Good Strategy PC Games

[SOCL]

I know that maybe this seems like an odd question, but does anyone have any recommendations for a good world-war strategy game? I mean, I know there's Hearts of Iron and Axis & Allies, but they aren't quite what I'm looking for. Rather, I want something similar to perhaps Age of Empires II where there are campaigns that follow history, but there are also fun "destroy everyone" games one can play. I doubt it exists, but if anyone has any recommendations, I'm all ears.

[Master_Xan]

How complicated are you going for? Something of the same complexity to AoE2, more complicated (the Civ games, including the new Civ IV, are great for this), or more simplistic?

 

For simple, there's Global Combat. Its a fun online Risk style combat game. Easy to learn, with enough fun players to keep it interesting. Just realize that as with all online games, there are always idiots.

 

For complex, I already mentioned Civ IV. That's really the only one that comes to mind, but I can do some digging for more if you are looking for something deeper. (and digging isn't too hard for me, I'm a huge strategy gamer)

 

For something similar to AoE2 (which I still play on a regular basis, by the way), I'd recommend any of a number of games. For story-driven missions, the Command and Conquer series is very good. I prefer the Red Alert titles, but Tiberian Sun isn't too bad either. For something with more of a sci fi feel to it, I'd heartily recommend one of my favorite games, Metal Fatige. Its a little hard to come by these days, but an Ebay search should get you a copy for a decent price, and you should be able to find a demo around somewhere if it looks interesting to you. Along a similar vein would be Earth 2150, its sequel Lost Souls (the one in the series I own), or the sequel to Lost Souls. They too are harder to come by, again go to Ebay if you get interested. Here's a link.

 

Of course, in the sci fi category there is always the classic. The one and only Starcraft. My personal favorite strategy game of all time, as it strikes a very good balance between speed, addictiveness, complexity, and replay value. Other games are better in some ways to Starcraft, but I still haven't found one that beats the combination. Especially since the campaigns are very, very good.

 

That should give you a few options. If you don't like any of them, feel free to ask for some more or PM me. I have quite a lot of strategy games, if I can't find something you like I'd be pretty surprised.

[Guest Scathane]

I mean, I know there's Hearts of Iron and Axis & Allies...

Imho, Axis & Allies is only worth while as a board game...

 

Of course, in the sci fi category there is always the classic. The one and only Starcraft.

Ah! Starcraft! *starts rummaging in old games box to find this beloved classic*

[SOCL]

I agree, Axis & Allies is only good on the board. Then again, there was an Axis & Allies PC game that came out a few years back that ran a limited supply. Finding one on eBay could cost you upwards of $150! The new one is...well...sucks.

 

I have Hearts of Iron II and it pretty much bit simply because it took too long to build armies and go to war. I mean, I'm just as bit interested in a deep, realistic game, probably more so than the next guy, but Hearts of Iron II was just...well...boring. I spent three and half hours playing the game and was still waiting to raise my first Infantry regiment. What a waste of money, I must say.

 

Games like AoE2 and Rome: Total War are pretty cool, though I'm looking more towards AoE2 than Rome. The latter I believed suffered from a lot of what Hearts of Iron II suffers, as well as taking far too much memory on my poor little laptop (laptop computer, that is). I guess, something that is rather deep like AoE2, but not so deep that I want to shoot myself waiting for the game to figure itself out... If that makes any sense.

[AdmiralFishface]

Umm, if you wait a bit for its release, and upgrade to a higher-end computer...

Company of Heroes looks fantastic.

[SOCL]

Umm, if you wait a bit for its release, and upgrade to a higher-end computer...

Company of Heroes looks fantastic.

Oh my! That game looks freakin' awesome!!!

[Master_Xan]

Oooo, one of the new breed of strategy games! The newer ones are going to have some seriously sweet graphics. Not that my computer could handle it, but maybe by the time I get around to buying such games (when they cost 10-20 instead of $50), then it might do ok.

 

If you don't like long prep times, I'd avoid the 1602 and 1502 AD games like the plague. Never played such an addictive and completely retarded game in my life. It too would take literally hours to get some sort of military unit. Assuming you survived the pirate attacks, perfected your economy, supplied every stinkin' thing your idiot people want, and still had enough resources left over to make war people.

 

Perhaps look to the game I mentioned before, Lost Souls. It has a rockin' soundtrack, interesting storyline, a nice depth of research and a really cool system for designing your own units, plus decent graphics. I'm not sure how your lappy will hold up to it, but its worth a shot. For something similar that your lappy might take to easier, I'd go with Metal Fatigue. Those are the only two games I know of that let you design your own units... very, very cool.

[SOCL]

Well, my laptop isn't too bad, I just feel bad cramming it with excessively enormous games. I felt bad when I uploaded Rome; imagine how I felt when I tried to run Half-Life 2 on it...

 

Isn't that game a sci-fi, though? I'm hoping for more real-world vehicles and storylines and whatnot, especially World War I and II vintage...

 

 

 

EDIT/ADDED: What about this game? Seems to be something like a third-person shooter, but also strategy? Any thoughts?

[Master_Xan]

Both Metal Fatigue and Lost Souls have pretty decent storylines to them, but they are sci fi. I've got a good WWII game running around here somewhere (of course I'm at work right now, so I may not be able to find it easily). Don't recall the name off hand. Did you get a chance to check out the Red Alert games? They're set in the WWII period, though with a few technology differences.

 

EDIT: Here's a good link to look for games at. Strategy Planet I've heard good things about Total Annihilation, but haven't played it myself yet. The site also links to Majesty, Kohan, Disciples, and other great strategy games. Of interest to you would probably be Panzer General and perhaps Jagged Alliance. You can also check out AoE 3 or Age of Mythology if you want, though I was never of fan of AoM and haven't played AoE 3 yet.

Edited March 30, 2006 by Master_Xan

[SOCL]

Both Metal Fatigue and Lost Souls have pretty decent storylines to them, but they are sci fi. I've got a good WWII game running around here somewhere (of course I'm at work right now, so I may not be able to find it easily). Don't recall the name off hand. Did you get a chance to check out the Red Alert games? They're set in the WWII period, though with a few technology differences.

I have played Red Alert before and loved it. Isn't that then one where Einstein goes back in time and kills Hitler, stopping the rise of Nazi Germany, but bringing about an era of Soviet domination...or something? The only problem is getting my hands on a copy since they're rather old games...

[Master_Xan]

Yep, that's the one. You can get it on Ebay, and the sequel (Red Alert 2) shouldn't be too tough to find. Its fairly new, definately on Ebay and maybe in stores in your area as well.

[SOCL]

Yep, that's the one. You can get it on Ebay, and the sequel (Red Alert 2) shouldn't be too tough to find. Its fairly new, definately on Ebay and maybe in stores in your area as well.

Great suggestion! I'll head out today on a quest...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...then I'll try and find the game!

[Evaders99]

Total Annihilation is probably one of the best RTS games. While it is quite old now, the huge amount of units and the activity of the modding community made it quite a cool game with endless possibilities. Using a innovative (for its time) 3D engine, you could have robots fighting on the ground, in the air, and on the oceans. While its single player was not strong or as polished as Starcraft, I felt it provided a lot more to the player than the stale Starcraft tactics.

 

Red Alert is still one of my favorites. The gameplay and story was fantasic.. and I'm always a favorite of Fullmotion video cutscenes (FMV). Red Alert 2 and its addon were quite fun to play. Superweapons made multiple player sorta cheesy, but it was still fun.

 

 

I also recommend Homeworld and its sequel Homeworld 2. It's a strategy game taken to 3D space. It is quite fun and the graphics are just awesome.

 

Relic, having done Homeworld and working on Company of Heroes, also did a strategy game Dawn of War. It is quite good (though the single player was short for me) - based in the world of Warhammer 40K

 

So none of those are technically really 'World War 2' games. But there are a lot of good strategy games if you're willing to go outside a specific genre. How many times can you revisit the same WW2 events anyway?

[Master_Xan]

Whenever I played Red Alert multi, I disabled the superweapons. It was just more fun that way. And I too am a fan of FMV (Jedi Knight comes to mind... and Return to Zork! Ah, the memories...)

 

If you wanted to branch into space strategy, there are more then I can count. Homeworld is among the best; the Armada Star Trek series is good, and there are many more complicated 4x games (like Space Empires).

 

At this rate I'm going to end up going back and playing some Red Alert again... maybe I'll even get in some multi with you guys.

[SOCL]

Total Annihilation rocked and still rocks! I still play it every so often.

 

I'm actually looking for World War I and World War II era-based games not for the sake of revisiting the same events, but rather to play some alternative history, kind of like how one can in the board game of Axis & Allies. For instance, in Axis & Allies, I can play as Germany and win World War II. Basically, I'm looking for a game where I came play something along the ways of AoE2 or TA, but with World War I and/or World War II technology.

[Master_Xan]

Try looking for a 'Diplomacy' game. Its supposed to be a really sweet board game, WWII era that allows you to play each side however you want (I played Japan and instead of attacking Pearl Harbor, I landed tanks in Oregon ). I imagine if there's a computer version it would be really good, but I haven't seen one.

[SOCL]

Try looking for a 'Diplomacy' game. Its supposed to be a really sweet board game, WWII era that allows you to play each side however you want (I played Japan and instead of attacking Pearl Harbor, I landed tanks in Oregon ). I imagine if there's a computer version it would be really good, but I haven't seen one.

Funny, but I recently say a PC game called "Diplomacy" and it sounds just like what you described. I didn't buy it, though, because I thought it would be a boring game like Hearts of Iron II and take all freakin' year to create a single tank. You say it's good, though?

[Master_Xan]

!!!

 

You say you did find a PC game called Diplomacy?!? I don't know if its any good, but the board game was awesome!

 

*gets on Google*

 

EDIT: Demo available here. I'll try it out tomorrow, as I have the day off. It won't live up to my expectations, I don't think its possible. But that doesn't mean it won't be a good game...

[SOCL]

Hey, Xan, tell me how it goes. I would try it out myself, but I'm leaving in less than an hour for Northern VA and won't be back until late Sunday. I'll trust your opinion.

[Master_Xan]

Sounds good to me. Dang, now the last few hours of work are really going to crawl...

[bobandrubert]

Diplomacy is the single WORST PC game ever made. I will leave it at that.

[Master_Xan]

Well, even with that glorious review, I still am going to try it out. Like I said earlier, I can't see it meeting my expectations from playing the board game, but its like Episode 2. No matter how bad Episode 2 is in comparison to the original trilogy, you still end up watching it...

[SOCL]

its like Episode 2. No matter how bad Episode 2 is in comparison to the original trilogy, you still end up watching it...

I don't.

 

 

Have you got the chance to try it out?

[Master_Xan]

Surprisingly, no. I downloaded it and even installed it, but haven't played it yet. Partly because I worked all day Saturday and spent most of Friday (my day off) playing Rebellion or reading. And since I don't play video games on Sunday (I'm a wacky religious dude, remember), so I'm not going to try it out today. Tomorrow is the day though, as I have a short 5 hour shift and then Tuesday off.

 

Just curious, who (or what?) is that in your siggy? The inquisitor-looking dude with glowing eyes and mouth...

[Mitth_raw_nuruodo]

It's Lo Pan from Big Trouble in Little China. Here is another page you can look at. J used a VERY similar pic for a 4000 Post gif once.