The Best of Strategic Simulations

Ask anyone who played computer games during the 1980s, and you will likely find at least a few titles from SSI on his or her list of most fondly remembered titles. Here are mine from the 1980s and early 1990s. Despite the antiquated (in some cases non-existent!) graphics, the play of these games still keeps me coming back for more. The titles listed are overdue for an update!

#11) Steel Panthers, Gary Grigsby and Keith Brors, IBM.

All right, I greatly admire Gary Grigsby. I admire his attention to detail and his overarching game designs. This, though, is his only entry in my list while Norm Koger has four. Why? Well, of course, Norm Koger has four because he's an exceptionally talented game designer whose games I cherish. More importantly, from the start his games were available for the computers on which I was playing: Atari ST and, later, Amiga. The only conversion of a Grigsby game for the ST (Warship) didn't really take advantage of the ST's capabilities, and the later ports to Amiga (Typhoon of Steel, Overrun!) were quick and dirty conversions, also. With Steel Panthers, the interface and graphics in the IBM world finally were on a par with the ST and Amiga worlds.

#10) Champions of Krynn, SSI Special Projects Team, Amiga. (Also for Apple II, Commodore 64, IBM PC.)

The highlight of the "Gold Box" games, in my opinion, is to be found in this, the first of the series to be set in TSR's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons "DragonLance" game world. Now, I am not a pencil-and-paper RPGer, but I do enjoy a good computer version, and I truly enjoyed this one for several reasons. First of all, I have always preferred DragonLance to the more mundane "Forgotten Realms," The character-based vision of Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman in the Chronicles and Legends trilogy is so strong, that it makes readers want to experience the world they are describing and interact, however briefly, with characters from the series. I also like the three moon-influenced magic system more as well as the pantheon of gods and goddesses. Secondly, compared to the combat-heavy Pool of Radiance, Champions of Krynn is a better balanced game. While combat is still extensive, it is less frustrating, and I found more of a story. As the first in a series of three games, it was fresher and better plotted than either of its sequels Death Knight of Krynn or the difficult The Dark Queen of Krynn. Finally, I was fortunate enough to play the Amiga version which was brilliantly converted by Norm Koger (yes, he of wargame fame) and which featured sound effects that took advantage of the Amiga's sound brilliance. Oh, yes, you could also load games from within the game, something that the Forgotten Realms games forgot. So, while I have hope for the updated version of Pool of Radiance being worked on at this writing, I would rather see some visionary company acquire the computer rights to the DragonLance world-Hasbro, are you listening?

#9) Hillsfar, Westwood, Atari ST. (Also for Amiga, Commodore 64, IBM PC.)

Despite selling over 100,000 units in the late 1980s this incredibly fun and addictive action-adventure never warranted a sequel. Long before Command & Conquer, Westwood was an active developer-as this project attests. The action sequences were simple (which, admittedly, is a plus for my reflex-impaired self), the world was limited in size, but the game remains riveting. I think we still need a sequel; Waterdeep, perhaps?

#8) Stellar Crusade, Norm Koger, Atari ST. (Also for Amiga, IBM PC.)

This, boys and girls, was master designer Norm Koger's first game. A lot of people hated it! It was long, it was difficult, it had minimal graphics, and it had icky documentation. The documentation was not Koger's fault, though. SSI did some "creative editing" of the manual he submitted and hacked out a good (and vital!) chunk of it. Computer Gaming World actually published some of the "outtakes." (That was not all that unusual either for CGW or SSI in those days, though. Interesting how their halcyon periods coincide, isn't it?) I, however, loved it. The documentation that was present was great; I especially enjoyed the background information which set up the game. Story is important in strategy gaming; it provides resonance to the game world and a reason for being there.

#7) Red Lightning, Norm Koger, Atari ST. (Also for Amiga, IBM PC.)

And this was Norm Koger's second game and first "true" wargame. A look at hypothetical NATO-Warsaw Pact combat, it played at the operational level (surprise! :-)) and was great fun. I remember being astounded at, er, weather simulation and the maps showing territory possession. Yes, graphics and, for that matter, game systems have come a long way since then, but the hypothetical situations remains fun and a nice break from the standard World War II orientation.

#6) Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday, SSI Special Projects Team, Amiga. (Also for Commodore 64, IBM PC.)

The "Gold Box" series was modified to the science fiction (purists would say science fantasy, but purists annoy me) world of moldy-oldie Buck Rogers, and it worked surprisingly well. Perhaps the best sci-fi RPG ever (not made by Interplay, that is). The sequel, Matrix Cubed, was the piece of Amiga vaporware I most miss.

#5) Roadwar 2000, Jeffrey Johnson, Atari ST. (Also for Amiga, Apple II, Apple IIGS, Commodore 64, IBM PC.)

Cool graphics on the ST, Amiga, and Apple IIGS (courtesy of Westwood), horrid graphics on the 8-bits, marked, for me, this hybrid game influenced by Mad Max. The player must recruit a band of, well, thugs to rampage across the country looking for scientists who, together, can create an antidote to the germ-warfare-engineered plague sweeping North America. A strategy game (with optional tactical combat) before strategy gaming was cool, Roadwar 2000 had one sequel, Roadwar Europa (also very good, and also very similar, but a tad more difficult). Once you get a good group together, winning is relatively easy, but it's incredibly fun.

#4) Conflict: Korea, Norm Koger, Amiga. (Also for IBM PC.)

(Tie) Age of Rifles, Norm Koger, IBM.

My favorite pure wargame of all time, Conflict: Korea utilized the Amiga's capabilities better than any other wargame. Featuring a mix of hypothetical and historical conflicts, it's reason enough to keep an Amiga operational.

Age of Rifles covers battles barely seen anywhere else, and it does so with a great emphasis on playability.

#3) President Elect 1988 Edition, Nelson Hernandez, Sr., Atari ST. (Also for Apple II, Commodore 64, IBM PC.)

(Tie) Cartels & Cutthroats, Dan Bunten, Commodore 64. (Also for Apple II, Atari 8-bit, IBM PC.)

I played the earlier version on my Commodore 64 and loved it, but that version was painfully slow. What a difference a 16-bit processor makes! :-) Still eminently playable today, there's nothing quite like running your own presidential campaign and completely burying your least-favorite politician opponent in the electoral dust.

Quite simply, the best business game ever. It's depth and playability (and multiplayer mode) was unprecedented in the very early 1980s (either 1981 or 1982), and has only been matched recently by Trevor Chan's superb Capitalism Plus, which is more of a simulation than a strategy game. Painfully slow on a C-64, it moves much nicer on an emulator, and it's a testimony to its brilliance that it remains playable despite crashing with divide by zero errors semi-regularly. (M.U.L.E. was commissioned by Electronic Arts due to the popularity of this game.)

#2) Phantasie I, II, III, Doug Wood, Atari ST & Amiga. (Also for Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, IBM PC. Phantasie II not for Amiga or IBM PC.).

A rich fantasy world with abstracted strategic combat. Hack 'n slash combat, little in-game story, but great potential and great gameplay. I have often thought about countless sequels; the world of Phantasie remains my favorite fantasy game world of all time. May it someday return!

#1) Rails West!, Martin Campion, Commodore 64. (Also for Apple II, Atari 8-bit, IBM PC.).

Yes, Railroad Tycoon is a great railroad game, but if you want to play with stocks and bonds instead of tracks, trains, and stations, Rails West! remains the only game to play. It is one of the half-dozen or so games I keep my Commodore 64 for (the others: M.U.L.E., Lords of Conquest, PSI-5 Trading Company, Cartels & Cutthroats, and Epyx' Games series).

GRAND PRIZE:

The best computer game I played until Sid Meier's Civilization and perhaps only truly beaten by Civilization II, was a halfway step between Risk and Empire. Featuring beautiful Atari ST graphics (including territories that were literally filled in with your nation's color, something unseen before that) and the best historical essay I have ever seen in a computer game manual ("At Play in the Imperial Sandbox: The Golden Age of 'The White Man's Burden'"), it is one of the few games I have played and owned in multiple formats (Atari ST and Commodore 64, in this case). I would have given any amount of money for the Amiga version to have made it to market. Quite simply, the crowning achievement of SSI's rich and glorious history, and still one of the best computer games ever of all time:

COLONIAL CONQUEST

by Dan Cermak, Commodore 64 & Atari ST (also for 64K Apple and 48K Atari; vaporware for IBM, Mac, and Amiga)

Runners Up...

Not quite classics, but providers of many great hours of entertainment:

Panzer General, IBM. (Also for PlayStation.)

It probably saved wargames at SSI, but also helped spell the end of serious wargames (and non-WWII wargames) there. I love the role-playing aspect, and the immediacy of play.

Sword of Aragon, Amiga. (Also for IBM PC.)

Better than Warlords which overshadowed it, this fantasy-strategy game placed nearly as great of importance on managing your kingdom as on tactical battles. Not unlike an earlier, harder-core Master of Magic.

Clash of Steel, IBM.

Fun wargame, great idea, but I still hate the interface.

Rings of Zilfin, Atari ST. (Also for Apple II, Commodore 64, IBM PC.)

A fun introductory RPG by Ali N. Atabek who later found greater fame with The Magic Candle. Uniquely different and still fun to play.

Update Now!

There are also some SSI games I never have had the chance to experience first hand, but which have great potential. In other words, the basic concept still holds up.

Geopolitique 1990.

Economic and political strategic game that predates Balance of Power and Sid Meier's triumphant removal of the negative connotation of the label "strategy."

Six-Gun Shootout

Strategy-based gunfights at the OK Corral? Cool!

Medieval Lords

From Rails West! mastermind Martin Campion, a strategic overview of medieval Europe.

And, let's face it, nearly all of SSI's classic wargames were brilliant concepts. Gettysburg: The Turning Point II, War in Russia III, Shiloh: Grant's Trial in the West II, Sons of Liberty II, and many, many more would have me beside myself with joy. When I win the lottery, I'm buying SSI from Ubi Soft!

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