Suggestions for Great PC War Games?

[JBP]

Hello everyone,

I've been wondering what everyone else out there is playing these days if your into computer games. I've played all the major one's from dusk til' dawn so to speak. From Red Alert to Civilization to Emperor: Battle for Dune and all the X-Com's.

The only types of games I've not ventured into too much are First Person Shooters like...*Thinks* Halo? Uhhmm. SWAT type games etc.. Reason is because they're generally expensive and I don't know which ones are good enough to buy.

Anyone with suggestions and why they like the game, please splurt it out, I'm all ears so to speak! 

 

[Michael Dorosh]

If you want an actual strategy game at the company and battalion level, try Combat Mission - http://www.battlefront.com

The latest iteration is Combat Mission: Afrika Korps and includes all the nationalities that fought in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and Crete, including Canadians.

Screenshots:

http://www.battlefront.com/products/cmak/gallery/index.htm

Features a unique WEGO system where all turns are resolved in real time.  You give your orders then let the men shoot it out - or run away.  Best armour-penetration model on the market with regards to WW II tanks.

 

[MJP]

I second Combat Mission...probably one of the best games out there.  You actually have to think alittle instead of rely on your reflexes like FPSs.

 

[Inch]

Call of Duty is awesome. There's an expansion pack due out this fall. It's WW2 based and you play as the Americans, British and Russians. It's good fun.

 

[Sh0rtbUs]

battlefield 1942. you like a great WW2 game, this is the one. you like being a bomber/fighter pilot? or tanker...infanteer..even shipdestroyers, battle ships..destroyers, anything, its all in this game. You can choose be german, canadian, british, Japanese, italian, American, Russian...PLUS, every front including Europe, Africa, Atlantic...its all there. Plus theres mods out for modern day combat like the Gulf War, or WW1 (several) and within the series, BattleField vietnam.

 

[Sappo]

hmm, you mentioned swat games.


i know 2 that can really get you involved, both are from sierra.

swat and swat 3 I believe...

swat was the mainly cinematic one, where they had 4 cd's full of movies ... you would click forward and the movie would play forward type of thing.... but the sniper training and the final sniper mission... were awesome!, having to actually account for wind speed and direction, one shot and thats all you got.....

and swat 3, im sure some of you have played it, mulitplayer was the best for me.... we had a group of us that played online... could easily spend 1-2 hours on a single mission, take it by the book, slow and tactfully.

oh and using voice comms really helps for that one

 

[Sundborg]

Medieval: Total War is one of the best strategy games I've played.  It has a map setup like Risk, and it also allows you to construct buildings, build armies, and go to war and create alliances with other countries.
Whenever you are engaging the enemy, you are able to contol each platoon on the battle map, and have a couple thousand troops at once on a field.  The setting for the game takes place from 1100 to 1400 era.  I've been playing this game a lot in the past while and it's great!
It has been out for a year or so, so it shouldn't be expensive at all. There is also an expansion to it called Viking Expansion.

Here is a good read about the game, along with a few screen shots.  If anyone of you guys havn't played this game, I would highly recommend it!
http://www.avault.com/reviews/review_temp.asp?game=medieval

 

[D-n-A]

Some good military/war games I've played are

Americas Army
Call of Duty
Full Spectrum Warrior(I have it for XBOX, not sure if its on PC or not, but its a great game)
Operation Flashpoint: Coldwar Crisis (and the add-ons for it)

 

[AlphaCharlie]

I've heard great things about Full Spectrum Warrior. I'm sure this crowd would love it.

It's not on PC yet though. only XboX so far.

 

[rcr]

Medieval: Total War is one of the best strategy games I've played.   It has a map setup like Risk, and it also allows you to construct buildings, build armies, and go to war and create alliances with other countries.
Whenever you are engaging the enemy, you are able to contol each platoon on the battle map, and have a couple thousand troops at once on a field.   The setting for the game takes place from 1100 to 1400 era.   I've been playing this game a lot in the past while and it's great!
It has been out for a year or so, so it shouldn't be expensive at all. There is also an expansion to it called Viking Expansion.

Here is a good read about the game, along with a few screen shots.   If anyone of you guys havn't played this game, I would highly recommend it!
http://www.avault.com/reviews/review_temp.asp?game=medieval

I second that.  It's an awesome game, but in order to really succeed you'll also have to get reading on some medieval history, a bit of which is presented in the game.  This will allow you to understand how to play the game well.

 

[Da_man]

My favorite is Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield and its expansion Athena Sword

 

[JBP]

Ack... If some of these games are for Xbox and the 4rth Gen game systems, I imagine I'll have to upgrade my computer abit before I can play some at any rate. The graphics from just the screenshot in post 2 is amazing!!!

Thanks for the suggestions and input, I'm definatly going to go take a look at some of these games and see what the min requirements are.

If you folks like that Medival war game you should also try Shogun: Warlord, it's set in ancient medival Japan, tons of units and you can actually use combat tactics to win. After I started playing that game I went out and bought Tzun Szu's Art of War, the book that is. Very good knowledge of using terrain to your advantage which actually helps immensely in the game!

OH! Also, any good flight sims? I LOVE FLIGHT SIMS... I don't like Microsoft Flight Simulator really, but things like Janes Fighter's Anthology, that's very old now though. Any new good ones with modern fighter aircraft?

 

[Sappo]

also should try out World War II Online.


I just re-subscribed again tonight after being away from the game for a few months.

They just recently added some nice looking trees, shrubs and berms into the terrain.

Plus Anti-Tank Rifles I believe... although I have yet to try them out.


WWIIol is more of a game for the hardcore realism fans, some parts are not very pretty looking... but if you are in it for the gameplay.

infantry missions can easily last 5 seconds up to multiple hours.

it all depends on how long you want to spend out in the field... or if you can survive.




i also recommend America's Army, as mentioned.

Great game... fairly realistic as well.

 

[GrahamD]

WWII online has all other "war games" beat by a mile.  My "suggestion" would be to combine a high quility graphics and backround game (like many of the other ones mentioned above ie. Rainbowsix 3) on the WWII engine, with the real time massively multiplayer concept.  (example, something like Day of Defeat, only full or 1/2 scale of Europe).  Have fully 3D towns, with permanent damage (until map resetting every few weeks) to structures from artillery and bombing like they do now.  With the "indirect fire" from artillery and destroyers that everyone in the WWII Online community is talking about.  Also, change the ranking system slightly so that you are are more generously rewarded for team based mission successes, and way less rewarded for lone wolf style of play.

  There's nothing (in the video game world) quite like flying a 3 hour round trip HE-111 mission to Whitsable England From Koln with 20-30 other bomber pilots, 20-30 other crewmen, and a dozen or more fighter escort pilots in tight formation, especially once the spitfires scramble over England. (especially if you live and get the mission success)
Or running a covert mission with an Opel (I play Axis) full of infantry to an airfield to shoot pilots as they are trying to take off.
Or forming a firing line 500M out from a town with a half dozen PanzerIV's and attriting every piece of equipment the allies have in the area, because some allie "lone wolf" doesn't know when to just give up and defend the flags from infantry.

The problem is that the servers can't handle keeping track of that much detail, and our computers would probably lag pretty bad once the shooting started.  It'll be possible eventually though, so I guess I'll just have to wait.

As for BF1942, that's sort of on track to what I'm talking about, but in a very small and simplistic way.  The BF series is OK, but it's very limiting in what you can do.  Aircraft with no controls, helicopters that can shoot down Migs, infantry reticules that turn red when they pass over fully concealed enemies.  Blah.  WWII is where its at.  Flight controls that rival combat simulators, infantry that you don't even know if you killed or if he just went prone to get a better shot at you, realism based firing rates, damage ratio's (according to the programmers it's all as historically accurate as they can make it) right down to the thickness of armour on all the vehicles, and a 1/2 scale model of Europe.

 

[SFontaine]

WWII was pretty cool when I played it 2 years ago. I was always so very confused about what we going on and always just followed the group, but was aware that I was doing something big. I eventually quit though because driving for an hour to a German town only to be shot at first contact really sucked. It's also pretty sketchy when it comes to variety.

 

[Spr.Earl]

Sudden Strike is also good,has Para's,sniper's,engineer's(mine field's,field defence's etc.) and all the rest including air support.

 

[jonsey]

Operation: Flashpoint - Cold War Crisis is my favourite, it's the first game I install (second would be System Shock 2, but that's not a war game) everytime I have to format my computer. It's just awesome.

 

[patt]

Operation: Flashpoint - Cold War Crisis is my favourite, it's the first game I install (second would be System Shock 2, but that's not a war game) everytime I have to format my computer. It's just awesome.

and if your really into it theres a MOD called operation Northstar out there that im apart of that makes Canadian vehicle add-ons and such

 

[Sundborg]

I used to play OFP all the time; it was awesome that one could create maps and stuff like that too.
There is going to be another OFP game coming out sometime soon, it should be even better than the first.
Oh, there should also be another Medieval: Total War game coming too; I am not sure what it is going to be called though.

 

[shaboing]

the whole battlefield series is good, call of duty, full spec warrior, socom and socom 2, day of defeat, ummm there is prob some more in there somewhere, haha. i haven't played full spec warrior yet cause i have no xbox but it looks unbelievable and i may just buy an xbox when i get money just for that game