Review Reprise: Battlezone

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. In 2011 the (then) thirteen-year-old Battlezone persuaded me to shelve Shermans, Spitfires, and Sten guns for a spell. 

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Train sim tittle-tattle

Scanning the 712 pieces of Train Simulator DLC currently available on Steam you wouldn’t think Dovetail’s aging stalwart had a big following and a burgeoning third-party development scene in India. I’m sure I’m not alone in hoping the likes of SRv2 Tamil Nadu and SRv1.5 Kerala eventually turn up in marketplaces friendlier and more familiar than fastlinegames.com.

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MATE 2.0 is smarter than General George McClellan

Ezra Sidran’s latest General Staff: Black Powder video lets us read the thoughts of the game’s silicon McClellan as he prepares to do battle outside Sharpsburg, Maryland on September 17, 1862. Impressively, none of Little Mac’s thoughts are prefabricated. They are the dynamic products of battlefield analysis, military science, and an RPG-style ‘leadership’ variable.

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The Lions of Lodowice: Turn 6

If there was a Hundred-style win predictor at the bottom of the above screenshot, I reckon the red German section of the bar would be at least 50% longer than the blue Soviet one. Outnumbered 3 to 2 (3 to 1 if you’re counting turrets) the Soviet team will need plenty of guile and luck in coming turns to level the slaying field.

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