Making History: The Calm and the Storm
Preview
Not so calm, this storm
by William Thompson
previewed on PC
War? What is it good for?... Absolutely Nothin?
Making History: The Calm and the Storm is a turn-based strategy game from Muzzylane Software. It has been developed as a historically accurate World War Two strategy game that places players in control of global conflict with rich historical detail. Making History lets gamers play as one of the major nations taking part in World War Two, including Germany, Russia, France, United Kingdom, Japan, China and the US. But apart from the major powers, the game also allows you to play as some of the minor wartime countries, such as Czechoslovakia.
The interface for Making History is quite easy to get around, once you have played for a period of time. It can be a little daunting at first as there are numerous detail screens that you can access, including screens for details on city production, technology advancement, and your chosen nation's economy. There is a screen for everything you could ask for, and, quite frankly, some you would not ask for.
War! It ain't nothing but a heartbreaker...
Technology plays a large part in the game. If your technological advances are quicker than the opposition, then this helps with fighting the war, as the quality of your troops, tactics, machinery and factory output is dependent on increased technology. Of course, you can not just go and research the most powerful of war machines without first researching the less powerful weapons. Another pre-requisite for technology is the type of research facility you have. If you have only a smaller research center, your options are somewhat limited. Different tactics are also researched in the technology centers. Researched tactics can give improved defense, greater offense or even the ability to use radio and sonar in the fight. And of course, nuclear power can also be researched.
War! It's got one friend, that's the undertaker...
At first, you only have limited units, and all very basic. With research, your armies become more powerful. On land, foot soldiers can be upgraded with better weapons, infantry can go from being mounted on horseback to mechanized and artillery becomes more accurate and more destructive. In the air, fighters can be upgraded from propeller based to jet engine based, bombers become larger and can carry larger payloads and rocketry becomes available later on. At sea, all sorts of ships are used including Battleships, Destroyers, Submarines and Carriers, each of which gets bigger and better at each research level. It is up to the gamer to decide what is researched and in what order, but having a massive land-based army with no air cover may be somewhat dangerous.
