Comments on: Three Moves Ahead Episode 25 – World War II

By: spelk

spelk — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:26:38 +0000

I’m sure there must be a way to simulate a war of attrition, like that in WWI, in an action game. I mean the majority of action games include respawning after death, so perhaps utilise the respawn function and include it as part of the play mechanic. Perhaps have an RTS view of the trench warfare, but give the player the ability to jump around the battlefield adopting any unit they want and play out their experience, so infantry, artillery gunners, cavalry etc.. this way rather than setting it just as WWI infantry “over the top”, you’ll play the game at both the command level and as a troop as and when you want some more close up action?

I think with this sort of setup you could make any theatre of warfare interesting regardless of basic infantry actions. Not all first person shooters have to be tied to a single unit types experience of the war. My first recollection of the “jump in” RTS was Battlezone II, I think.. and I’m sure this sort of thing could be applied to make WWI exciting to play.

By: Marc-Andre

Marc-Andre — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:30:48 +0000

I was listening to this show and had to come hare and leave a comment when world war I was belittled. Why? Because when you think about it, for all the scale of World War II, we very much still live in a post World War I world:

- WWI started with horses, brightly colored uniforms and human waves attacks. 4 years later, it was cars, tanks, planes, phone lines, WMDs (gas) and surprise maneuvers.
- As a result of WWI, the borders of these countries were drawn: Yugoslavia, Russia, Iraq, most if not all of Africa.

It’s too bad it would make quite a boring action game. Go out of the trenches, die instantly, several times over. And all that for a glorious draw.

By: Troy

Troy — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:19:01 +0000

I think that in a game with this world level scale, where every province’s importance is more akin to a VP than to a super accurate representation of the WW2 map, then I think minor labelling issues are not enough to undermine the core design. If it is an Eastern Front game and Stalingrad is, for example, too close to Germany, then it becomes much more important than if – on a global scale – it is one possible victory point out of many.

In a game about Gettysburg, the battlefield has to look like Gettysburg otherwise it’s just a civil war battle. On a world map, a couple of provinces with the wrong name is not a super huge deal since there are so many other provinces.

So while I share the complainants’ desire for proper cartography, it’s not enough to declare the game broken because in a world with 15k provinces a couple out of place is not a really huge deal for me.

By: Scott R. Krol

Scott R. Krol — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 08:15:24 +0000

It’s interesting Troy that you shrug off the map issues with HoI3, especially since you did a series on game maps and have professed a love for cartography. In the world of board games getting the location of Stalingrad wrong would have the peasants storming the gates of the designer with torches and pitchforks.

By: spelk

spelk — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:59:55 +0000

Another entertaining cast folks, it always amazes me that no matter whatever the topic, the items that flow over the cast throughout the hour or so, always have me gripped, usually have me thinking about the subject deeper than I previously have and it seems without fail has me itching to comment here about something or other I’d like to throw into the mix.

I’ve just got my grubby hands on HoI3, so I’m looking forward to giving it a run through, the previous iterations have left me a little cold at times, and I’ve not made much progress there, so I am excited about some of the newer features that perhaps ease the micromanagement, or minutae and give me a better feel for strategic decisions available and their impact on the progress made.

A game I immediately thought about when WW2 and Naval Warfare come up was Advanced Tactics: WW2 (marketed via Matrix), the game is at the tactical level, but has a level of detail and integration with land and naval combat as well as a rather fine supply model, and its very moddable.

WW2 films I like, now that is a hard one to answer with just a single film, obviously Band of Brothers comes high on the list, with Stalingrad and Saints and Soldiers featuring. Some of the more recent offerings that offer interesting views are films such as Max Manus Man of War, Valkyrie and Days of Glory. Obviously there are cheesey titles that are just too easy to love, even if their credibility as cutting edge or gritty is limited – Enemy at the Gates, Saving Private Ryan and an ashamed love for the B17 flick Memphis Belle. I now feel compelled to also throw in a WWI film that I love deeply, called The Lost Battalion.

Keep up the Dominions 3 game folks, don’t let it die!

By: Gary

Gary — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 21:50:28 +0000

How about The Big Red One? Stalag 17? The greatest film of WW2 in my estimation, if documentaries are included, is The World at War series with Lawrence Olivier narrating.

Sorry to hear, Troy, that 49th Parallel is a stinker. I’m rather fond of the Powell and Pressburger films though I have to admit I haven’t seen that particular one.