We talk in detail about Wargame: European Escalation in this week’s podcast, and it’s a great show because Tom and Rob and Bruce have some great exchanges about why the game works. WEE is really a good game that shows that Eugen Systems understands real time strategy design as a studio at a level we probably haven’t seen across many titles since Ensemble. (Petroglyph, however, has come so close so many times.)
For me, the game is really about the tanks and stuff.
I used to be really into modern military equipment – a real missilehead. I knew which countries used which planes, how the Chinese altered the Mig-21, the difference between a Knox and Perry, the basic outlines of West German tank troops. I am not as interested in this sort of thing any more, but when you are young and you read books like Clancy’s Red Storm Rising and Hackett’s The Third World War, then this sort of thing becomes second nature. (Yes, I used to read very crappy books.)
I think WEE works as equipment porn largely because of the time they chose. 1975 is, as Tom points out on the show, right when a lot of things in military armament design were changing. You have more computers in the advanced armor, you have the Apache gunship introduced in 1975 (changing how helicopters are seen in many ways), you have new conceptions of the value of the infantry man. There are no A-10s in service yet to provide close
Games that are about the Russians versus the West often have a tension in that they would love to get the latest and best equipment in front of you. Harpoon, one of my all time favorite games, had this problem. The Seawolf submarine wasn’t yet in commission, but there it was in game. The Russians didn’t have a real aircraft carrier, so they had to rush one into service. So it is that games like World in Conflict are full of M1A1’s and T-90s. Flight sims from the 90s had the latest planes and manufactured weird conflicts to make sure that SU-27s and F-18s can duke it out.
1975 is in the middle of a transition era in equipment and politics. American prestige is at its post-war nadir, with a weak President Ford and the loss of Vietnam. Despite the spirit of detente, there are still many chances for there to be a real war and WEE paints a somewhat plausible case of an overeager East German Army dragging the world into war.
There is a great variety of weaponry in Wargame: European Escalation. There is a “variant” button so you can see all the different versions of Chieftain or Leopard. Why on earth would you NOT want to see this? The differences between the generations of vehicle are fascinating and have led me to Wikipedia and local bookstores to find out more about the NATO or Warsaw Pact armies and the histories of the evolution of weapons platforms.
For me, this remains a good cue that I am playing a very good strategy game. If it has something I can learn more about and it drives me to do so, then the game has gotten its hooks into me. No, the army doctrines aren’t here, so I am not using my T-72’s in a proper Soviet way. But then, I can read about more of that to refresh the things my 18 year old brain knew.
We should probably do a podcast on books and strategy gaming, though it would be dominated by Bruce pulling things off his shelf that were autographed by Jan Mazurkiewicz.
MOAR TROY GOODFELLOW
Agreed wholeheartedly. Love the multiplayer, love the range of units in this game, love the core mechanics.
Dammit. I’ve been desperately trying *not* to buy this game despite how much I loved RUSE, simply because I’m not sure I have the time to get into a big RTS right now, but this little piece has piqued my interest once more and I suspect the podcast will push me over the edge.
My bank balance curses you, Troy Goodfellow and Three Moves Ahead.
If you’re unaware of the details of history, the liberties developers take when creating their games roll right by you. Ignorance is bliss. I am a historically-based game developer’s best friend.
PS – I hope to improve upon this. Please send a chunk of your brain to me.
Yes, i was waiting for an opinion on this game! I can’t wait for the podcast.
“If you’re unaware of the details of history, the liberties developers take when creating their games roll right by you. Ignorance is bliss. I am a historically-based game developer’s best friend.”
I think the trick is knowing just enough to recognise, say, a Tiger I or know the difference between a ship of the line and a sloop (which enhances the fun), while not knowing SO much that you yell because the Tiger I is missing a rivet. XD
RUSE never managed to make a strong inpression on me, although most of it has to do with my own limitations (never managed to cope with the pace off the game). Should I still get this one? I do love the theme and the time period…
Hey, let’s not knock Red Storm Rising. Yeah, Clancy still loves his tropes and includes a laughable-yet-troubling rape fantasy, but when he lets Larry Bond drive the train, that book gets pretty damn good. The Iceland sequences, the carrier battle, the American tankers holding back the Russian advance? I look at as a brainy action movie, one that does provide a lot of good insights into the late Cold War. It isn’t “The Dead Hand” but I think it holds up.
Three Moves Ahead Episode 160 – No Standing on the European Escalator to War // Mar 17, 2012 at 2:36 pm
[…] Comments Rob Zacny on Wargame: Equipment EscalationPirimeister on Wargame: Equipment EscalationPeter S (Mind Elemental) on Wargame: Equipment […]
What fiction on this subject would you guys recommend?
I really enjoyed Red Storm Rising as a kid, but even at that age I didn’t think much of Harold Coyle: never mind Chobham armour and DU, his M1A1s were covered in solid plot invincibility. Hackett sounds very promising, but isn’t available in ebook form.
Couple of Larry Bonds offering from then are good….
The Sunday Papers | Rock, Paper, Shotgun // Mar 25, 2012 at 10:45 am
[…] Moves Ahead have been talking about Wargame: European Escalation, and also writing a bit about it here. They reminded me that we really need to talk about that game on RPS, because it’s real-time […]
Troy, you sound pretty up on this game. Are you playing single or multi player. So far I have heard single player isn’t nearly as strong as multiplayer and wondered if you differ on this? Since I play single player games this is an important factor to me.