![]() Whichever character you choose to roleplay and map you plump for, your objective is always the same – to turn a fragile post-war peace into an enduring long-term one by crushing/containing an insurgency while cultivating popular support through economic, social, and infrastructural initiatives. If you're a traditional grog like me, the default pacing of this turnless-but-pauseable Early Access title may prompt some early misgivings (Most games are done and dusted in under 30 minutes and pack a staggering number of governmental and military decisions into their relatively brief spans) but persevere, get comfortable with the clever overlapping mechanisms at the heart of the game, and chances are, you'll quickly realise you're in the presence of something rather special. Ingenious, unflinching and startlingly topical, Rebel Inc: Escalation is the epitome of a modern wargame. * Rebel Inc's operation name generator is a lovely thing. This decision could be one of the last I make as governor. Damaged by out-of-control corruption, clumsy airstrikes, and a failed round of peace talks, my reputation is already in tatters. The trouble is the decision won't be popular (many of my countrymen feel the foreigners have been here too long already). It should allow me to apply the military pressure necessary to bring the terrorists to the negotiating table. Extending the tours of the Coalition troops currently helping to keep the restless red diamonds (rebel units) penned in the bottom-right of my screen, should buy me the time I need to stabilise the rest of the map. Desperate to contain the insurgent threat in the mountains in the south of my fictional province, I'm contemplating a very dangerous decision. Operation Resolute Alpaca* is entering a critical phase. In today's column, I talk to one of the studios contributing to this nascent revolution, and play a game that demonstrates the vigour, vision, and boldness of New Wave wargaming perfectly. Tired of threadbare, truth-blurring conventions, imaginative devs are looking at war and warriors in fresh, arresting ways. the accumulated dust and debris of forty years of conservative thinking is being sluiced towards the sea. Here and there desert hexagons are greening. After decades of stasis, the landscape of computer wargaming is beginning to change.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |