Customer Reviews

Shattered Union

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Shattered Union takes place in the not so distant future where a mishap has allowed the most unpopular president in the history of the United States to remain in office for a second term with no election taking place.

Washington DC is nuked... the entire governing body of the US is wiped out, chaos ensues. States secede from the Union and form their own governments. Europe, feeling the effects of the economy collapsing in the US sends a force of EU "Peacekeepers" to restore order. And so... the battlefield is set, the US is at War with itself for the second time in history.

It's up to you to restore peace and order, to unite the country once again. Seven different factions are at your disposal to accomplish this task.

Pacifica
The California Commonwealth
The Great Plains Federation
The New England Alliance
The Confederacy
The Republic of Texas
European Union

Each faction is comprised of their own strengths and weaknesses, but are very similar in terms of battle units. Which are a virtual smorgasbord of units based on real life American military vehicles as well as some fictional units to keep things exciting. Abrams super tanks, Bradley's, Apache Gunships and Stealth Bombers are all yours to command. Each faction also has their own variation on a super tank. A massive tank unit that is generally the most powerful unit on the field. It's basically the Chuck Norris of tanks.

Beyond that, each faction has their own set of special weapons or tactics that can be unleashed on the field of battle. These range from troop buffs to laser guided tomahawk missile strikes as well as nuclear attacks and other things that are best discovered on your own. These special tactics become available only when you have a certain political reputation, be it evil or be it for the greater good.

The actual battles are played out like any hex based strategy game. You take turns moving your units in a turn based fashion that will instantly be familiar to any Advanced Wars Vet, as well as anyone familiar with the excellent Panzer General series. The battle system is pretty straightforward. The unit with the most destructive power will do the most damage. So if you take a Humvee heads up with a tank... the Humvee is going to be demolished in a timely manner.

Each unit has its own set of attributes that rate it's strength against each unit type, its defense, fuel, movement, sight and weapon range. Generally there is a ying to every yang. For example, to take out a tank, you'll want to use aircraft units. To take out aircraft you will want to use anit-aircraft units... etc. The trick is finding out the best method to deliver the greatest amount of pain and destruction, while taking a small amount of it yourself. You'll also want to keep a close eye on your fuel supply, as there are no supply units in this game and running out of fuel is quite common for the rolling battle fortress tanks. You can't kick any butt if you can't get there. Strategic movement and troop placement are very vital in this game.

In-between battles you will be presented with a tactical map screen of the United States. The map displays each factions current progress. There is not a lot to do here. You can buy and repair units or you can attack a neighboring state. You can do both of these in one turn as well. Each state has its own resources. Money, Oil, Tank Factories, population etc. When you control a state you will reap the benefits. Take Texas and its oil and your units will have more fuel during battles. Take a state with high cash flow and you will earn more money per turn. Take a state with Tank Factories and the price to build tanks will go down. You get the picture.. so it's important to take states strategically and to keep track of your supplies and resources.

All of your units are available in all of your territories that you control. So there is no need to micro-manage your units and place them in different states. This is very helpful and eliminates a lot of nonsense. The rule is that you can use each of your units once per battle period. So, say for example, you attack someone with half of your units. You then will have half of your units remaining if someone else attacks you. But if you attack someone all-out, you will be left defenseless if someone attacks you on their turn. So It's always a good idea to keep some in reserve for defense.

The story is delivered via news broadcasts in-game and are entertaining, but sadly, they're few and far between.

The graphics are well done, nothing spectacular here, but there are some nice details. Zoom in and you can see skyscrapers in the small city hexes. When a tank drives across the landscape you'll see treadmarks streak across the screen. Bridges and highway overpasses, interstates, great lakes, and rolling hillsides. You'll have to pay attention to the smaller details to really appreciate the graphic engine.

Each unit is comprised of a fully 3d model and are well done with small details shining through. The battle animations are second to none and occur in real time with real time damage. It's always nice to sit back and watch your super tank unleash hell on a smaller unit and then watch as it bursts into flames and finally explodes. I get a genuine feeling of satisfaction out of it.

The sound effects are excellent. You'll hear engines roar, and cannons will BOOM! and ring true. Each unit has unique sounds and weapons and it's a pleasure to hear them all.

Music is ambient and fits the mood of the game well. I don't think anything ever sounded out of place.

All in all, Shattered Union is a well thought out game and is easy to pick up and play, even for newbs to the genre. But to master it.. well that is a more difficult task

For me personally, there is nothing better than sitting down with a quality strategy game and having a cold drink to waste the day away, and this game is one of the best for doing just that.

4 out of 5 stars

-Luke

Amazon.com Please note that this game is NOT compatible with the X360.

I bought it expecting to be able to play it on my X360 with ease. Unfortunately, it does NOT work.

This game is rated as 3 stars, average game play and average fun, because it was an average game...=p

Ok, so its pretty light on storyline. A little effort could have turned this into a much better game. That said it does represent a genre we do not see much at all these days. Turned based games are somewhat on the outs these days but they always had a purpose. This is one of the few left on the market for a modern gaming platform. At bargain basement prices it is a good diversion for a single player. Better for two to face off though.

I just found this game on amazon and recently began playing on my Xbox 360 (You need the latest firmware update over xbox live) the gameplay is great and the story line is fun I hope the make a modern version of the game like Endwar. On a side note the resolution is only 480P so on an HD tv the picture will be smaller than your used too but still playable. Great game to pick up if you have a 360 and like strategy!

I played the story line once and it was fun. Now I just do the arcade mode (skirmish) when I want to roll around blow stuff up. Fun time killer. Not incredibly hard. Then again I'm of an AF Ops Intel background so I know what to take out to give me the upper hand, lol. (Hint: target air defenses then bomb with impunity.) I load up on bombers heavy armor and Artillery, use Helo's to open up the battlespace and clear the fog of war, and have fun.

Graphics are decent, sound is good. The aspect that makes the game fun to play over and over are the special weapons you gain after X ammount of turns. Each faction has different capabilities. And in Skirmish mode you can toggle them to either low collateral damage or high collateral damage weapons. High Collateral examples are (but not limited too) Napalm, carpet bombing, Artillery barrages, and a Nuke. Low collateral are precision weapons, electronic attack, cruise missiles, etc.

This game won't keep you riveted for days on end, but makes for a fun few hours spent waging war from time to time.

A turn-based strategy game for the Xbox console! If you are the sort that loves Panzer General, then you will love this game.

This is similar to the game "Super Conflict" I used to play on Super Nintendo. Aaaahhh... I love the smell of nostalgia in the morning.

Released in 2005 by PopTop Software with 2K Games doing whatever it is they do, "Shattered Union" is a superb turn-based strategy game with a premise and storyline no other game can even hope to compare to. It begins with the 2008 election bringing in David J. Adams, who soon becomes the most unpopular President in US history. Popular candidates were disqualified to leave him close to unopposed the first time around, and when a sham election sees him in office for yet another four years, the public is furious. The last straw comes when DC is hit by a low-yield nuclear device during the inaguaration ceremonies, killing Adams and a huge number of ranking political and, presumably, military figures. For a brief moment, the nation stands headless, and then chaos ensues. Having at last had it, California secedes from the USA, becoming an independent nation once more, and Texas follows quickly, both states taking neighbors with them. The EU moves in to rebuild the US, and numerous other factions soon arise, with a second Civil War beginning in 2014.

The seven factions are: Pacifica in the Northwest, Great Plains Federation in the Northern Midwest, Republic of Texas in the Southern Midwest, California Commonwealth in the Southwest, the Confederacy in the South, New England Alliance in the North, and EU in DC, Maryland, Virginia and Delaware. Those states get a free pass, I guess. We never get to find out whether they'd have seceded and joined a faction or what. Anyway.

The gameplay is turn-based, with the map divided up into hexagons or hexes. Towns and cities provide points, and a certain amount must be held to keep or take the territory. Battles last up to 14 days, but this has no impact on the strategic scale map, in which one round turn with all the factions moving takes one week. The war never lasts but so long, though on one occasion it did get drawn out to 40-something when I was playing as Pacifica on Hard.
The Russian Federation, with its sinister, Red-ish flag, barges into Alaska about 5 weeks in, since an imperialistic President Vladekov wants to take back Russia's old territory. Hawaii just sits there the whole game, as do, I assume, Guam, Puerto Rico, etc. as well as all US forces overseas, such as in Europe and Korea. One curious detail to the battles is that Russian aid drops in periodically, despite the definitely unfriendly attitude Russia has towards the battling former US factions. A BTR-90 APC and Vodnik jeep-thing are the most useful items. Others include health, sight or range increase, or bombs that damage the unit that collects the 'aid'.
Heavy armor, light armor, infantry, artillery, APC's, fighters and bombers as well as a range of disposable, one-use units are what you have to work with. US factions get US military equipment- the game's age shows, since some of that stuff is retired or updated now- and a unique heavy tank. The GPF gets the titanic Grant, the EU the Goliath. Why every single one but the Goliath had to be named after a Civil War general makes little sense. The Confederacy calling its tank the Lee I can get, and the GPF's choice even, but almost all the others arbitrarily use random generals' names. Why would Pacifica name its tank the Stuart? Or California, the Jackson? Nevermind. It's kind of like how there is literally a wild blue yonder all around and under the map board- the game doesn't want you to think too much about it.

Simply one of the most awesome moments in gameplay is when somebody's B-2 gets blown away by some 4+ SAM's. It's just too good, especially since when you shoot down an opposing faction's whole air force or just the B-2's and such, there is a real good chance you'll never have to worry about significant air threats from that faction again. Which brings me to money. This game's economic system is terrible. There is no way, no conceivable way, to finance a respectable war without cheating to get more money. Try maintaining three fleets of tanks and over sixteen aircraft *without* cheating for money the whole time, see how it goes. The many unique buildings- factories, military bases, oil refineries- have some effect on your faction's unit costs and their performance in battle, such as how much gas they have. But the true difference these things make is never really noticable until you've taken over the divided US and are duking it out with Ivan, since he don't feel like going home just yet. Anyway. The possibilities in this game are endless, and there is always a new way to fight the battles individually and the war overall.

By the way- fighter and helicopter combat in this game? Anticlimactic don't even begin to describe it. Whoo, baby. Top Gun this ain't. And I hated that movie. Why am I referring to it? Let's move on, thanx...

Another point- the total and complete absence of any kind of diplomacy, as well as the game's single-minded obsession with a reunited- again- US, is ridiculous. It is openly stated that secessionist sentiment is running high in many places of the former US, and let's not forget that Texas and California, as well as their neighbor states, were in a big hurry to leave after Adams' demise. Why, if playing as one of the secessionist factions, would you want to conquer your neighbors and rebuild a nation you volunteered to leave? The European Union and New England Alliance wanting reunification, I can understand. But many of the other factions wouldn't want any part of that. The offered descriptions of each faction are excellent, but I disliked how after you took over an opposing faction, there were no protests, no guerrilla movements, nothing. You could take over the most hotly secessionist city in the former US, and they'd just sit back and let it happen. I don't get it.

The game makes a fair fuss over its ethical side, in which maximizing collateral damage yields a bad political reputation and more sinister faction powers in battle, including nuclear missiles. Minimizing it yields more defensive and ethically-minded powers and weapons, mostly focused on defending and repairing one's own units rather than harming the enemy. The ethical issue is an interesting one, but it is somewhat anticlimactic since you have to try real hard, go out of your way, to get a bad reputation. Keeping a soldier's attitude towards it all- get it done as quick as possible, maximizing enemy losses while minimizing your own- will heavily encourage ignoring the civilian stuff. Besides- hearts and minds. It didn't exactly work in Vietnam, but it can work here. Possibly. The EU force sure will need that to succeed, I'd think.

There should have been a chance for more than one type of ending in which the US stays divided- say, one where a peaceful arrangement is made and a coalition of the former US factions goes to Alaska to help it gain its own independence as a nation. I also think that the EU should have gotten a separate set of cinematics.

But despite my many gripes, I love this game like no other. It's story, its gameplay, and various ending scenes are all highly entertaining and intriguing. To anyone who would find a game of this type interesting, I highly recommend "Shattered Union". There's nothing else like it, and it's one of the best games I ever played.

This game is different. It doesn't have great graphics and it is not like the other military games, infact it is a lot like chess. You just move your army and watch them battle. I rented this game at my local game store and then baught it because it is a great game that you can play over and over with friends and family.

I bought this game for my boyfriend's birthday. Although the graphics are amazing during the introduction, we were a bit disappointed that they are quite basic throughout the game. He loves to play the game with his brother - so a 25 yr. old and a 15 yr. old love the game. They battle over parts of the country, and spend hours playing. It's a little hard to get the hang of, so you might want to spend 5 minutes reading the directions, as opossed to an hour getting killed!