A very fine game indeed

Matrix Games Forums

Forums Register Login Photo Gallery Member List Search Calendars FAQ

My Profile Inbox Address Book My Subscription My Forums Log Out

A very fine game indeed

View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest

Users viewing this topic: none

Printable Version

All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> Gary Grigsby's World at War: A World Divided >> A very fine game indeed

Page: [1]

Message

<< Older Topic Newer Topic >>

A very fine game indeed - 6/8/2012 12:40:13 AM

TheGreatRadish

Posts: 121
Joined: 1/21/2006
Status: offline

I just wanted to post something here to show my appreciation of this game and also to try to assuage the fears or doubts of those who were like me just a few days ago.

As far as strategic WW2 games go I'm a long time player of the HoI series, it's a great game IMHO but, whilst brilliantly detailed and well-made, not always entirely fun, especially if you're trying to play with friends. I also bought and admire Commander Europe at War but it fails to capture the special feeling of global conflict and responsibility for one nation/closely-aligned group that my friends and I gained as teenagers with Axis and Allies and then World in Flames back in 1999-2001.

I first noticed AWD back in 2006 but breezily dismissed it because it looked all too like Axis and Allies and I arrogantly thought we had all moved beyond that. Yet, I have been visiting the product page for the last six years, always intrigued but never buying. Well, I recently lost my job and I've got rather a lot of time on my hands just now. So, rather naughtily given my financial situation, I bought it last week.

The fact is, I'm blown away. This game is an absolute hidden gem and it seems at no point did it ever ever truly gain the recognition it deserved. It's nothing like A&A, it has so much going on in the engine that it details pretty much everything I consider important in a WW2 grand-strategy sim.

I played SP as the Allies the evening I purchased and couldn't believe how much fun this game is. For validation, in case it was just me, I called two of my old high school friends and got them round for a game over the weekend. They were sceptical and fairly unenthusiastic but once it was all over we agreed it was one of the finest wargaming experiences we've had and we've had a few

I'm not going to get into detail about the game mechanics or review all the features, there's plenty of other material that deals with that. All I want to say is that, if there's anyone out there that looked at this and thought it was Axis and Allies or whatever on steroids and not worth their time then please think again. I, and my friends, missed out on six years of this because we were too quick to judge. It isn't WiF or Advanced Third Reich but it doesn't claim to be and I wish I had realised that. It's fun, it's magnificently designed and if you've got other people to play it with, it's a blast with a few beers or more and a pizza or five on a Friday/Saturday night.

I hope that it lives on and thank you so much to those that continued to work on it long after its release - particularly Jesse LeBreton

Post #: 1

RE: A very fine game indeed - 6/15/2012 5:51:25 PM

Joel Billings

Posts: 32265
Joined: 9/20/2000
From: Santa Rosa, CA
Status: offline

Thanks very much for that positive feedback. It's great to hear about gamers enjoying AWD. Funny that when we made WaW and AWD we thought we were helping ourselves by making something that looked like A&A, but it appears that the look turned off a lot of serious wargamers. As an aside, there's some talk about possibly porting AWD to the IPad, in which case we might have another chance to find a market for the game. Thanks again for your post.

_____________________________

All understanding comes after the fact.
-- Soren Kierkegaard

(in reply to TheGreatRadish)

Post #: 2

RE: A very fine game indeed - 7/26/2012 1:47:38 PM

benjerry

Posts: 9
Joined: 7/26/2012
Status: offline

A fine game indeed. Both an iPad version or a re-release (just adding the excellent Slitherine PBEM/server system) would be fantastic news.

(in reply to Joel Billings)

Post #: 3

RE: A very fine game indeed - 11/8/2012 7:35:45 AM

Lebatron

Posts: 2166
Joined: 5/30/2005
From: Upper Michigan
Status: offline

To the OP, thanks for the kind words. Much appreciated. It's funny that you say it's Axis and Allies look that turned you off. For me it was in fact its close resemblance to A&A that made me give the original game a close look. I was really into A&A at the time, and when I first saw WAW I thought WOW could this be what I always wanted A&A to be? While I loved A&A it had its flaws. I always tinkered with house rules for tech advances and other things. Many others did too. I guess it is a universal dissatisfaction that drives the A&A crowd to always tinker with A&A. When I learned WAW had tech advances, a real build que, more map zones similar in size to A&A Europe, and many other things many of us A&A players wish A&A had, I quickly jumped ship to WAW. Sorry A&A I never looked back. I believe the A&A crowd is the right demographic to advertise this game to. They are the ones that would love this games style the best. I'm testament to that. I've long thought I should return to my old grounds and talk about this game to A&A fans. I know many of them do not even know this game exists. A good Youtube vid that explains where this game improves on A&A would go a long way to drawing in the light wargame kind of players. I've been kicking around the idea of doing one myself where I would highlight the things WAW does better than A&A, then follow up with a real interesting few turns that demo tech increases, the build que, some combats, etc. I would definitely through in a sample PBEM turn to show how one can easily play by email and view the turn by replay feature. I always hoped to get a lot of A&A converts that way. I should really do this some time.

In other news, I'm still active in tweaking Deluxe AWD. In fact, I had just played a few PBEM games a few months ago and was testing out some changes I wished to make for the next update to Deluxe AWD. I will post over in opponents wanted to playtest the latest version with a willing player.

_____________________________

Jesse LeBreton, AKA Lebatron
Development team- GG's WAW A World Divided

(in reply to benjerry)

Post #: 4

RE: A very fine game indeed - 11/8/2012 4:37:19 PM

lparkh