Pat Callahan, GiN Staff

Recent Posts

Divided Ground Brings Tabletop to the Desktop

Divided Ground is the latest iteration of Talonsoft’s long-running East Front/West Front series. It covers the Arab-Israeli wars from 1948 through 1973, focusing on the forces of Israel, Jordan, Syria and Egypt. Like its predecessors, it is, in essence, a tabletop miniatures game adapted for the computer. It plays much like an advanced version of Command Decision or Spearhead with a scale of 200 meters per hex and 5-10 minute turns. If you’ve ever played the old Avalon Hill PanzerBlitz derivative Arab-Israeli Wars, you will feel right at home with this game. In general DG plays much like the previous … Continue reading Divided Ground Brings Tabletop to the Desktop

World at War Has Got You Covered

Steel Panthers: World At War V6.0 (SP:WAW) is the latest iteration of the long-running Steel Panthers series of tactical simulations, and by far the most comprehensive. The game covers land warfare from the colonial wars of the 1920s to the end of the Second World War on a tactical scale. Typical battles range dramatically in scale, from company to regimental-sized engagements. Map size also varies, and can be customized. The largest maps are truly huge. For a game that traces its origins to a 1995 SSI release, SP:WAW has aged extremely well. Perhaps aged isn’t the right term; Steel Panthers … Continue reading World at War Has Got You Covered

Mission: Humanity is Inhumane

Mission: Humanity is a misnomer for this dud; a more accurate name would be Mission: Inhumanity. It’s inhumane that this game would be foisted upon the game-consuming public as a completed product. M:H is a real-time strategy game in the mold of Starcraft, although that is as far as the comparison holds. Visually, the game is a good five years out of date, maybe more. Realistically, it is on par with the original Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. The units are small and indistinct and the terrain is relatively featureless. Given their tiny size and lack of serious animation, it is … Continue reading Mission: Humanity is Inhumane

Kohan Holds its Own

The Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns beta preview disk, a real-time strategy game from Strategy First, was rather limited in its scope, but gave a good account of itself. In a nutshell, the game plays like a combination of Civ2 and Age of Kings. It is good enough to hold its own in a crowded RTS field. The full version of the game should be hitting the store shelves today, so lets look and see what we can expect based on our experience with the preview. This fantasy game is set in the fictitious land of Kohan, during a civil war of … Continue reading Kohan Holds its Own

Homeworld: Cataclysm is a Stunning Sequel

As a brief disclaimer, I do not play all that many RTS games (the exceptions being the ubiquitous Age of Kings/Conquerors and Starcraft) favoring instead more traditional strategy games. Consequently, I did not play the original Homeworld entry, and will focus solely on the second installment. Homeworld: Cataclysm (hereafter, H:C) has a rich storyline, well set out by the extensive manual. The focus of the game is the single player campaign, of which there is unfortunately only one. As a relatively minor member of a race attempting to rebuild their homeworld (the arrival at said homeworld being the basis for … Continue reading Homeworld: Cataclysm is a Stunning Sequel

Dogs of War is No Litter Runt

I can’t decide if this game is outstanding or infuriating. Perhaps it is both. Dogs of War, published under the Talonsoft label but developed by Silicon Dreams, is a real-time strategy game in the mold of Microprose’s MechCommander. It features three different armies battling for control of Primus: The Mantai, an indigenous dinosaur-like race, the War Monkeys, a human mercenary group in the employ of the planetary government, and the Imperials, representing the military might of humanity as a whole. The game has a number of things going for it. The most apparent is the versatility of the camera, which … Continue reading Dogs of War is No Litter Runt

Century of Warfare has war covered

Century of Warfare (CoW) is the latest iteration of the The Operational Art of War series, widely considered the most comprehensive wargaming system ever created for the computer. CoW combines the original TOAW, TOAWII and their expansion packs in a single game. The attendant scenarios (with several exceptions) are updated to the current version of the game engine. Additionally, CoW includes a variety of World War I (and pre-WWI) scenarios, rounding out the great conflicts of the Twentieth Century, hence the name. For those of you unfamiliar with the TOAW series, it’s the modern version of the traditional board wargame, … Continue reading Century of Warfare has war covered