Defcon Review
November 2nd 2006 04:38
8/10
Developer: Introversion
Publisher: Introversion
Price: $17.50USD Direct Download Version; $26.25USD Direct Download plus boxed version (note this game can only be purchased online through the publisher).
Website: www.everybody-dies.com
The whole premise of this very small game is to kill as many of the opposing teams population as you can with nuclear weapons whether they are fired from silos or submarines is up to you. You start off choosing which side you want, North America, Russia, Europe, Asia, Africa or South America. The game is then split into different ‘Defcon’ stages, you start off in Defcon five while waiting for a clock to tick down until you get to Defcon one, when you can start firing off your nukes. In Defcon five you can deploy units such as submarines, battleships, air bases, missile silos and radar stations but you can’t really do much more than that. As the clock ticks down and a different Defcon stage is reached more things are unlocked, going from conventional warfare, right down to nuclear warfare. While there are different game modes such as survival and genocide (killing the entire enemies population) the main aim is to get points, you get two points for each person you kill and lose one point for each person you lose. The player with the most points at the end wins.
Graphics: Defcon using an engine and visual style similar to Introversion’s other game ‘Darwinia’ and is eerily similar to the computer screen of the world in the movie ‘War Games’. It is entirely 2D with territories marked out by neon blue borders and each teams unit by set colours (those too are neon). While the graphics are in no way high tech they do seem to add to its charm, giving the player the impression that he is at the controls of the nation’s nuclear arsenal. Seeing a small white explosion appear on your country, then having ‘New York hit 12.5M dead’ appear on the screen in glowing text really hits home the fact that nukes are bad. Mmmkay.
Music: The sounds effects in the game are quite cool, for example every time the Defcon level changes a warning alarm goes off that sounds exactly what I imagined a Defcon alarm to sound like (not that I really sit and think about it much). The music and background effects of Defcon are what I think makes it such a chillingly scary game, not like zombie scary, but a ‘this could happen in real life’ kinda scary. There is a looping sound of instrumental music, the occasional coughing of a woman (in pain?), random radio chatter and the sound of an air conditioner. This combined with the graphics really makes the player feel as though he/she is deep underground in some bunker complex fighting a nuclear war against the world.
Overall I really liked Defcon, while its not going to win any best strategy game awards, and it replayability is quite limited, the thirty minutes you do play with it are great. I’ve been waiting for a simple game like this for ages and now while I’m writing this review all I want to do is play it some more. Of course however let’s just hope that nuclear war exists only for our entertainment on video games and television, and out of that thing called real life. Reality however can wait as I’m off to go nuke some Ruskies.
Developer: Introversion
Publisher: Introversion
Price: $17.50USD Direct Download Version; $26.25USD Direct Download plus boxed version (note this game can only be purchased online through the publisher).
Website: www.everybody-dies.com
The whole premise of this very small game is to kill as many of the opposing teams population as you can with nuclear weapons whether they are fired from silos or submarines is up to you. You start off choosing which side you want, North America, Russia, Europe, Asia, Africa or South America. The game is then split into different ‘Defcon’ stages, you start off in Defcon five while waiting for a clock to tick down until you get to Defcon one, when you can start firing off your nukes. In Defcon five you can deploy units such as submarines, battleships, air bases, missile silos and radar stations but you can’t really do much more than that. As the clock ticks down and a different Defcon stage is reached more things are unlocked, going from conventional warfare, right down to nuclear warfare. While there are different game modes such as survival and genocide (killing the entire enemies population) the main aim is to get points, you get two points for each person you kill and lose one point for each person you lose. The player with the most points at the end wins.
The world at war...again.
Graphics: Defcon using an engine and visual style similar to Introversion’s other game ‘Darwinia’ and is eerily similar to the computer screen of the world in the movie ‘War Games’. It is entirely 2D with territories marked out by neon blue borders and each teams unit by set colours (those too are neon). While the graphics are in no way high tech they do seem to add to its charm, giving the player the impression that he is at the controls of the nation’s nuclear arsenal. Seeing a small white explosion appear on your country, then having ‘New York hit 12.5M dead’ appear on the screen in glowing text really hits home the fact that nukes are bad. Mmmkay.
Nuclear war never looked so good.
Music: The sounds effects in the game are quite cool, for example every time the Defcon level changes a warning alarm goes off that sounds exactly what I imagined a Defcon alarm to sound like (not that I really sit and think about it much). The music and background effects of Defcon are what I think makes it such a chillingly scary game, not like zombie scary, but a ‘this could happen in real life’ kinda scary. There is a looping sound of instrumental music, the occasional coughing of a woman (in pain?), random radio chatter and the sound of an air conditioner. This combined with the graphics really makes the player feel as though he/she is deep underground in some bunker complex fighting a nuclear war against the world.
Overall I really liked Defcon, while its not going to win any best strategy game awards, and it replayability is quite limited, the thirty minutes you do play with it are great. I’ve been waiting for a simple game like this for ages and now while I’m writing this review all I want to do is play it some more. Of course however let’s just hope that nuclear war exists only for our entertainment on video games and television, and out of that thing called real life. Reality however can wait as I’m off to go nuke some Ruskies.
Guess I won't be backpacking around Europe anytime soon...
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