Review of the game wargame red dragon. Review of Wargame: Red Dragon. The conflicts are hypothetical, but everything sounds quite plausible
Wargame: Red Dragon is a simulation game developed by Eugen Systems for the PC platform. The environment in the game belongs to the style of history, and the following features can be distinguished: strategy, real-time strategy, military operations, realism, cold war, for several players, wargame, tactics, real-time tactics, naval battles and others. You will have access to such game modes as “single player” and “multiple player”.
Wargame: Red Dragon is distributed worldwide on a one-time purchase model by publisher Focus Home Interactive. At the moment, the game stage is launched, and its release date is 04/17/2014. You cannot download Wargame: Red Dragon for free, including via torrent, since the game is distributed according to a one-time purchase model. The game supports Russian language.
MMO13 has not yet rated Wargame: Red Dragon. The metacritic website rates this game 7.8 out of 10. The game is distributed on the Steam store, whose users rate this game 8.7 out of 10 in their reviews.
The official description of the game reads:
“The new reference in RTS at its best! The Wargame series returns to duty, larger, richer and more spectacular than ever before. In Wargame Red Dragon, you are engaged in a large-scale conflict where Western forces clash against the Communist bloc.1991: the two blocs confront each other in a new theater of war, Asia, joined by various other countries: Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.You command the military resources of all 17 nations involved, assembling your fighting force from a phenomenal selection of 1,450 units that have been meticulously reproduced from their source! Command tanks, planes, helicopters, new warships and amphibious units in intense battles of unequaled tactical depth. Master the relief of varied, ultra realistic battlefields, dominate the new maritime areas and rewrite history in a conflict that has been directed and in stunning detail by development studio Eugen Systems.Wargame Red Dragon is thrilling in single-player mode with its new dynamics campaign system, and also offers an extensive multiplayer mode where up to 20 players can compete against each other simultaneously.”
Generally speaking, the gameplay has not undergone major changes, but if Wargame: Airland Battle was dedicated to the sky, then Wargame: Red Dragon is dedicated to the sea. Previously, the water space was not involved in any way, which somehow did not fit into the concept, because the power of floating fortresses often became the main argument in the dispute. Now justice has triumphed, and they are given command of an entire flotilla, ranging from small patrol boats to huge destroyers literally crammed with weapons. To say that the battles became incredibly epic would be an understatement. At the same time, the developers managed to maintain a balance, and what was happening did not slide into a banal meat grinder: as before, the winner is the one who, while neutralizing certain advantages of the enemy, manages the opportunities provided more competently.
Unfortunately, the problem with the combat characteristics of the units was never completely resolved, because the developers did not bother to at least explain in the slightest degree why one is better than the other. The simplest example: at first it is quite difficult to understand how the T-64 tanks differ under five different abbreviations and a huge number of characteristics, which are also inconvenient to compare. In this regard, a false impression of the cunningness of everything and everyone may arise, as if the project was created specifically for geeks of a certain orientation. However, if you overcome the first difficulties and spend a very limited amount of time studying the local assortment, then the huge selection will no longer cause the embarrassment described above. In this, by the way, a small but extremely useful reference training for beginners plays a significant role, which answers most of the most pressing questions in a short time.
But in terms of beauty and whizziness, there’s practically nothing to complain about. Plus, just think: despite the truly amazing picture quality, Red Dragon also manages to surprise with its high-quality optimization, which allows you not only to run the game, but also to admire it even on not the most modern laptops, not to mention pets. And this despite the fact that the scope and entertainment of what is happening is often an order of magnitude greater than the achievements of the Total War series.
The only thing that the Wargame series is still sorely lacking is a global mode with full-fledged diplomacy and development. Until now, all the accumulated potential is spent on the multiplayer mode, where everything is limited directly to battles, without the opportunity to take the reins of government of any state personally. We can only hope that the series, which does not stop in its progress, will ultimately allow us to organize a full-scale Third World War according to our own scenario, and not just take part in small-town skirmishes.
The question of whether Red Dragon is worth the time and money is somehow awkward to even discuss. For those who managed to try its predecessors, definitely yes. For the rest - YES, damn it, and quickly. To miss this is akin to a crime against the strategy genre.
Developer: Eugen Systems
Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
Genre: strategy
Multiplayer: Yes
System requirements (minimum): Windows XP SP3/Vista/7/8; Intel Pentium 4 / AMD Athlon XP 2200+ 2 GHz; 4 Gb RAM; video card Nvidia GEFORCE 7600 GT/ATI Radeon X1800 GTO/INTEL HD 3000
About 2 years ago the studio Eugen Systems the game was released Wargame: European Escalation, then the developers did Wargame: AirLand Battle with aviation, and now the time has come in which naval battles appeared. Let's see what came out of this in this review.
Plot
In the previous two games, Europe was the target of military operations, the main participants were NATO and the Warsaw Pact countries.
The third part is similar to the previous games, but there are many differences between them. Now the action is taking place in the Far East and in order to defend your rights, you have to take up arms.
Red Dragon presents four story campaigns. The fourth is announced in the DLC. It touches on a time when heads of state could not divide the territory, and a real battle for power took place. The game is based on real events, covering the period from 1979 to 1987, during this period of time the strategic struggle for new lands was especially zealous. Great Britain and China were negotiating regarding Hong Kong, the USSR and Japan could not divide the Kuril Islands, and South Korea was again at war with North Korea.
The game is notable for the fact that the player will feel the spirit of that time, as they say, will take direct part in the battles, even if on the other side of the monitor.
Due to the fact that the game contains familiar names of military operations and units, the effect of presence is obtained. The game is very addictive and exciting.
Gameplay
The player must immediately calculate several moves ahead and develop his own game strategy. The player's task is to hold strategic objects, capture nearby territories, defend his own territory from enemy attacks, and the like. You need to think about how best to act in a given situation, because further developments will depend on the decisions you make now. Sectors that are held for a long time bring political bonuses to the player in the form of money. They can be used to purchase additional weapons and order an entire unit of ground forces, naval forces, and the like. It is very important to hold captured airports, seaports and ship repair infrastructure. Such a system of combat operations will help to win more than one military battle.
A war game is slightly reminiscent of a chess game, here you also need to predict the enemy’s next steps, and the military situation is constantly changing, it is difficult to predict who will be the winner. Even if everything works out for you, do not relax, events can change rapidly, which will ultimately lead to your defeat.
Game tactics: you need to fight in small groups, without attracting much attention from the enemies. In order for the operation to eliminate enemy forces to be successful, you need to maneuver and strike from different sides. The key to a successful game is timely reconnaissance, determining the location of the next battle, and vigilance, since there are also air raids. During the game, a global and tactical map will be provided; with the help of these maps, it is easy to navigate the terrain and you can direct blocks to the desired zones. This is the minimum that you should pay attention to. But, having provided for these factors, you can safely begin hostilities.
A special novelty of the third part is the fleet. Red Dragon has many different ships, these are river artillery boats, destroyers and much more. The fleet has many tasks, for example, the destruction of enemy ships, confronting enemy aircraft, landing troops, maintaining its ships in proper condition, and much more. In the fight for territory, the fleet will help one hundred percent; the main thing is to turn on logical and strategic thinking and boldly rush into the attack. A brave and risky player can capture an airfield and, with the help of destroyers, defeat enemy ground forces, not forgetting to destroy enemy aircraft. Armored boats, armored personnel carriers and tanks will help the player cope with the task, the main thing is to rationally use all available equipment and think one step ahead. The troop organization system now looks slightly different. A regimental tactical group is a combat unit, and in previous units there were ready-made divisions and corps under command. At the heart of the group is now a regiment. It can be infantry, tank or motorized. The regiment does not have artillery, aviation or similar protective barriers. To make your regiment resistant to combat, it will need additional battalions and companies.
Red Dragon considered one of the best RTS, according to the community. The game provides a choice, either you go through battles alone, or you can compete with other players; up to twenty people can be involved in the game. Undoubtedly Red Dragon will take its place among popular computer games.
With the release of the latest release of the third pack of nations for Wargame: Red Dragon, we can say that it has become difficult to overestimate the merits of the Eugen’s Cold War strategic series. In particular, this title still delivers paid and free content, is still being updated, and is still one of the best real-time strategy games based on modern warfare. Wargame: Red Dragon balances between maximum accessibility and scrupulous attention to detail.
For the uninitiated, the Wargame series deals more with variable data management in areas such as logistics and territory control. The deafening noise produced by assorted units clashing in battle is accompanied by an excellent game picture. It also has many of its own features and tactics. A small but well-motivated infantry group can stop an armored column. A group of obsolete T-34/85s can win the day by ambushing them in a forest shelter. Light, self-propelled anti-aircraft guns can aim low and send infantry into oblivion, or give a good scare to at least reduce their effectiveness.
"We wanted to create an RTS that was more simulation-focused than ever before"- explains Alexis Le Dressay, co-founder of Eugen Systems and creative director and producer of Wargame.
"If only this was a single inspiration"- he continued - “It would have been a Close Combat series, albeit on a larger scale, but in the context of the Cold War, our main inspiration was the “World War III, what if” novels, such as Tom Clancy’s Red Storm or Ralph Peters’ Red Army ». Le Dressy goes on to quote films like John Badham's War Games and stuff like that. Of course, real history played an important role here, as bells like Able Archer 83 and Cuban Missile Crisis allowed us to create a Cold War battlefield.
Le Dressy and Eugen have been creating Battlegrounds since 2000, and it's amazing to see how they've gone from choosing a generic genre to completely changing their end goals. The Act of War series appeared as a kind of European answer to Command & Conquer: Generals, but there was R.U.S.E., which people, of course, noticed and appreciated. Eugen's stylized game, full of operational information and cunning, remains one of the most interesting military strategy games. After switching publishers from Ubisoft to Focus Home Interactive, the team debuted Cold War in the 2012 game Wargame: European Escalation.
Le Dressy, Wargame: Red Dragon and others
"Our idea"- said Le Dressy - "consisted of studies of realism and simulation"
Early prototypes of Wargame were very different from what eventually became the main feature of the game, expressed in the form of large-scale military combat. Unlike abstract unit scaling, Wargame preserves the actual sizes of material units. Le Dressy used the infantry as an example that earlier difficulties could be overcome. “They were very boring to play, very difficult to differentiate visually, and deployed without vehicles.”.
First, the team needed to simulate armor penetration by weapons and mobility. “We started by building a prototype of the Abrams M1A1 and the first combat system we made was already very close to what we use now. This really helped us get the project off the ground and it is now moving forward as planned.”
Wargame: European Escalation starts with 350 military units, divided between Internal Affairs and NATO. For this genre, this is something of a paradigm shift, probably nurtured by the influence of complex counters and the meager number of units of standard strategies. In a genre that prides itself on clean, precise balance, European Escalation is something that seasoned players appreciate. How was the Challenger 2 different from its French contemporary, the AMX? Why would anyone choose Crotale over a similar equivalent?
“Balance has always been difficult. And even now it’s not easy with him.” We constantly monitor server statistics and average success rates for each faction and country in an attempt to maintain balance. If a country becomes too strong and powerful, then we pay attention to this,” Le Dressy said. “Again, we stand on the fact that at the very beginning all countries cannot be equal in strength. The ATS and NATO are well balanced with each other, as are the major players. So it will always be difficult for Denmark to deal with the powerful Soviet Union alone.”
He goes on to talk about how the team meticulously models and how much statistics surround them. The already mentioned European Escalation had 350 units, in the subsequent AirLand Battle of 2013 the number of units increased to 750, and in Red Dragon of 2014 we already see more than 1000 independent parts that have different capabilities and differ from each other in appearance.
“We tried to model them as close to reality as possible”- explains Le Dressy - “It’s a matter of balance through cost and availability”.
Which, of course, leads to more serious strategic and tactical questions. There can be no one right way to play a game that deals with the latest "techno-marvels" at high speed, high impact and highly stabilized MBT, along with the T-34/85.
Le Dressy explains that AirLand Battle introduced a Fixed Wing Aircraft, which was great for engagement.
“Integrating the aircraft is a huge game-changing step, and it went smoothly and easily. He brought new depth to the game and increased its pace."
The number of units and countries involved is growing. For the team, this is a matter of honor, especially considering the fact that the fictional Cold War almost always concerns Moscow and Washington. The integration of smaller, but quite interesting countries is also very important.
“We are also proud to have brought large, but shadowy countries to the fore,” said Le Dressy. Cold War films are usually limited to the confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States, with references to Great Britain and Germany. In Wargame we brought other countries and armies into the light: Poland, Czechoslovakia, and, of course, France."
Not every expansion is a victory, for example, the AirLand Battle expansions were our victory, and the naval aspect in Wargame: Red Dragon was not particularly successful.
"Not a secret"- adds Le Dressy - “that the naval component in Wargame: Red Dragon did not live up to community expectations”. Although the coastal support offers interesting development, the entire maritime environment is weak. Ship-to-ship combat is perceived as something anachronistically limited. The emphasis on missiles fired by one ship in hopes of hitting another, and electronic warfare, didn't really work, and the lack of underwater combat was a big omission.
But at the same time, it was received with a bang that the events of Red Dragon moved to the Far East. The topography there is very varied and often mountainous, with some of the most powerful Asian armies involved adding to the show. The weak marine module can be forgiven for the influx of fresh material.
Any DLC, being essentially a paid pack, was not designed to divide the community into those who bought it and those who did not; each pack simply expands the player's arsenal. After the debut of Netherlands, Israel was added. The Finland-Yugoslavia double pack became the third paid expansion. While the community votes on which military force should see the light of day in future packs, Le Dressy doesn't believe future content is entirely up to players' choices.
Le Dressy and his team believe there is a lot to explore in the Cold War theme. “There is still a lot we haven’t said about the Cold War. There are still so many countries, theaters and historical incidents left that you could use. The Cold War is about to get really hot!
