Doesn’t look like, but I haven’t had one take more than half an hour yet.
spelk
2682
I did a quick look-see at the Hexwar release of Richard Berger’s Assault on Arnhem (over at my blog), but here’s the source link:
It was released in a rougher form about a year ago as Arnhem: Airborne Assault, and it’s been tidied up, and hooked into Hexwar’s multiplayer, as well as coming onto PC/Mac platform. Nice to see short and accessible hex and chit games make it to mobile as well.
tgb123
2683
One caveat about buying Hexwar games - support is horrendous.
A couple of months ago I purchased their adaptation of the card game Nuts! directly from their site. Three weeks or so ago it was released on Steam. I asked the same simple question - Is it possible for me to get a Steam key? - three times: once on their forum, once on the Steam forum, and in an email to support. I’ve yet to get a response in any of those places.
I see that Infection:Humanity’s Last Gasp, a very good game I highly recommend, comes to Steam today. I would warn anyone buying it not to expect much in the way of support.
Here is the game I will be buying as soon as I can get home and get my sweaty little hands on the “buy” button!
Mius Front
Wow, that looks lovely, and reminds me I still need to play Operation Star! Thanks!
They’re really proud of the sunflowers? 3 of the 8-ish show tanks in them :)
jsnell
2688
Great article at the Digital Antiquarian on the early history of SSI: http://www.filfre.net/2016/03/joel-billings-and-ssi/
How is it? I’ve not played Operation Star yet, but this looks really great.
This is the sort of game that 2000-era me would have been ecstatic about. Today, as cool as it looks, I just know I wouldn’t have the patience to dive into.
JeffL
2691
Brings back a lot of memories. I was in grad school in those days, had my Apple ][, and I think I purchased every SSI game that they put out, starting with Computer Bismark. Our local newpaper even did an article on me, featuring a photo of me with a big bookshelf filled with those big SSI game boxes. My favorite and more frustrating was Computer Ambush. You had a squad of guys, equipped with rifles, grenades, one with a machine gun, and different maps. In one of my favorites you simply tried to get through a town, from one side to exit on the other. If someone was shot and lying in the street, you had to decide whether to risk sending someone to help him and potentially lose that person also. The first version was in Applesoft basic and it was SO slow. Then they put out a version in assembler, quite a bit faster. I remember sending old fashioned mail to the Billings, asking if there was some way they could make the location of the enemy more random. As it was, there were 3 locations possible for each enemy unit, but for a game all about the tension of an ambush, it quickly needed more surprise. Got a nice letter back on the challenges of what I was asking for and we ended up with several letters back and forth on war game design.
So much fun in those days, our expectations were so low that they were often exceeded by SSI. Steel Panthers, Kampfgruppen (sp) later, all the early games, they were such pioneers. Who could have imagined a Battlefront Atlantic on a pad (who could have imagined a pad!) back then.
Storz
2692
The UI compare to prior game is simplified and improved, by that I mean, still hard to use compare other recent games. But you should be able to pick it up and play within couple hours if you play all the tutorial missions, at least this game has better tutorial than the last game, the tutorials teaches the basic, so you can give basic command without too much trouble. Anything in depth, I’m afriad you probably need to watch some youtube let’s play or read manual/guide to figure out.
I’m not sure I ever had the patience for it. The prior games were inscrutable, and there wasn’t enough to attract me to get past it.
I am close to agreeing. Very well balanced and tells a great emergent story. The design is almost Sid Meir like in its balance of decisions, activities, ease of interaction. Lovely.
Just started playing Atlantic Fleet on my iPad; I’ve had the game for a while but only fiddled with it. It is, as noted, quite excellent, and I’m pretty stunned it’s running on my freakin’ tablet. The same platform filled with Candy Crush Saga clones (well, not MY iPad, but iPads in general).
Yeah it really is good, The pacing of the campaign in particular. I was trying to get on top of the U-Boat menace when all of a sudden the german raiders showed up and in the middle of the Atlantic I had two light cruisers and a destroyer taking on the Scharnhorst! In a titanic struggle… we lost and am now scouring the ocean for the damaged hun ship . As I moved out my last remaining battle ship from the med the Bismark shows up off the coast of England.
Off the bay of biscay my battleship flotilla runs into a German convoy complete with destroyer escort! He calls in several airstrikes on my BC but eventually succumbs leaving the 9 ship german convoy to the guns of the Royal Navy!
A real see saw narrative the campaign generates. I am pretty confident I am going to lose it because of the battleship gap (germans now ahead after U-Boats sunk 2 of mine) but god DAMN what a story!
tgb123
2698
Re Victory & Glory: I’ll be out of the country when it goes live on Steam, and don’t know what my internet situation will be. I’ll post impressions as best I can once the NDA is lifted.
wahoo
2699
Thanks for this story. SSI is the first company I remember making games. I looked for their label. Shiloh, Rebel Charge at Chickamauga (probably the game I played the most in high school), The revolutionsary war game, a decent fantasy game. The ability to play some of these games solo and without hours in setup were key to a kid in a low population area.
Wow - I have been sinking A LOT of time into Pike and Shot : Campaigns recently. Probably the first wargame I’ve really fallen for.
Are there other games in similar vein that really focus on the tactical layer? After much experimentation I’ve decided that grand strategic games don’t really do it for me.
