earth’s galactic empire and are now in control of the empire’s…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Kou Shibusawa GAME DEVELOPER:KOEI GAME PUBLISHER:KOEI Copyright 1995, KOEI P.T.O. II is the sequel to KOEI’s P.T.O. (Pacific Theatre of Operations, which never came out for the PC) and is a much improved and better game then the first one. One of KOEI’s last PC games,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jeff Gamon & Steve Leney GAME DEVELOPER:Mindscape GAME PUBLISHER:Mindscape Copyright 1996, Mindscape Two more regiments of Skaven warriors just marched into sight. Your cavalry is engaged with a pack of Orcish archers and your infantry has its hands full with the first two Skaven regiments. The…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ken McLeod GAME DEVELOPER:MindSpan GAME PUBLISHER:Accolade Copyright 1990, Accolade Solid computer version of Milton Bradley’s classic board game Stratego. This PC conversion of the Macintosh game was done by MindSpan, and it was the only non-sport game they ever developed. Hasbro released the second computer version…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Domark GAME PUBLISHER:Domark Copyright 1991, Domark Nice computer version of popular board game Pictionary. The game principle should be widely known: one player draws clues about a given expression, so that the other can guess the wanted word(s). If you’ve got a couple of…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jon Freeman & Paul Reiche III GAME DEVELOPER:Free Fall Associates GAME PUBLISHER:Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) Copyright 1994, Free Fall Associates Archon Ultra is a significantly enhanced version of the original classic Archon by Electronic Arts. In it, two-players battle each other in a game that resembles…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jon Freeman & Paul Reiche III GAME DEVELOPER:Free Fall Associates GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1984, Free Fall Associates Introduction from the manual: “Archon is a contest of action and strategy between opposing forces wrought from myth and legend. The Light Side and the Dark Side are…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ralf Glau GAME DEVELOPER:Ariolasoft GAME PUBLISHER:Ariolasoft Copyright 1988, Ariolasoft Ralf Glau’s second game following Hanse, Vermeer is an interesting trading oldie for up to four players. All texts in the game are in German. Set in the year 1918, the world is at war, the economy…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Starbyte GAME PUBLISHER:Starbyte Copyright 1990, Starbyte A game from Germany, from Starbyte, from 1990. What could it be? Yes! You’re right, another management simulation… of course *yawn* – although puzzle game could have been another good option to think of. This time in Transworld,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Starbyte GAME PUBLISHER:Starbyte Copyright 1992, Starbyte Scenario is a fairly simple and simplistic strategy game for one to four players, playing in a fictional World War I scenario. Your aim: conquer Europe. The game requires a mouse, but doesn’t work with all mouse drivers…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Linel GAME PUBLISHER:Linel Copyright 1991, Linel PC conversion – or better said – remake of the good old C64 classic of the same name by Ariolasoft. Well, the C64 game from 1984 was one of the first games of its kind followed by games…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ralf Glau & Renate Langenk?mper GAME DEVELOPER:Ascaron GAME PUBLISHER:Ascaron Copyright 1994, Ascaron Six years after the release of Hanse, Ralf Glau released an enhanced version of his classic game. The game principle stayed the same, it’s a historical trading simulation based on the trading association Hanse.…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ralf Glau & Thomas Heimen GAME DEVELOPER:Ariolasoft GAME PUBLISHER:Ariolasoft Copyright 1988, Ariolasoft Hanse is a classic trading sim based around the trading association Hanse set in the 14th century. I remember playing this one for many hours on the C64. Some computer magazines trashed the game…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:First Step GAME PUBLISHER:Software 2000 Copyright 1994, Software 2000 Decent conversion of First Step/Software 2000’s Amiga game. Death or Glory is a round-based strategy game with fantasy role-playing elements. Some of the in-game art (intro, character faces) look fairly nice – very well drawn,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Cyberdyne Systems GAME PUBLISHER:Starbyte Copyright 1994, Starbyte Big Sea is a mediocre management simulation about production, trading and conquest set in a fantasy world with dragons and wizards – quite an unusual scenario for this kind of game. Not much more to say about…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Martin Kokkelink & Frank Ester GAME DEVELOPER:Sunflowers GAME PUBLISHER:Sunflowers Copyright 1993, Sunflowers Sunflowers’ first game, Aufschwung Ost is a nice political business simulation/strategy game with a touch of SimCity. The game takes place in Eastern Germany after the reunification. You must define and enact diplomatic, economic,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:ArtDink GAME PUBLISHER:Sunflowers Copyright 1995, ArtDink Atlas is a historical business/discovery game by Japanese developer ArtDink, famous for A-Train railroad simulation series. The German version was published by Sunflowers. The game is set in the 15th century: you are a ship captain who just…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Rainbow Arts GAME PUBLISHER:Rainbow Arts Copyright 1990, Rainbow Arts The mighty Egyptian god Ra has transformed you into a Scarabeus and then put you into the depths of a pyramid for 1000 years. The only chance Ra left you to get back to human…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:LavaMind GAME PUBLISHER:LavaMind Copyright 1998, LavaMind One of the most entertaining Monopoly-style games ever made, Gazillionaire is a great multiplayer galactic trading game that combines solid gameplay with plenty of humor, replete with bizarre alien commodities subject to a wicked supply/demand curve. Gazillionaire is…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Loriciel GAME PUBLISHER:Loriciel Copyright 1990, Loriciel A fun variant of classic Chinese boardgame Tangram, Loriciel’s Timerace is more similar to QQP’s later underdog Origamo, but with simpler gameplay and tougher time limit. In each level, you are given triangles of different colors, four of…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Russell Shiffer GAME DEVELOPER:Accolade GAME PUBLISHER:Accolade Copyright 1996, Accolade An innovative cross between SimCity and Master of Orion that was never successful in stores, Deadlock is a strategic-level turn-based game that tries to marry the “4X” genre with the micromanagement aspects of SimCity. The result is…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:The 8th Day GAME PUBLISHER:GT Interactive Copyright 1996, GT Interactive A fun isometric squad-level strategy game à la X-COM but with a unique premise, Gender Wars was unfortunately largely neglected when it was first released. Games Domain’s Chris McMullen says it all in his…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Eric Matthews GAME DEVELOPER:Bitmap Brothers GAME PUBLISHER:Virgin Interactive Copyright 1996, Infogrames A Command & Conquer clone that was much less successful than it deserved, Z is as notable for being the only real-time strategy game from action game masters at Bitmap Brothers as being a very…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Wing GAME DEVELOPER:BunniSoft GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, BunniSoft In this small but surprisingly fun card game with a unique twist, the goal in Bunni-Flip is very simple: turn all the bunnies from gray to white by turning cards. That’s it. What makes it very addictive (aside…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:PSS GAME PUBLISHER:PSS Copyright 1989, PSS A primitive but interesting abstract wargame from the designers of Fire Zone, Power Struggle is essentially a poor man’s Empire— similar concepts and idea, but much inferior implementation and questionable computer AI. Choose to play as either “West”…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Krisalis GAME PUBLISHER:Micro League Copyright 1994, Krisalis One of the best squad-level turn-based games ever made, Sabre Team was a minor hit on the Amiga for Krisalis, but failed to make any impact in the PC market, no doubt due to the (well-deserve) success…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Scott Adams GAME DEVELOPER:StarSoft Development GAME PUBLISHER:Keypunch Copyright 1987, Keypunch Pirates of the Barbary Coast is an ambitious but flawed strategy/action game set in the Barbary Coast region, during the high piracy era of the 17th century. One of the (few) best things about the game…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:MegaTech Software GAME PUBLISHER:MegaTech Software Copyright 1995, MegaTech Software The last MegaTech game, and curiously enough the only one that does not feature semi-nude females in Manga (i.e. Japanese cartoon) style, PowerDolls is a fun, but shallow turn-based, squad-level tactical strategy game set in…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Datasoft GAME PUBLISHER:Datasoft Copyright 1990, Datasoft The Napoleonic Battle of Three Emperors, Austerlitz was a logical successor to Datasoft’s earlier Napoleonic wargames Waterloo and Borodino: 1812. Although the game sports some incremental improvements over earlier releases, they are not enough to disguise the fact…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Chris Sawyer GAME DEVELOPER:MicroProse GAME PUBLISHER:MicroProse Copyright 1995, Chris Sawyer One of the most fun business strategy games ever made, Chris Sawyer’s Transport Tycoon Deluxe is a great update of the earlier– and also underrated– Transport Tycoon game released in 1994. The Deluxe version adds multiplayer…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Henrik Strandberg & Johan Andersson GAME DEVELOPER:Paradox Entertainment GAME PUBLISHER:Blackstar Interactive Copyright 2000, Paradox Entertainment Sometimes, somewhere, for some people dreams actually come true. Right now, with the publishing of Europa Universalis, developed by the small Swedish company Paradox, the friends of historical simulations may well…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Malfador Machinations GAME PUBLISHER:Malfador Machinations Copyright 1997, Malfador Machinations All you 4x space strategy addicts rejoice! You might not even have to wait for Master of Orion 3 to enter a realm of blissful galactic domination. Shareware publisher Malfador Machinations offers Space Empires III…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Randall Masteller GAME DEVELOPER:Random Games GAME PUBLISHER:GT Interactive Copyright 1996, GT Interactive Vikings is a fun but little-known adventure/strategy hybrid that was originally released for Windows 3.1, although it runs fine in Windows 95/98 with 256 colors. In this unique game, you play the chief of…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Serious Games GAME PUBLISHER:Serious Games Copyright 1997, Serious Games Imperial Conquest 2 is a fun wargame where your goal is lead a major nation to ever higher levels of glory over a twenty-year rulership during the 3rd Century BC. There are 16 playable nations,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Serge Orlovsky GAME DEVELOPER:Mir Dialogue GAME PUBLISHER:OCEAN Copyright 1995, OCEAN One of the best spiritual successors to Sid Meier’s classic Pirates! that unfortunately few knew about, Russian developer Mir Dialogue has painstakingly reproduced in Sea Legends almost all the elements that made Pirates! so popular, and…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Karl Forster GAME DEVELOPER:Silver Bullet Systems GAME PUBLISHER:Silver Bullet Systems Copyright 1985, Silver Bullet Systems A solid 3D version of Tic Tac Toe, Cubic features a strong AI, 2-player mode, and a lot of “extras” that suggest high production value, such as complete on-line rules, difficulty…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Dan Carmak GAME DEVELOPER:Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) GAME PUBLISHER:Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) Copyright 1997, Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) Arguably the best entry in SSI’s 5-star series (except for Fantasy General) before the engine was upgraded for Panzer General 2, Pacific General covers both land and naval…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Bill Fawcett GAME DEVELOPER:Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) GAME PUBLISHER:Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) Copyright 1996, Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) Based on David Drake’s Fleet novels, this extension of SSI’s celebrated Panzer General engine is a big disappointment, and shows that the engine could only be stretched so…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Carl Norman GAME DEVELOPER:Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) GAME PUBLISHER:Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) Copyright 1996, Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) First sequel to SSI’s breakthrough wargame Panzer General, Allied General is essentially the same game set in a different theatre in World War II, with some slight improvements…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Arcadia GAME PUBLISHER:PSS Copyright 1988, PSS A very little known game, Fire Zone is an ambitious tactical-level wargame that boasts PSS’ usual top-notch AI, but unintuitive interface and questionable logistics. The game is similar to QQP’s celebrated The Perfect General II in that it…