Category: Strategy and War Games

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ed Toton III GAME DEVELOPER:NecroBones Software GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1994, Ed Toton III Molecule is a simple but fun computerized board game for 1 to 4 players. Each player takes a turn adding a ball to the board. Each square can hold a maximum number of…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ed Toton III GAME DEVELOPER:NecroBones Software GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1994, Ed Toton III UFO is a nice unofficial clone of “UNO” card game marketed by Mattel that was popular in the early 1990s and still retains a sizable following as one of the best “family” card…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ed Toton III GAME DEVELOPER:NecroBones Software GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1994, Ed Toton III Stellar Conquest III is a fun space strategy war game for one to four players plays halfway between the abstract engine of Reach for the Stars and the more tactical focus of Master…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:John Almberg GAME DEVELOPER:RAW Entertainment GAME PUBLISHER:RAW Entertainment Copyright 1990, RAW Entertainment Worlds at War is a lackluster space war game that tries to compete with SSG?s classic Reach for The Stars by offering some new features, but is ultimately marred by a poor user interface…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ian Currie GAME DEVELOPER:Sir-Tech GAME PUBLISHER:Sir-Tech Copyright 1995, Sir-Tech Released after Jagged Alliance, Deadly Games is more appropriately called a “stand-alone add-on” rather than a true sequel to that classic (similar to X-COM 2). The addictive tactical turn-based gameplay remains intact, but Deadly Games is not…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Webfoot Technologies GAME PUBLISHER:Webfoot Technologies Copyright 1997, Webfoot Technologies Delta Hydra is a decent 4X strategy/action game where you compete against rival space agencies in a race to gain control of the Delta Hydra solar system. The plot: three Terran space agencies (ULSA, SEAM,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Dan Harrison GAME DEVELOPER:SoftDisk Publishing GAME PUBLISHER:SoftDisk Publishing Copyright 1992, SoftDisk Publishing Battlestar is a competent PC version of popular Battleship board game — no more, no less. The game replaces the ships with nice-looking spaceships, but otherwise the gameplay remains identical: try to correctly guess…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Interscan GAME PUBLISHER:Manaccom Copyright 1992, Interscan At first glance, Kingdoms at War looks like just another fantasy/medieval strategy game in the same vein as Warlords or Dominus. But spend some time with it, and you will discover a lot of nice little details that…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Scott Lamb GAME DEVELOPER:Merit Studios GAME PUBLISHER:Merit Studios Copyright 1991, Merit Studios The fantasy version of Operation Com*Bat, a dismal turn-based wargame from Merit Studios. Read my review of that game — everything I said applies to Medieval Warriors since it’s based on the same engine.…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Cauldron GAME PUBLISHER:Sales Curve Interactive Copyright 1998, Cauldron Spellcross is a fun but sadly-ignored turn-based fantasy/sci-fi strategy game that is well worth attention of both fans of Warhammer 40K: Final Liberation and Emperor of the Fading Suns. In this unique strategy game, you are…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jeff Schiller & Jeff Sinasac GAME DEVELOPER:Little Devils GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1996, Little Devils One of the most unique strategy games you’ll ever play, Ten Nights of Killing and Mayhem at F.J.B. is a turn-based squad-level game similar to X-COM, but with many unique twists. The…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Capstone GAME PUBLISHER:Capstone Copyright 1993, Capstone Anyone for Cards? is a good collection of card games for Windows 3.1 from Capstone, and provides yet another proof to a curious fact that the only decent releases from Capstone are either card or casino games. Anyone…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Runt Time GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1999, Runt Time Crazy Cows is a fun, tongue-in-cheek turn-based strategy game that pits gray cows against brown cows in a battle for survival. Your goal is to annihilate all opposing cows on the map with your cow soldiers.…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Art Canfil GAME DEVELOPER:Mega-micro Computers GAME PUBLISHER:Mega-micro Computers Copyright 1982, Avalanche Productions One of my most favorite Apple II games ever and one of the best trading/economic games ever made, bar none, Taipan! is a masterpiece from Art Canfil and Mega-micro Computers that turned many gamers…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Scott Lamb GAME DEVELOPER:Merit Studios GAME PUBLISHER:Merit Studios Copyright 1991, Merit Studios Operation Combat is a decent entry-level wargame that, according to veteran wargamer M.E. Brooks, “.did nothing really well, although it was one of the first to emphasize modem play.” The game does have a…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Cybron Corporation GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1992, Cybron Corporation Excellent sequel to Grand Slam Bridge released after a long 6-year gap. This time, the game sports a revamped engine, outstanding VGA graphics, a much stronger AI, and plenty of new options. The game lets…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Cybron Corporation GAME PUBLISHER:Cybron Corporation Copyright 1986, Cybron Corporation One of the earliest bridge games for PC, Cybron’s Grand Slam Bridge is an excellent game that set new standards in the genre– all with only ASCII characters. The game offers plenty of options and…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:A. Ollikainen & J. Ollikainen GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1996, A. Ollikainen & J. Ollikainen Trimok is an excellent and unique board game based on the well-known Japanese game of ?jan-ken-pon? (scissors-paper-rock) that we all play as kids. The objective is similar to Chess: two…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Gunnar Andersson GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2001, Gunnar Andersson WZebra is an excellent PC game of Othello (a.k.a. Reversi) board game that offers a good range of difficulty levels, from beginner to expert. In addition to strong AI, the game offers many useful features, including…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Beppi Menozzi GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2001, Beppi Menozzi Happy End is an excellent PC version of Othello (a.k.a. Reversi) board game with a twist: instead of letting you play a full game against the computer, it lets you replay the endgames from a selection…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jerry Galloway GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1991, Jerry Galloway Second Conflict is a fun “beer & pretzel” style game of galactic warfare for Windows, and one of the first shareware strategy games that are worth the registration costs. Sequel to Galactic Conflict, the game was…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Bongosoft GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Bongosoft Possibly the best Yahtzee game ever made for the PC, AllFive 2000 is an excellentand free! game from UK developer Bongosoft. If you have never played Yahtzee before, the rules of this luck-and-skill gambling game are similar to…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Norm Koger GAME DEVELOPER:Talonsoft GAME PUBLISHER:Talonsoft Copyright 2000, Talonsoft As with the Campaign series, Talonsoft’s Operational Art of War is also a story of releases, re-releases, scenario packs, special editions….Personally, I don’t like this marketing approach, as you can never be sure to have the definitive…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Studio 3 GAME PUBLISHER:Acclaim Entertainment Copyright 1997, Studio 3 Constructor is a fun, tongue-in-cheek business simulation in the same style as MicroProse’s early classic Pizza Tycoon. Essentially, Constructor takes the empire building and resource management of the best simulations and adds to it a…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Interactive Magic GAME PUBLISHER:Interactive Magic Copyright 1997, Interactive Magic Fallen Haven is a noble attempt by I-Magic to attract non-strategy gamers who are interested in the turn-based strategy genre but found X-COM too daunting. Perhaps more appropriately called “X-COM Lite,” Fallen Haven fails on…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Tom Clancy GAME DEVELOPER:Red Storm Entertainment GAME PUBLISHER:Red Storm Entertainment Copyright 1998, Red Storm Entertainment You would’nt think it would be so hard to convert a board game into a computer game. It’s been done since the early days of computer gaming, with companies like Avalon…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Brian Vodnik GAME DEVELOPER:Realism Entertainment GAME PUBLISHER:Starbyte Copyright 1994, Realism Entertainment Kingdoms of Germany is a fun but somewhat dry wargame set in medieval Germany. From a short critique of the game by veteran wargame reviewer M.E. Brooks, …Economics, diplomacy and military forces all coalesced into…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:David Kirby GAME DEVELOPER:Impressions GAME PUBLISHER:Impressions Copyright 1991, Impressions Final Conflict is a lackluster simulation of a nuclear conflict that feels as if the designer couldn’t make up his mind between making it an action game or a thoughtful simulation.The premise, as in Infogrames’ better-known and…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Rage Software GAME PUBLISHER:Interplay Copyright 2001, Rage Software After their graphically and sound-wise stunning, but gameplay-hollow, 3D action game Incoming, British developers Rage Software decided to use their powerful graphic engine to create a new game, a sort of real-time strategy (RTS) game with…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Dmitri Gusarov GAME DEVELOPER:NewGame Software GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1999, NewGame Software The General is an excellent turn-based strategy game that plays like a souped-up version of Risk. In the game, you are a leader of a country on a fictional map, and along with other countries…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jeff Lapkoff GAME DEVELOPER:Incredible Simulations, Inc. (ISI) GAME PUBLISHER:Incredible Simulations, Inc. (ISI) Copyright 2000, Incredible Simulations, Inc. (ISI) A more polished follow-up to Incredible Simulations excellent but little-known Medieval, Medieval 2 is an excellent hex-based wargame that accurately depicts most major battles during the Middle Ages…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Martin Wolk GAME DEVELOPER:Software 2000 GAME PUBLISHER:Interactive Magic Copyright 1995, Software 2000 Exploration is a fun game of 15th 19th century era of exploration from Interactive Magic. Earlier released in Europe by Black Legend as Voyages of Discovery, the game attempts nothing that we havent seen…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Indigo Moon Productions GAME PUBLISHER:Interplay Copyright 1997, Indigo Moon Productions Licensed by and designed with the United States Chess Foundation, USCF Chess from Indigo Moon/Interplay is the only official chess program sanctioned by the U.S.C.F. and the only chess product to give users an…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Interactive Magic GAME PUBLISHER:Interactive Magic Copyright 1998, Interactive Magic An ambitious but disappointing clone of Blue Byte?s popular The Settlers series, Knights and Merchants offers little to distinguish it or lift above the commonplace, although it does try to eliminate the tedious micromanagement that…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Destiny Software Productions GAME PUBLISHER:Quantum Quality Productions (QQP) Copyright 1995, Quantum Quality Productions (QQP) Probably the least known game from QQP (famous for wargames such as The Perfect General and The Lost Admiral), Lucky’s Casino is an excellent casino simulation strong enough to give…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Park Place Productions GAME PUBLISHER:Interplay Copyright 1995, Park Place Productions The best selling casino game of all time, Beat the House is an excellent game that is both accessible to beginners and challenging for veterans. includes seven casino favorites: video poker, slot machines (2…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Leigh Rothchild GAME DEVELOPER:Capstone GAME PUBLISHER:Intracorp Copyright 1993, Intracorp One of the better series of games from Capstone/Intracorp, Trump Castle games are solid casino simulations licensed by the famous casino of the same name in Atlantic City owned by Donald Trump, one of the world’s richest…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Leigh Rothchild GAME DEVELOPER:Capstone GAME PUBLISHER:Intracorp Copyright 1991, Intracorp One of the better series of games from Capstone/Intracorp, Trump Castle games are solid casino simulations licensed by the famous casino of the same name in Atlantic City owned by Donald Trump, one of the world’s richest…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Leigh Rothchild GAME DEVELOPER:Capstone GAME PUBLISHER:Intracorp Copyright 1990, Intracorp One of the better series of games from Capstone/Intracorp, Trump Castle games are solid casino simulations licensed by the famous casino of the same name in Atlantic City owned by Donald Trump, one of the world’s richest…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Henrik Andersson GAME DEVELOPER:CDS GAME PUBLISHER:CDS Copyright 1990, CDS A good PC conversion of a fun “light” boardgame-style tank simulation for the BBC Micro and Amiga computers. Your goal is simple: annihilate up to 3 other players in a tanks-only strategic warfare. The graphics are nothing…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ed Toton III GAME DEVELOPER:NecroBones Software GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1997, Ed Toton III A fun game in the spirit of Origins’ OMEGA and other programming games, AT-Robots (short for Advanced T-Robots) is a fun and educational game that tests your programming skill by pitting the robot…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jim Rose & Bob McNamara GAME DEVELOPER:Talonsoft GAME PUBLISHER:Talonsoft Copyright 1998, Talonsoft Some publishers sure know how to milk the cash cow. First they release a game that gathers a loyal following. Then they re-release the game in many variations, with engine tweaks, different backgrounds, and…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Julian Gollop & Anthony Hamilton GAME DEVELOPER:POW Productions GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1992, Anthony Hamilton Back before the brothers Gollop became world-reknown with a little game called X-COM (a.k.a. UFO: Enemy Unknown), one of their early hits was called Chaos, a revolutionary multiplayer fantasy strategy gem for…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Dreamforge Intertainment GAME PUBLISHER:Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) Copyright 1998, Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) War Wind II: Human Onslaught is a great sequel to one of the most underrated RTS games of all time. PC Gameworld summarizes the game?s strengths and its unfortunate treatment by…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Andreas Nitsche GAME DEVELOPER:Blue Byte GAME PUBLISHER:Blue Byte Copyright 1997, Blue Byte Incubation is one of the best X-COM-style games ever made – and in my opinion superior to MicroProse’ much better-known X-COM: Apocalypse. The game features a slick interface, challenging single-player missions, flawless multiplayer modes,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ken Lightner GAME DEVELOPER:Holistic Design GAME PUBLISHER:Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) Copyright 1997, Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) First in a series of games based on the famous Games Workshop miniature battle series, Warhammer Epic 40,000: Final Liberation (WHFL) is a great adaptation of the bleak Warhammer 40,000…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Brad Wardell GAME DEVELOPER:Stardock Systems GAME PUBLISHER:Take 2 Interactive Copyright 2001, Stardock Systems The Corporate Machine (TCM) is an excellent sequel to Entrepreneur, one of my most favorite business sims. The game is a tweaked version of Stardock’s earlier Business Tycoon, the true sequel to Entrepreneur…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Timegate Studios GAME PUBLISHER:Strategy First Copyright 2001, Timegate Studios Without a doubt, Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns is the best real-time strategy game I have played since Enlight’s underrated Seven Kingdoms II, hands-down. At first glance, Kohan appears to be another run-of-the-mill RTS game in the…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Thomas H?usler GAME DEVELOPER:Blue Byte GAME PUBLISHER:Blue Byte Copyright 1996, Blue Byte In my opinion the best game in The Settlers series, The Settlers II Gold Edition is a great compilation of the original Settlers II and the Mission Pack add-on. Arguably one of the best-looking,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Lennart Sas GAME DEVELOPER:Epic Megagames GAME PUBLISHER:Gathering of Developers Copyright 1999, Epic Megagames Age of Wonders is one of the most ambitious fantasy strategy games ever created, and also one of the most expensive: it was sold in most retail outlets for $54 or more –…