War, the Game (2015)

A successful halfway house between a Command & Conquer style button-masher and a thoroughbred strategy game, with tense, fast-paced, but pleasingly tactical battles.

Simple does not always equate with easy. War, the Game has stripped away the deep complexity typical of the real-time strategy game and left the player with a simple-to-learn, hard-to-master global dominance game that allows the armchair general to concentrate far more on the actual strategic planning and implementation of battle than on the logistics that support them.

You can't help but think that you're being falsely limited by a lack of hotkeys and limited visual scope (no radar, for example) whilst the AI is able to see and think about everything at once. At its budget release price tag it might still be worth picking up for gamers who like the concept, but I can't see myself spending a whole lot more time with it.

A simple to play but hard to master strategy game at an absolute bargain price. A must-have for strategy fans.

War, the Game is one of the most interesting titles I have played this year and one of the video games that, even if that was not the intention of the team at Gabber Games, deliver some interesting commentary on the nature of war in the modern age.