Commander: The Great War
Ok. I have played this game for a while and got the hang of it.
It is a great game of WW1 with a couple of frustrating imperfections that you only really appreciate when you have played quite a bit. So while i might say negative things at the end of this review this is a recommendation.
For starters it feels like WW1.
The graphics look the part. The map covers everything and there is plenty of open ocean for the naval campaigns to unfold. The opening turns also develop in a very similiar manner to the actual war as long as you play even modestly sensibly as either side.
– Real player with 1715.3 hrs in game
The designers did many things right. I really have only two complaints. One of those complaints is pretty serious, but the good points outweigh that big negative.
My background: History is my passion. I’ve had a particular interest in WW1 for thirty years. I’ve been to the best museums, and one of the battlefields. I’ve been playing hex-based wargames for even longer. When I was in college I was frustrated by the lack of WW1 games (apart from air combat). I wrote my own game, loosely based on squad leader and researched it thoroughly.
– Real player with 477.7 hrs in game
Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game
Darkest Hour would merit an award not only for its terrific value but also for the care put into its playability and historical accuracy. Historical events will generally always occur but sometimes at a different moment than anticipated depending on a number of factors. It is generally impossible to avoid having Stalin’s purges as the Soviet player, or election results in France for instance. But in spite of this, outcomes may be very different from game to game because of all other factors that may come into play. It is a complex game that requires a lot of attention, but that is also very rewarding to play.
– Real player with 2008.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Grand Strategy World War II Games.
I have 250-something hours in this game, and it is truly worth every cent i payed for it, i think it was like 2$ CAN. As Hoi4 can never hope to run on my system so this was my first hearts of iron game and i think its a good introduction for the series. It does have a steep learning curve and requires some mental capacity, but it is sorta simple when you look at it and its parts.
Some reviews say that the game is rather linear, that is sorta true at a glance depending on how you play. You can choose to play any nation at a variety of start dates and choose multiple paths to go down for your nation, (though not nearly as extensive as hoi4s foucus trees). there are options to go down alt-history in the base game, through the great number of events and decisions. they are limited though, it is impossible to have a communist USA for example, without the use of a little thing called console commands, which opens up alot of opportunities. make canada a fascist industrial powerhouse rivaling germany in might? you can do it, you can cheat your way through alot, but my advice is to use it only for developing minor nations or capitulating a already defeated enemy, or bypassing the script and creating your own scenarios.
– Real player with 812.1 hrs in game
Making History: The Great War
The big problem with this game is the AI.
It´s much, much to aggressive and unhistorical.
The first world war and the time proceeding it was marked by decidedly conservative regimes and military high commands doing everything decidedly conservatively and cautiously.
But so far I’ve seen Germany completely loose the war on Russian within a few turns while I as France was awaiting to get my face bashed in by them in the autumn of 1914. The Germans that did attack on the western front stuck to the Schleiffen-plan religiously and kept on punching their way thru Belgium to the channel coast even as they where cut of behind them by my counter attack.
– Real player with 488.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Grand Strategy Moddable Games.
Muzzylane’s Making History:The Great War is a very good game for two rather different reasons.I was having trouble with the production code (0 and o,B and 8 you know the sort of thing and most likely my mistake )but Chris Parson at support was right there and assistance to a rather grumpy gamer was just an email away . Not hours or days later but help right now.That was a pretty good intro to M.H:T.G.W.Thanks Chris.
The game itself after a modest 14 hours is proving to be excellent.The map ,oddly is much better than it appears in Steams add, the choices of countries you can play as is amazing,the detail quite stunning.Ok if you just want to roll the armour ,the good old Command and Conquer tank rush this isn’t your kind of game. I’m still trying to get my rail system up and running correctly, learning how one problem effects so widely and how to solve it is the brilliant part of this game.Micro management,sure, but great fun. You want to do something ,but can not ,if you delight in finding why not and how to rectify it you are going to just love this game. Its a clever, functional game.No crashes,no long load up times,all good.
– Real player with 243.1 hrs in game
To End All Wars
I’m going to give this game a recommendation for people to own. But with reservations. This is not going to be a straight hex wargame like many of you are used to. If you cannot get your mind around that, then you will hate this game. If you can be open-minded and strive to understand this game, try and understand that the army cards/icons have men truly modeled inside that army,, then you will enjoy this game.
I did an AAR of this game over on the Ageod forums.
– Real player with 235.8 hrs in game
I wrote a very critical, barely positive review for EAW six weeks ago, when I had only about 32 hours played on version 1.0. In that review, I complained about the game’s counterintuitive attack/defense outcomes, inscrutable casualty calculations, supply system flaws and ahistorical patterns.
In the meantime, I have played through the game twice and racked up over 200 hours played. Additionally, patch 1.1 was released during this time. In the light of these new developments, I am happy to adjust my review from “barely positive” to “strongly recommended.”
– Real player with 228.9 hrs in game
Supreme Ruler The Great War
To avoid confusion or disappointments, this game is not for people that want fancy graphics and fantasy WWI or WWII games. It’s also not about building up an empire throughout the centuries like civilization or other country-building games.
It’s a mixture on warfare strategy and tactics with the emphasis on warfare.
Almost all games I know in this scene get very slow when handling 100+ units or maps larger then 200x100 plots.
Supreme Ruler has I think 1,5 million plots. The earth map is very accurate. So it’s not like you’re unit is crossing Germany in just “next step” it really takes a whole to cross especially if you’re enemies with Germany it will take a while to beat the enemy.
– Real player with 711.8 hrs in game
I’ve played the Supreme Ruler series since SR2020 now 10 years ago. SRGW is an excellent game if you understand how to play it. There is a learning curve.
DIPLOMACY: Diplomatic relations will broadly trace historical trends if you have the default settings on. Otherwise, the diplomatic relations seem mostly random (even if they aren’t), simulating various diplomatic accomplishments or crises going on behind the scenes and outside of direct view to you as the Supreme Ruler. Setting volatility to “High” in the lobby before you start your game can cause relations to improve or deteriorate quickly on their own. If your volatility is set to “None” relations hardly change at all without your direct input. If you have no problem spending your country’s money on diplomacy, use “support the ruling regime” option for a particular country, and the relations will improve with the government you are targeting, apparently simulating diplomatic efforts to increase ties with that nation. On the other hand, if you spend money to “support opposition” the relations will deteriorate with that government somewhat quickly without explanation, soon giving you a pretext on which to declare war. Trading often and generously (on terms more favorable to the other side) will increase your relations slowly with the common people of the country (as opposed to its government/ruling elite) over time. You are able to build spy networks in the countries of your choosing. You can also arm rebel factions in countries that you oppose. There is a wide array of treaty types from which you can choose to build relationships with other regions. That’s essentially it as far as the diplomacy system goes. The diplomacy has dramatically improved with recent patches, and the AI now actively creates alliances and declares war and peace, something it did not do very often before.
– Real player with 141.0 hrs in game
Victoria II
“Ugh… What could’ve been… Praise KEK that I at least have my videogames to live out my epic power fantasies”
– Real player with 1707.9 hrs in game
Really fun game once you get the hang of it, and If you ever get bored of the base vanilla content, there’s so much creative and fun community mods that gives the game infinite replayability
– Real player with 1442.6 hrs in game
Making History: The First World War
What kind of world war game is it when the war never happens? The diplomacy needs to be fixed before this game is worthwhile. I played twice now building up my forces, preparing for the war, and then the assassination happens and they never go to war. Also if you are a power like Italy, you can never gain favor with any of the major allies and can never join the alliance. Another stupid thing is that you have a minor power almost beat, you have most of their provinces, then you offer great terms to them where they only lose one or two provinces and they never accept it. Diplomacy is just screwed and it ruins the whole game.
– Real player with 1148.5 hrs in game
Longtime fan of the Franchise and this I think has been my favorite game yet, I got it before it was “finished” and got a deal on it too, they’ve done a good job with all the new events in it which makes it more interesting to play as there’s a lot more random chance with how things play out, mechanics of it work pretty well, I still get some bugs now and again, I find it way to easy to get sucked in and “one more turn” turns into about 20, especially when in battle.
Recommendations:
1. a Russo- Japanese War Scenario and a Boer War Scenario would round out the period nicely.
– Real player with 553.5 hrs in game
Supremacy 1914: World War 1
If you are having a map without extreme gold abusers, this game really has it.
War feels like a true war, diplomacy, production, army size and versatility, distances, infrastructure, espionage, sabotage, betrayal…
This game is extremely hard and you have to be very patient to learn it. You must find old veterans who might teach you the art of this epic game.
There are very few games which put such a challenge on your skills, depending of your role - leader of a coalition, or a member.
This game will show you your limitations quickly if you attempt to win the greatest challenge - a 500 player world map, which takes ~3-4 months to complete.
– Real player with 3564.7 hrs in game
My own experience after years of playing (since it was a browser only game):
u start the game and u are too powerful in the tutorial round..u can win easily if u play a bit smart
u probably had fun so u start another round..your army is equal to other at beginning this time (which is good..things should be justified right?) and u make progress and expand..things sound alright but suddenly one nation starts to expand and progress way quicker than others..u are wondering and being amazed to see how some people play so good but things sound a bit weird at the same time..he starts attacking multiple countries and win against all of them..he is getting too strong and 2 or 3 times bigger and stronger than rest
– Real player with 108.6 hrs in game
On The Western Front
If you are seeking the ultimate Great War Commander Experience, you have come to the right place.
On the Western Front puts you in the shoes of a commander of a division in the most brutal war to ever be fought, and if you have the slightest interest in the first world war, this is for you.
There are regular updates: new and exciting content, and if you have an idea for the future of the game, or just a small bug to report, you will be heard on the forums. Not too long ago, the eastern front was added, so don’t be fooled by the name ;) Not only that, scenarios are planned for Meuse-Argonne and other major battles. You will find pretty much every aspect of the war to experience, from managing supplies to bombarding your enemy into submission, this game got you covered.
– Real player with 56.6 hrs in game
First I’m not a guy who recommends a game just because it is EA, or throws money at a dev just because they have a good idea which might be an OK game in a year if they work hard at it. If an EA game is crap and not currently worth buying, I’ll say so.
But I recommend this. There are two major reasons why.
1. The Dev has proven in the past that he will stick with a game for a long time and come up with a good product (his other game is World Boxing Manager and it has a very similar style to this). He’ll update a game even when you think the updates are long since done. His last game, like this one, doesn’t look like much at first glance but is incredibly deep and well-balanced.
– Real player with 29.5 hrs in game
Frontline: Panzer Blitzkrieg!
Simple little simulation. NOT going to test an Avalon Hill fan. Wait for it to be on sale, as it has no scenario designer so you only get what it comes with. Limited replayability. A few minor glitches where the game wont let you attack or even move into a grid that you should be able to. So sometimes, you cant eliminate an enemy unit.
– Real player with 110.0 hrs in game
just got the 4 game bundle was looking for a break from high stress turn base games the bigger devs make .
wow was this a surprise a lot is packed into the game some is not , so will not be for everyone .
but looking for a good shot out game with minimal supply planning this can be it .
One thing I like is no max turns just objectives But you have to keep going since you will run out of supply but collecting objectives or Parachute drops gets you more . I played on normal and a few battles had to restart .
– Real player with 56.7 hrs in game