This title released on the Playstation platform the last week, without announcement or fanfare.
PS4/5 Launch Trailer
I was skeptical about it transferring to console and controller use.
The game was sold as two separate games or a double bundle.
I pulled the trigger because I couldn't see a "proper" wargame go to waste on my console, with so little other titles on there.. and I'm glad I did, I quite enjoyed it and the UI is fairly intuitive on console, it uses an analogue stick as a point and click mechanism, pretty much as it would on a PC with mouse and keyboard. Relatively few actions are needed to control the majority of the game.
It was nice to go knee deep into the tutorial Spanish Civil War mission with limited units and have the scenario open up and up, adding further objective onto you in a manageable fashion, whilst you learned the systems at play.
I've had it crash once, when trying to do some cinematic moves with one or two units but other than that it has been fairly stable (which you would hope).
Only done a few missions into the Blitzkrieg game, so can't comment on how The Pacific fairs... but if titles like this can make it to console, things a looking up (a little) for us wargamers. Consoles are now exploring out niche..
I noticed Order of Battle was out on the Xbox One the other day..
Although this topic is pretty old, it opened up a little bit of a rabbit hole for me...
I bought a PS5 last year and have always been a little disappointed at the lack of "real" wargames on console systems. When I found this post I went and looked up Strategic Mind (which I had never heard of before) and bought it blindly. It was actually a really pleasant surprise! Basically a Panzer General-type game that is a joy to play on the couch (** ETA -- once you get used to the controls).
The comment about Order of Battle on XBOX got me intrigued also, and I was very happy to find that it is also available for Playstation (along with all of the DLC). Fantasy General is also available on Playstation and Switch. Although these games are slightly buggy, it is so great playing actual semi-wargaming titles from the comfort of my living room! I really hope this trend continues!!
Yeah wargames on consoles have always been few and far between. I remember back in the NES/SNES days at least 30% of games were of a warlike type. There were a lot of turn based strategy games back then.
Today you're lucky to find one or two new games a year that could even remotely be considered a wargame.
Combat! On the Atari 2600. :tophat:
Bwahaha Gus, things have come quite a way since then haven't they?
The really cool thing to me is that a lot of these games seem to be built on Unity which as far as I know is portable across systems. I think the Matrix/Slitherine Archon engine is based on Unity also...? If we ever see Steel Panthers on a console, you guys will never hear from me again! :beermug[1]: :Nerd:
Hear hear DesertFox! :beermug[1]:
I also have a PS5, but lately, I've been wanting to dive into nostalgic memories of my childhood. So, I bought a console called the pandora box arcade (https://pandoraplatinum.com) to play a lot of retro games. It's been a great experience reliving those classic games that shaped my love for gaming in the first place.
Regarding the discussion about Strategic Mind: Blitzkrieg & The Pacific on PS4/PS5, I must say I haven't tried those games yet. But I will definitely play them later.