DEFCON is based on a great idea, lets get that straight. There's nothing more satisfying than nuking a city and causing millions of innocents to evaporate. Unfortunately that situation doesnt come round much. The game is extremely hard to master and territories are inexcusably unbalanced. For instance Europe is nearly impossible to hit as all of its cities are covered by anti-missile sites. South America is usually forgotten whilst Africa is normally the first to be anhialated due to the proximity of some its major cities to borders and the sparse distribution of the rest. Learning to play each side correctly is a long task. Either you time your attack perfectly and win by miles or, as in most games, get nuke'd. You can only really stand a chance by launching either a coordinated attack (fat chance says your ally) or sending off all your nukes at once. Watching 100 missiles hit a country within a few minutes is only fun for the first few sittings; having to use brute force the whole time is hardly tactical.
Not only that but some game modes are a nightmare to play. The first that springs to mind is Diplomacy, where all sides start off on the same team. One unlucky played will be kicked out early which consequently leads to strife amongst the rest as they waste nukes or refuse to fight. Then there's the backstabing, the constant defection, the wasting of missiles, tension: its just ARGH. It doesnt work, and considering games last +30 minutes DEFCON is a deeply unsatisfying experience. Buy at your own peril.
One look at DEFCON, and you may think it's just some cheaply made freeware game. You'd be wrong. Not only is this a graphically slick looking game, it's also a blast to play. Gameplay is arguably the most important pa... Read Full Review
Hunkered down in an underground bunker, you gaze at the monitor and contemplate what those symbols actually mean. Thousands of feet above you, hundreds of Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles are raining down on your cou... Read Full Review
