World War One review

Once we found out this game was coming to us from the peeps at AGEOD, we knew it was going to be hardcore all the way. World War One is almost sadistically detailed, with over 50 pages of overview stats available when you start any scenario or Grand Campaign. Needless to say, if you thought Hearts of Iron was too detailed, you need to stay 100 yards away from this game at all times. It might be wise to take a restraining order on yourself, just to make sure.

For those who are inclined to dive into the deep waters of AGEOD’s latest, you’ll probably have a whale of a time. The map of Europe is absolutely vast, with thousands of territories to pore over and covet, plus there are huge amounts of diplomatic, economic and political options to consider. Sadly, sheer depth doesn’t guarantee a good game and there are issues plaguing World War One. The text-based tutorial is infuriatingly prosaic and tedious to plough through and the AI is often slow at calculating its moves, leaving you twiddling your thumbs between turns. Combat is dull and it’s difficult to figure out why you’ve won or lost, plus the interface is overly fussy with your mouse clicks at times.

If you can get past the inhospitable veneer, you’ll be drawn into a massive time sink, with so many outcomes you'll probably never exhaust them. That’s if you have the patience to get that far. Even as a qualified historian, we don’t.

Dec 19, 2008