Customer Reviews

Making History: The Calm And The Storm

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One of these days, I'll write one of those 'recommendation lists' that you see on this site while looking for games. I'm a hardcore, grognard wargamer that's been playing since Amiga computers and Win 3.x. Own and have played hundreds of games. Hundreds? Probably easily over a thousand.
Making History is one of the most engrossing, playable, enjoyable, just-one-more-turn games, that I have ever played. I bought it when it first came out and am still in the thick of it. Will most likely have one going for years!
Grand, global strategy sort of like Hearts of Iron II. (Both games, btw, put that crappy GG World at War to shame). Not too difficult like War in the Pacific or ATF is. Those are brutally intense games :) This one's very user-friendly and easy to quickly figure out how to do anything that the game encompasses---so it'll appeal to novice or old-timer (like me) alike. Very small, easy to read manual---not one of those encyclopedias you have to keep going back to. Plus, all of the information is readily at the click of a button within the game itself. Don't even know where my manual is anymore :)
I've never written a review on any site. People need to know about this game though. It's that exceptional. There's no "scripted" events, e.g when 12/07/41 or any other 'big date' hits, nothing automatically happens like it might in other games. Knew this one was way different while during my first game, I found myself fighting Canada over Maine and Michigan, while trying to hold Texas away from Mexico! (MY fault, my greedy aggressiveness). You can pretty much write WWII in any manner you see fit. The ONLY limitation in the whole game, is that you can only play 7 or 8 of the major powers. However, you can set up virtually any kind of alliance you want, or none at all. There's also variable victory conditions, research, tons of units, etc. I just cannot go on enough about this game. Also is very stable on my XP. Have never had a crash!
Overall, just a spectacular game.

Sounds like I'm describing a dream lover, doesn't it? Appropriate, as strategy game fans should fall in love with this. I sure have. More of a diplomacy game than a war game, it still requires the player to manage war, domestic economics and industry, foreign trade, and scientific research. The diplomacy is absolutely cut-throat, and this would likely be a good educational game to give a rough understanding of why alliances and formed and wars start in the first place.

Visually it's beautiful and thorough, with the world map divvied up into each nations territories, provinces, states, etc. Over 800 regions in all. Aurally, the music is a classical bit, whether original or something borrowed I don't know, but it never gets old because it sounds great.

And throughout the whole game is a seriousness of mood. There's pretty much no humor at all in it. While I can enjoy slapsticky games (Hot Dog King or other business sims) or games with a tongue-in-cheek humor (Sid Meier's Civilization series), I can also enjoy a dead-serious game, and that's what Making History is.

It's obvious that nobody in the making of this game was cutting corners. The result is an outstanding game. Any strategy fan should have this. Cheers!

Very good games all seem easy to learn but have multiple possibilities making play simple but requiring thought. The years leading up to WWII and the war years are some of the most interesting in history. The possible paths events could have taken are endless. This game, while easy to learn allows you to explore these paths as the leader of one nation during these years.

Game play is not extremely complex but there is a learning curve involved. I found the tutorial very necessary and helpful. The hardest part of the game, requiring the most micro-management is getting started. After you have set policy, started your research projects and set production levels less intervention is required. I have developed a "system" that allows me to work through the options easily and only have to react as required.

The AI is a good mix of appeasement and confrontation meaning you can never be sure what action can trigger war. Once the war starts, the AI is intent on victory, so do not expect to buy them with a "sorry" and promise to be good. Interlocking alliances can get you into wars that are not good for you and one in getting out is hard.

War involves battles, high level and can run for weeks. Battles require armies. Armies require production. Production requires you to plan and allocate resources, do research and get ready for war. Above all, things take time. Weeks, months or years are needed to convert industries, research and build.

This is not a "click fest"! You will spend more time thinking than jumping about the map and clicking your mouse. Someone suggested downloading the demo, good idea! I did and after the first hour knew this was a game I wanted to buy. Make sure to install any patches, these are big improvements to game play.

I will start by stating I have played Gary Grigsby's World at War (both versions: the standard version and "A World Divided"), Hearts of Iron 2, and War Plan Orange. As for dice games, I used to own the entire set of World in Flames (1980's)...war games do not get any more complex than that (computer or table-top). Now, for the review!

This game is really for intermediate war strategy players (nothing bad about that, simply the game has it's limits). It is pleasing to the eyes, and the map is layed out well. Each country generally has numerous regions, and each region can be upgraded (infrastructure, factories). The tech tree is good but not excessive. There are rules for encirclement and combined arms tactics (Hearts of Iron 2, GG World at War), but this is limited. The AI is decent, but can be bested by some cheap tactics (I routinely have beat this game, patched with the 2.0.1 patch, as Italy). The game needs another patch (AI issues) and probably a few more scripted events to make it fall in line with World War 2 in a better way, and possibly making the AI more preferential to other AI players in a general way.

There are diplomatic exploits in this game to amass territory. If you play as Italy (example), you can often take all of South America quickly and then smash Europe, as long as you stay isolated (do not join Axis, for example). After that, America or Russia is easy.

After 2 weeks of playing, I had mastered this game, including some economic exploits I had discovered. I can win as Argentina at this point (not as easy as winning with Italy).

This game is fun, but is not as hard core as most of the titles that Matrix Games puts out, for example ([...]). I say that as some people raise this game up too highly in regards to realism and complexity (like saying Axis and Allies is supreme for table-top strategy games...it is fun, but has it's limitations). The supply rules in this game are limited, and overall it is less realistic than Hearts of Iron 2 and less satisfying than Gary Grigsby's World at War (certainly War Plan Orange). It does have it's own unique place in war games, and it is fun, but serious war gamers will become bored after awhile (veteran Hearts of Iron 2 players may get bored with this after 3-4 weeks). Still, worth a purchase, as it is a decent strategy war game.

As a side note, I wish people would stop making simplistic statements such as "I have been playing war games for 27.5 years" and using buzz words like "grognard" to give themselves more credibility. Showing you actually know about and how to play a few solid war games proves you are a veteran player, not generalized statements loaded with faddish words, and then putting down other solid war games with ignorant, blanket statements.

Seriously, this is the most fun i have ever had with a computer game. The graphics are basic, and the game play is very slow, but it doesn't matter. I've tried many strategy games in the past (civ i, II, III, IV, axis & allies, etc) but this game takes the cake. You can fight WWII any which way you choose. I am still in my first game playing as the US. I have already taken Canada, Ireland, Britain, and Central America. I am allied with the USSR and Japan. However, I think later in the game I am going to regret this alliance, as the USSR is rolling through Europe like a juggernaut. When I am not playing the game, I sometimes find myself thinking about it, planning strategy. I highly recommend this game. You will not be disappointed.

I was looking for a new type of strategy game to play, as I was getting bored with my others. I searched Amazon repeatedly without finding anything that interested me or that I hadn't already played into the ground. I came across Making History, and read all of the reviews... soon after, I visited the website. Based primarily off the 5 star reviews of this game, I bought it.

When this game arrived, I instantly popped it in and got going. I was not disappointed when I began playing, as everything was how everyone described it.

The ability to study and shape history has always been interesting to me, as I am a History major in college, and this game really brought it to me. I guess if I had one complaint about this game, it is that you can't quite bribe other nations with money, or just up front buy goods. You can import a certain supply of goods per turn, but you can't straight up buy an X number of good Y with money from your treasury... that being the only thing I wish was in the game, I find everything else amazing.. I'll be playing this for a while.

This is the best historical strategy game on WWII out there. It is an excellent game for anyone who likes turn based strategy games, regardless or whether or not you're into the second world war. This game is HIGHLY recommended for you Axis and Allies board gamers out there who are languishing for a good computer version (the Axis and Allies computer game is terribly glitchy and should be avoided). Though making history could be a long game when it comes to micromanaging your nations many regions, the micromanagement is not as tedious as in the game Civilization, and the world economic system is extremely good and realistic. Technological research is a bit slow, don't expect to acquire most of the cool stuff -especially if you aren't the U.S. You can play one of eight players, the traditional UK/USA/USSR/Germany/Japan nations, or the minor Nationalist Chinese/France/Italy nations. It would have been nice to see more room for spies and espionage with regards to technology and diplomacy. But at least you aren't forced to duplicate history if you don't want to, a major improvement over other historical strategy games.

If you're a fan of 4x strategy games, I highly recommend Making History. This deep and immersing game offers a little something for everyone. It can be taken as a geopolitical sim, nation builder and war game all at once. There are a wide variety of units and tactics to use, as well as nations to play. Making History includes a campaign editor which is one of the easiest I've ever used.

Anyone whose ever played games such as Hearts of Iron, Supreme Ruler 2010 or Risk, should definitely include this game in their collection. The game is exciting and unpredictable. In one of my games, Russia joined the Axis powers! O_o

The replayability, customization, playing options and varied game play make this title well worth the cost. What're you waiting for, make history today!

Pros: turn based, good graphics (for a 4x game), simple to learn, flexible, fun.

Cons: The battle system could have been a little more detailed, but it works well. Historical personalities to use in the game would have also been a nice touch, like in Hearts of Iron.

Summary: If you like turn based strategy, this game is a worthy purchase. Watching all of the many ways the 2nd WW could have played out is entertaining, and being a part of it is exciting.

Top game moments (so far): Taking over S. America as the United States. >:-D

I am extremely impressed with this game. It's an elegant reinterpretation of the classic board war games, with the sophistication made possible by the computer. A lot of fun to use and extremely well thought out. Kudos to the developers.

The Game is a great deal of fun and a challenge. If you enjoy using your mind and not just being in a shoot game this is one for you. Strategy is important to success in this game.