Submitted 4 weeks ago by Zombiepirate@lemmy.world to retrogaming@lemmy.world
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/bae8ebf2-23bd-48e7-9b63-933f8d66fd23.jpeg
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.
Rise of Nations
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.
Rise of Nations: Extended Edition
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.
Commandos
With commandos 3 breing my fav
The joy of slowly advancing position… preparing the covert mission objectives… hours of careful planning and precise movements… only to hear « Alarm!! Alarm!!! »
Historyline: 1914 - 1918
O was having a blast playing through Combined Arms recently. It’s a mod to 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.
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.
Sudden Strike 2
Sometimes I feel like I’m the only person on earth that remembers Close Combat. I loved how the units felt like real people instead of automatons. That’s definitely a franchise I would love to see return.
I completely agree; the buildup and production involved in most RTS games is tedious to me. Close Combat seems like the perfect middle between simulationist war games and RTS chaos. It was actually developed as a Squad Leader game before they lost the Avalon Hill license.
The Combat Mission games were fairly similar, with my favorite feature being a mode where you issue orders in 1 minute increments; you’re watching the battle play out in real time, but it’s still turn based.
The only modern franchise I’ve played that has a similar play style are the Total War games, but I think they realize WWII isn’t a great fit for them.
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.
There was an old fighter pilot game that I used to play on linux back in the day all the time in the early 2000s. I can’t remember the name but it was because my dad’s laptop was very cool to me and ran SUSE, so I played that, super tux, and a few free games because the alternative was a windows 95 machine with a 10 gig upgraded hard drive.
Falcon 3
Fallen Haven
DosDude@retrolemmy.com 4 weeks ago
Command & conquer: Red Alert
MarauderIIC@dormi.zone 4 weeks ago
I’m more of a Tiberian Dawn person myself
DosDude@retrolemmy.com 4 weeks ago
It’s a close second, but red alert has the better balancing in my opinion
Valon_Blue@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
Red Alert 2: Yuri’s Revenge
omgboom@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
There is even an open source version
www.openra.net
monsterpiece42@reddthat.com 3 weeks ago
EA just opened sourced the real RA as well!