JD Walter
Posts: 235
Joined: 6/20/2003 From: Out of the Silent Planet Status: offline
|
Hi MarkShot, Your new PC sounds really great. I've a custom-rig built to my specifications by Falcon NW, and 'tho it's now nearly 6 years old, I like it so much I've no interest in swapping it out for a new one. (However, I know I must eventually ... it's AGP and to upgrade my videocard any further, I'll need a new motherboard ...) I second your observation on the eary DOS titles. I started PC gaming after college in 1978, and I was fortunate to watch the evolution of many of these designs from their inception. For example, I got to watch (and play) Grigsby's sequential inprovement of "Guadalcanal Campaign" (Apple, SSI 1982) into "War in the South Pacific" (Apple, SSI 1986), then to "Pacific War" (PC, SSI 1992), culminating in his current "Uncommon Valor" and "War in the Pacific" here at Matrix. All of which I own (and still have). Interestingly, I find I now prefer simpler, more accessible games. I use to eagerly await anything Gary did, jumping on Carrier Force, Carrier Strike, Kampfgruppe, USAAF, Objective: Kursk, Warship, North Atlantic '86, etc. etc. as soon as they were released. (These days, I'm more drawn to CAW or C:EaW.) I think, due in part to the limitations of the memory and CPU, the older titles hit the right mix of historicity, complexity & ease of play. Today's efforts, though marvellous programming (and research) achievements, are unfortunately a bit too deep for me to play. (Though I have picked all of them up, including 3rd-party expansions like TankerAce's "War Plan Orange"! ) I think the Apple II, 386pc's, and 486pc's, were the right machines for their time. They allowed us to transition from board wargames to computer, and simplified a lot of the ruleskeeping (and -lawyering) that bogged down the hobby. I remember how much more elegant Gary's "Pacific War" was than SPI's "War in the Pacific" boardgame - both were true monstergames, but I actually finished "PacWar". And not just once - I played 6 games through with opponents (3 as each side), and had a 7th going when my opponent relocated. I am glad to see Matrix republishing many of these classics. Especially as some are getting updated to run on the newer O/S'es we now have. I can recommend John Tiller's Campaign series to you (think AH's "PanzerBlitz") and the update of Atomic's Close Combat III. Both occupied many, many entertaining hours of my life when first released. Although the latter is "semi-real time", it is pausable at will, and can be set to move slowly enough that it is easy to watch everything that happens. I am also glad to hear of your joy in rediscovering many of these earlier titles. Age has done nothing to diminish their fun. Whereas most designs today emphasize speed and graphics over substance (especially the RTS'), these earlier games educated as well as entertained. Grognards may well have disagreed with the quantifications used in the game's database, but such disputes encouraged one to go to the library and read on the event(s) and the equipment, just to find out what was being argued over. I learned a lot of WWII history this very way ... Hope my recommendations help. Keep doing your AAR's. They're a lot of fun to read; It's good to see pictures of the old games that don't get run that much anymore...
|