I’ve been getting back into the classic Close Combat games, and they’re some of my very favorite of the wargame genre.
I’m curious what retrogaming’s favorites are. I’m not too particular on what constitutes a “wargame,” it could be anything from Final Fantasy Tactics to Steel Panthers.
To throw a couple more out, I really enjoyed Rome: Total War for the 4x strategy and the Combat Mission games for their simulation systems as well.
Empire Earth
Oh, I’d forgotten about that game. I actually liked it better than Age of Empires.
I loved close combat games! I still want think and look for similar games. It left a void I haven’t quite filled.
Rise of Nations: Extended Edition
Command & conquer: Red Alert
There is even an open source version
EA just opened sourced the real RA as well!
Red Alert 2: Yuri’s Revenge
I’m more of a Tiberian Dawn person myself
It’s a close second, but red alert has the better balancing in my opinion
I just don’t like the style of RA as much, and I’m usually a campaign-only player for C&C anyway
Fair. I get that. I had the same problem with red alert 2. It could be the better game, but the style just doesn’t interest me. For the later games mainline c&c has the better style. Including c&c3 and ra3.
Historyline: 1914 - 1918
Rise of Nations
Falcon 3
If war-themed FFs fit in, and if people accept a 19 y.o. PS2 game as retro, Final Fantasy XII is pretty good, and points for the story going more the infiltration and diplomacy routes instead of protagonists buldozing everything like in previous games.
And on a more classic sense of war, Outlive is pretty good but hard. Also wasn’t expecting the units’ quotes (at least in the Portuguese dubbing; haven’t checked it in English) to be as silly/amusing, but it helps cracking up some smiles here and there.
Total Annihilation
That soundtrack chefs kiss
I loved just loitering on the main screen for that lovely white noise/cave sound/immortal machine music vibe.
I was having a blast playing through Combined Arms recently. It’s a mod (or revamp) of OpenRA which provides a story an campaign that involves factions from all C&C and RA games, including the Scrin.
And best of all: Since it’s based on OpenRA it’s completely free. I highly recommend check8ng it out. It’s well balanced, it involves a cool story, and while I’m mostly a tiberian dawn kind of guy, I’m sure it’ll appeal to Red Alert fans as well.
Ever wanted to see how the mammoth tank fares against a tesla coil? Or a scrin carrier against a Yak? Well now you can try it.
Man I haven’t played Close Combat in probably 27 years but I instantly recognized that screen shot. Great game!
I still play C&C Generals and Supreme Commander fairly often. Not sure I’d call them retro but they are pretty old!
Generals:Zero Hour is still a great play, especially with mods.
Sudden Strike 2
Warlords 3 Dark Lords Rising, Age of Wonders a close second.
I played so much Warlords 2 multiplayer with my siblings when I was a kid. I should check that series out again.
I never really played 2, but the art and music in 3 are amazing. Very fond of that era in fantasy art.
Fallen Haven
