I’ve always loved the game of risk. We used to play it while I was on manoeuvres in the army. It always made our shifts while on night duty ‘go faster’. I continued to play the game with friends at university after I’d left the army. We’d stay up all night playing the game. Anyway, I though it would be nice to revisit such memories (for myself) by checking out the following strategy games, World Domination a harder version (or more complex) of Risk and another well known board game called Stratego.
I went looking for another download link for World Domination because the link I initially found stopped working on me I found one at the Home of the Underdogs and they recommended another game over World Domination that’s considered a sequel to World Domination due to the "Microsofts Excel spreadsheet overload" that you find in the game though the game they recommend, called When Two Worlds War. It also suffers a little from this syndrome but they reckon its a much improved game over World Domination. That said I decided to post both games despite the negative comments that HOTU made about World Domination (You can read them HERE) because what some may find an annoyance others may very well like.
All three games are best played via DOSBox. You can find a link to a good tutorial on how to use DOSBox by Wizzard in the Games discussion forums,
Please excuse the myriad typos below. I was falling asleep while typing this post. :) (too many very late nights and very little decent sleep)
Global Domination: (2.04Mb)
If you like the game of risk and are looking for something similar, but with a little more complexity then this is definitely the game for you.
Global Domination is pretty self explanatory. You are a world leader bent on dominating the world. In the grand world of computer games, this usually involves warfare, and this game is no different.
At the start you can choose to pit your talents versus up to four other people, whether they are computer or human. After making some selections involving difficulty and complexity, you embark on a world map (the default being the world map we should all be familiar with.) The world map is divided into provinces, with each province given a city size to denote its tactical value, and when you first start, each player is given a random assortment of provinces around the world from which you can start your domination. After each player is given their allotment of provinces, the rest are set as neutral, giving you ample room to expand before the inevitable conflicts begin to arrise.
At the start of the conflict, there are no armies on the board, and each player is given a pool of points to spend. Using the starting pool, you can begin building an army, made out of various units, from infantry to tanks to aircraft. Armies can contain up to ten kinds of fighting units:
infantry, mobile infantry, air-mobile infantry, light and heavy armor (tanks), light and heavy artillery, air defense, combat aircraft and strike aircraft. Each unit has different strengths and weaknesses when pitted against each unit type; so the structure of your army will have as much effect in a conflict as its size. For example, an air-defense unit is only good at attacking aircraft, and has no defenses when attacked by infantry. Once an army is built, you can then place it in any friendly territory and begin your invasions.
From the beginning, you can only make 1 move a turn. To gain additional moves, you need to invest in transportation which is paid out of your income each turn. If you wish to move over water, you must invest in naval transports, which are more expensive. To improve your income, you need to conquer and hold provinces. Once you begin this process, it goes very smoothly. With the ability to tailor a ready built army and then quick drop it wherever you need it, it streamlines much of the fiddling you would normally have to do in a game of this type.
Thats a good thing because this game has a great number of provinces you need to conquer in order to gain Global Domination. So what happens when your army decides it wants to take a territory with their army? You fight of course...in the blink of the eye most times. Combat simply involves grabbing your army (which are represented by bullets) and dropping on enemy territory. After you end your turn, the conflict will be resolved at the beginning of your next turn. There are options that will allow you to watch the battle results screen, which will show you a blow by blow comparison of attacks, and even a satellite view of a battlefield that allows you more direct control. I found the satellite view to be a bit difficult to use, and in a game with this many conflicts, it tends to bog down the game quite a bit.
For the most part, despite all these things you can do, it is simply a more complex version of Risk. You mass armies, conquer territories, and repeat until you are the last nation standing. At its simplest complexity, that is exactly what it is. What is interesting in this game is the ability to add complexity. Do you want more interaction between the players? Turn on diplomacy. Do you want some fog of war, where details are not fully known about your opponents armies or morale? Turn on espionage. You can make more informed tactical decisions by taking into account the morale of your army, and as your armies age they grow in obsolescence (which means they become outdated.) I found in my playthoughs that this rarely was an issue however, since you can overcome any obstacle with more armies.
With the ability to randomly generate maps, and the customizable complexity, you can find the type of game you want in this one. It can be a fun playthough with friends and a decent challenge with the AI turned up. I advise grabbing the manual if you get this game and run through the tutorial it offers as it will help you get a grasp of all the icons that drive this game. With its clunky interface and outdated gameplay, its hard to get started but you can find some enjoyment here.
You can get the games manual from the same page as the initial download link. It’s near the top of the page under extras.
Reference accessed HERE on the 5th Jan 2010-01-06
Download:
You can download World Domination HERE or HERE
I posted a version of Risk back in week 6 that you can find HERE
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Here’s another game on similar lines to World Domination called Stratego:
Stratego:
The well-known board game, Stratego, is a game about strategy. Your mission is to find the other players flag and defend your own. In order to do so you control forces that vary from bombs to spies and everything else there is in between.
In each turn you move one of your pieces either one square vertically or horizontally. If you move your piece to a square which is occupied by your enemy’s figure, one of the figures is sent out of the battlefield. This is determined by the character’s strength which is displayed on the card – the lower the number, the stronger the character is. So if your captain (5) attacks a sergeant (7) you win the battle and the sergeant is removed from the battlefield.
There are some special rules though, like that the bombs and flags do not move. A bomb kills everyone that attacks it, except for the miner, who disarms it. The mightiest piece on the board, the marshal (1) can only be captured (removed) by the spy and, of course, he will get blown away if he attacks the bomb.
And now a few details about the game design. Let’s start with graphics. Well, there are no real graphics but only a flat table with blue and red rectangles that have drawings inside. The sound is horrifying, at least on my computer where the sound is a long, extremely irritating BEEP. You should turn it off by all means.
This game is a must for all Stratego lovers and others who enjoy playing board games on their computer, but for those who either don’t like Stratego or just want to play Stratego with human players, this game can be overlooked.
Reference accessed HERE on 5th Jan 2010
Checkout user comments HERE
Download:
You can download Stratego HERE or http://www.hotud.org/component/content/article/37-strategy/37/21554">HERE
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When two Worlds War (1.9Mb)
Impressions' conquer-the-universe game that could be considered a sequel to Global Domination, When Two Worlds War is not your typical divide-and-conquer game, although it still suffers somewhat from Impressions' "Excel spreadsheet overload" syndrome evident in their early games.
The game offers quite a few innovations, although its lack of diplomacy, trade, or planet development elements make it a straightforward war game that is more limited in scope than typical 4X games. For starters, the game can be played in either real-time or turn based. Real-time, naturally, adds an element of excitement to the game as you frantically scramble to build defenses before the opponent attacks. For those who find real time play too quick, there is a pause button, as well as the option of turn based combat. Combat can take place in space or on either planet, adding new issues for you to confront when formulating your master plan Another excellent feature is that there are no restrictions on unit types: if you want a unit that does not exist, all you have to do is design and build it from the ground up, using a wide variety of components.such as body, weapon, engine type and more. You can create craft capable of transport on land, sea, air, space, or on all of these. Of course, with limited resources and time, you need to decide whether to go after that wonder-craft right now or to build a few more tanks first.
The interface is also quite unique. Although it still looks as boring (rows after rows of obscure buttons) as Impressions' earlier games, it is much more functional and unobtrusive. Impressions even includes a comprehensive on-line tutorial that walks you through the interface and basic gameplay elements. Another new feature in When Two Worlds War is that it allows the voice recognition capabilities of the ARIA soundcard to allow players to control the game via spoken commands (similar to Access' Echelon). I've never tried this feature as I never owned this soundcard, but I heard the results are adequate.
As with most sci-fi conquest games, one must develop new technologies to gain the upper hand on one's enemies. However, here you have much more freedom due to the excellent ship design module mentioned above. In addition, you can also use a simple programming language to program different action libraries for your units. Preset libraries include Patrol NW, Bomb Mines and more. These libraries, unfortunately, make it very easy to beat the computer player, whose intelligence is not much better than in Impressions' other games (which is to say, it's dumb as a rock). Fortunately, you can play against a friend over a serial link or modem.
With a host of innovations and pleasant graphics, When Two Worlds War is definitely one of Impressions' better games, although its poor AI and cumbersome interface still put it way below Master of Orion in terms of longevity and classic status. Recommended for those who are new at galactic conquest games, or anyone looking for a solid, relatively quick multiplayer game that offers a nice change from longer epics.
Reference accessed HERE on 5th Jan 2010
[/b][/u]Download[u]:
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I don’t have time to check out the following game (Postal) at the moment I'd love to make it an official download and add a download link. However I was surprised to see it on a couple of abandonware sites for free seeing as I only recently paid for it and downloaded it from Good Old Games. I’m really not sure of the legality of it at the moment so I haven’t posted the download link. It’s the basic game without the Special Delivery expansion pack.
If anyone does have the time, would they try to find out whether this game is officially abandoned or whether sites like GOG have managed to secure the rights to the game. It could be that GOG are selling it for their own profit without owning any rights to it officially? This is a good quality game well worth having if you don’t mind the mindless violence that the game depicts.
Here’s some information about the game. It’s rather a violent game and was banned in several countries when it was release
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocvFQs4jiy8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4xUYDvlXhQ
Banned in over ten countries, realistic, non-stop-killing, action-strategy psychological thriller. No aliens, no mutants, no stupid quest for the dragon's balls. Just good antisocial, psychotic shoot-'em-up action, strategy and government intervention.Blast, maim and fire-bomb your way through 17 levels (plus 4 new levels and 24 new characters in the expansion pack). Exploit mass murder opportunities: mow down marching bands, spray protesters, charbroil whole towns. Multiplayer mode: ‘go postal’ with up to 15 other death row candidates. 24 new additional characters including Red Cross workers, lawyers and nudists too!
Reference accessed HERE on 5th Jan 2010
