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Other Projects => Other Games => Topic started by: Aqizzar on August 13, 2010, 01:08:50 pm

Title: Games from the War to End All Wars
Post by: Aqizzar on August 13, 2010, 01:08:50 pm
Everyone knows that World War II crops up in videogames so often and so regularly that they're recognized as a genre in themselves, and derided as such.  Yeah, WWII games are cool but kinda played out, at least for me.  Game designers have moved on to newer pastures, namely Vietnam and pseudo-Iraqs.  But I'm looking for a modern-ish, mechanized wargame, or any kind of game really, about a different war.

Where are all the games about the First World War?

Now, I know the obvious answer.  It's hard to make an entertaining big-picture strategy game about two static lines of infantry shooting at each other until one side builds more tanks and the other runs out of money.  Given the textbook rubric most RTS games work under, you could get the same basic effect in any game.  And as for non-RTS games, the WWII-requisite one man army FPS is even harder to believe in a completely motionless war, flight-sims began and ended (well) with Red Baron, and any other simulation is pretty much moot.

All the same, I'd love to see a game, especially a big-picture game, about warfare with infantry, armored-cars, submarines, ramshackle tanks, cavalry, canvas airplanes, and zeppelins.  Aside from an obscure War of the Worlds license game, the aforementioned Red Baron, and the Germany campaign from Empire Earth, I don't know of any games set in WWI.  Can anybody help me scratch that itch?
Title: Re: Games from the War to End All Wars
Post by: warhammer651 on August 13, 2010, 01:13:18 pm
Darkest of Days has a whole lot of levels set during WWI, and they mostly avoid the trench-warfare aspect of it. It got relatively bad reviews, but I think it's fun.
Title: Re: Games from the War to End All Wars
Post by: HailFire on August 13, 2010, 01:14:27 pm
Sure. (http://www.bay12games.com/)
Title: Re: Games from the War to End All Wars
Post by: Aqizzar on August 13, 2010, 01:16:42 pm
Quote from: HailFire on August 13, 2010, 01:14:27 pm
Sure. (http://www.bay12games.com/)

Hardy har har.  Okay, so I forgot WWI Medic, blow me.

Quote from: warhammer651 on August 13, 2010, 01:13:18 pm
Darkest of Days has a whole lot of levels set during WWI, and they mostly avoid the trench-warfare aspect of it. It got relatively bad reviews, but I think it's fun.

That actually looks really cool, and I'll check it out if I can.  But I'm still looking for that WWI RTS of my hopes.
Title: Re: Games from the War to End All Wars
Post by: Kagus on August 13, 2010, 01:16:54 pm
This is a genre I also feel has been left sorely untapped.  I played an RTS a long time ago which was set in WWI, but it was essentially just a buggy reskin of the Cossacks series.  And by buggy I do mean buggy.

There's also some relatively recent FPS called Necro-somethingorother, which is basically WWI with zombies and demons.  Also, your arm turns into an evil spiked chain which you use in your quest for justice.  It's...  Well, I wasn't hugely impressed.  A quick search returned the home page (http://www.necrovision-game.com/), so you can check it out if you like.


...and, of course, there's always WWI Medic (http://www.bay12games.com/ww1medic/)...

EDIT:  Damn it HailFire...
Title: Re: Games from the War to End All Wars
Post by: Calhoun on August 13, 2010, 01:19:05 pm
http://www.ww1-source.net/ (http://www.ww1-source.net/) Though you do have to jump through some hoops to get the current beta version, and like, nobody plays it.

Darkest of Days isn't very good. Necrovision is better, but it won't blow you away, either.
Title: Re: Games from the War to End All Wars
Post by: warhammer651 on August 13, 2010, 01:19:39 pm
I almost forgot about Warfare 1917 (http://www.kongregate.com/games/ArmorGames/warfare-1917). It's a pretty decent Flash game set during WWI, complete with trenches.
Title: Re: Games from the War to End All Wars
Post by: Duuvian on August 13, 2010, 03:12:37 pm
Red Baron and Red Baron 2 took up massive amounts of my childhood.

That said, I think a sandboxish game that allows you to play as a soldier of any country involved in any armed service (including Navy and the fledgling Air services) during WW1 would be really cool, if difficult to make. Maybe you could have the option to be a low ranking soldier or crewman, or be able to start higher ranked as an Admiral or General if you want a more strategic control rather than participating firsthand.

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Title: Re: Games from the War to End All Wars
Post by: Shadowlord on August 13, 2010, 04:28:04 pm
There was Historyline 1914-1918 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_Line:_1914-1918), a DOS turn-based tactical game with hexes and units in said hexes, etc, by Blue Byte software, made before they went on to make the Battle Isle series of games. I wouldn't necessarily call it accurate, insofar as you could actually beat your opponent, but the not-so-bright AI might actually be considered realistic - it tended to do mass frontal assaults, etc. :P

It also had a multiplayer mode, although I don't remember if it was only split-screen (which is all I had used) or if it might have had any other kind of multiplayer as well.

For a game which felt much more WWI-like, you would turn to Stronghold: Crusader, which wasn't even set in WWI (it was in medieval times). You could get in hours-long stalemates with each player trying to assault the enemy castle/walls and failing to break through, over and over.
Title: Re: Games from the War to End All Wars
Post by: PTTG?? on August 13, 2010, 04:44:14 pm
WW1 had some fun spy activity. Might be neat to see a game about being an agent sneaking into a laboratory and stealing the plans for a new zepplin mixture or a better airplane.
Title: Re: Games from the War to End All Wars
Post by: Kagus on August 13, 2010, 04:47:01 pm
Quote from: Shadowlord on August 13, 2010, 04:28:04 pm
For a game which felt much more WWI-like, you would turn to Stronghold: Crusader, which wasn't even set in WWI (it was in medieval times). You could get in hours-long stalemates with each player trying to assault the enemy castle/walls and failing to break through, over and over.

Haha...  Come to think of it, it even had gas warfare via cowapults.  Hadn't thought of that before.

Damn, now I feel the need to set up a kind of trench map in Stronghold, with loads of crossbowmen...  And I've only got the original, never picked up Crusader.  There might be even more appropriate items in the expansion.
Title: Re: Games from the War to End All Wars
Post by: Saint on August 13, 2010, 05:11:18 pm
Quote from: Kagus on August 13, 2010, 04:47:01 pm
Quote from: Shadowlord on August 13, 2010, 04:28:04 pm
For a game which felt much more WWI-like, you would turn to Stronghold: Crusader, which wasn't even set in WWI (it was in medieval times). You could get in hours-long stalemates with each player trying to assault the enemy castle/walls and failing to break through, over and over.

Haha...  Come to think of it, it even had gas warfare via cowapults.  Hadn't thought of that before.

Damn, now I feel the need to set up a kind of trench map in Stronghold, with loads of crossbowmen...  And I've only got the original, never picked up Crusader.  There might be even more appropriate items in the expansion.
Don't play it online with anyone who is still there last I checked.
They just spam assassins.
Title: Re: Games from the War to End All Wars
Post by: Sowelu on August 13, 2010, 05:40:06 pm
I always had trouble making it run on an emulator, but if you can get it to work (emulators might be better these days), I really loved The Ancient Art of War in the Skies (http://www.mobygames.com/game/ancient-art-of-war-in-the-skies).  Yes, it focuses a lot on airplanes, but airplanes are cool.  And you can go out and bomb strategic factories and towns, or bomb strategic points along the trenches to help them advance and capture locations that you really want to capture.

It features a strategic view where you direct fighters and bombers to specific locations (not a bad interface for its day, either!  pretty unconfusing!); a side-scrolling view where you fly a fighter from the side and try to shoot down other fighters/bombers (difficult, but totally worth it--and you can gun from a bomber too!); and a top-down bomber's-eye-view where you fly over your strategic targets and try to avoid flak while dropping bombs where you want them (SO DAMN HARD).

You can choose to manually play each battle, or auto-handle them based on skill levels of the pilots involved.
Title: Re: Games from the War to End All Wars
Post by: USEC_OFFICER on August 13, 2010, 07:54:32 pm
Quote from: Calhoun on August 13, 2010, 01:19:05 pm
http://www.ww1-source.net/ (http://) Though you do have to jump through some hoops to get the current beta version, and like, nobody plays it.

Darkest of Days isn't very good. Necrovision is better, but it won't blow you away, either.

Error, link is not valid. Man, would I like to see a good, realistic WWI RTS game as well.
Title: Re: Games from the War to End All Wars
Post by: Calhoun on August 13, 2010, 08:06:13 pm
Quote from: USEC_OFFICER on August 13, 2010, 07:54:32 pm
Quote from: Calhoun on August 13, 2010, 01:19:05 pm
http://www.ww1-source.net/ (http://) Though you do have to jump through some hoops to get the current beta version, and like, nobody plays it.

Darkest of Days isn't very good. Necrovision is better, but it won't blow you away, either.

Error, link is not valid. Man, would I like to see a good, realistic WWI RTS game as well.

Fixed the link.
Title: Re: Games from the War to End All Wars
Post by: Samio on August 13, 2010, 08:41:00 pm
Here's one: http://www.meridian4.com/games/entente/index.html (http://www.meridian4.com/games/entente/index.html)
I haven't played it, but it looks like a clone of Cossacks: European Wars. Dunno though. There's a demo of it: http://www.gamershell.com/pc/the_entente/ (http://www.gamershell.com/pc/the_entente/)

(Oh, and it's RTS!)  :D
Title: Re: Games from the War to End All Wars
Post by: Kagus on August 13, 2010, 10:08:31 pm
Yeah, I think that's the one I played.  If memory serves, it really was quite ridiculous how poorly developed it was.

It's entirely possible that I'm remembering something incorrectly though, and the Cossacks series does have it strong points (and this is a clone, really.  Hardly more than a reskin).  Up to you.