Review Reprise: War and Peace 1796-1815

I’ve written hundreds of reviews, previews, and retrospectives during my twenty-odd years as a games inspector. As many of these appeared in the British version of PC Gamer magazine and nowhere else, now and again something from my archive may appear as one of THC’s daily posts. Pyro Studios wasn’t the only outfit to ‘Total War’ the Napoleonic era before Creative Assembly got around to it. Two years before Imperial Glory appeared, Microids released a NTW foreshadower called War and Peace.

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Squad 22 is aimed squarely at the vatnik demographic

“When diplomacy fails, our time comes – the time of warriors.”…Squad 22: ZOV starts spouting pro-SMO claptrap seconds after launching. A hastily developed Door Kickers knockoff “officially recommended by the Russian Military”, the game appears to be the brainchild of Alexander Tolkach, an ex-Gaijin community manager who, not all that long ago, was happy to develop for the Ukrainian government.

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Friday Foxer #230

Every Friday, Tally-Ho Corner’s cleverest clogs come together to solve a ‘foxer’ handcrafted by my sadistic chum and colleague, Roman. A complete ‘defoxing’ sometimes takes several days and usually involves the little grey cells of many readers.

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Every drone sim should include ‘flypaper’

While FPV SkyDive doesn’t have Liftoff’s aerodynamic authority or Uncrashed’s good looks, it does come with serviceable FMs, entertaining environments, and a hard-to-resist price tag: 0GBP. I’ve been reaching for it pretty regularly of late, and, during a recent session, found myself brainstorming ‘flypaper’, an MP mode inspired by Knot in 3D and Counterclockwise.

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Alphabetised game news (V2Z)

V is for Verisimilitudinous virtual tides. The tiny selection of maritime sims that acknowledge the Moon’s effect on sea levels grew by one late last month. Not only do eSail owners who opt in to the V3 beta get improved visuals and a new ‘Trade Islands’ map with dynamic tide heights (tidal flows have yet to be implemented), when close to land they may now encounter anabatic and katabatic breezes in addition to wind shadows.

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Alphabetised game news (Q2U)

Q is for Quick fag card. The 25 cards that make up ‘Victoria Cross Heroes in Action’ are not your typical fag cards. Released in 1970 by Sheffield firm Bassett & Co, they were distributed in packets of candy cigarettes. Compared to the tea cards of the time, the artwork was crude, the subject matter dramatic. Shown below, card no. 6 commemorates Gordon Campbell’s VC. A remarkably cool Q-Ship skipper, Campbell allowed his wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing to be torpedoed, then sunk the U-boat responsible with close-range gunfire when it surfaced.

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