The Wii version of Military Madness still has some great strategic game play, but it is also marred by emulation issues.
Set in the year 2089, Military Madness takes place on The Moon after the people of Earth have begun to harvest it's vast resources. The evil Axis Empire has taken over most of The Moon, forcing innocent people to fight or perish. The Axis Empire is planning to launch a "Supreme Atomic Missile" at The Earth and must be stopped by what is left of The Allied Powers.
This epic battle unfolds over 32 missions that take place on hex-based maps . You will be able to command over 20 different unit types like infantry, transports, tanks and planes; each with it's own specialties, capabilities and weaknesses. However, unlike most other strategy games you will not be able to produce units of your own. You will have to capture enemy factories if you hope to gain more units on a given map. This twist not only adds to the feeling of a small resistance taking on an overpowered enemy, but to the game's difficulty as well.
Even veterans of turn-based strategy will be faced a learning curve in Military Madness. Offensive and defensive effects like terrain, position and unit level are common in games like this, but the formula can be confusing at first. This will most likely lead to a few frustrating unit losses and restarts. Even once you have a handle on the math behind the battle engine, Military Madness will provide you with a decent challenge.
Graphically, Military Madness gets the job done. The map screen is easy to read and the battle scenes reflect the terrain your engaged unit is currently occupying. It certainly is not a showcase for what the TurboGrafix 16 was capable of, and looks on par with what was on the NES at the time. Where the presentation falters is actually more the fault of the emulation than the original code. The game's colours are quite simply all wrong. Even though the palette consisted of mostly brown, green and grey, the original HuCard version's vibrancy and luster have been stripped away. The aspect ratio on the map screen has been distorted to a 1:1 ratio rather than the 4:3 of the original, causing units to look a bit squished. As with the other TurboGrafix 16 games to appear on the Virtual Console, some sort of anti-aliasing effect gives the whole game a muddy, washed-out look.
These issues could be considered to be minor, but many long time fans of Military Madness and TurboGrafix 16 were horrified to learn that the game suffers from inexplicable slowdown and graphical tearing from the fourth map on. Newcomers would probably assume that these flaws were in the original version as a result of the limitations of the hardware at the time. While the graphical issues don't break the solid game play, this is far from a perfect emulation, and those who played the original should be aware of this before deciding to purchase the license to this title.
In my own opinion, I feel that this is a dangerous precedent for Nintendo and Hudson to set for the quality of the emulation in future Virtual Console releases. Hopefully the quality control is tightened up in the future.
The sound in Military Madness is spot-on to the original's, but honestly that isn't saying much. The music is repetitive and forgettable, and the sound effects are generic. You can get just as much enjoyment from the game with the volume muted, or the radio on.
Depending on your skill level and how much of a perfectionist you are, you can expect to spend anywhere from 6 to 20 hours playing through Military Madness. In addition to the Virtual Console's save state feature, the game can be continued by simply entering a map name at the title screen. Military Madness also offers a fairly strange two player mode. You can play with a friend controlling the Axis Empire, but only by using a password to continue.
For 600 Wii Points, even this technically deficient version of Military Madness is a steal. It's a worthy addition to almost any strategy fan's library and most likely one that you missed out on almost 18 years ago. At the same time Military Madness is both a fine example of what is great about the Virtual Console, and what can go wrong with it. The fantastic core game play is compromised somewhat by some technical missteps. Approach with caution.
REVIEW UPDATE: In mid February 2007, Military Madness became the first Wii game to receive an update patch. The update fixes the tearing and slowdown that occurred from the fourth stage on that was not present in the original version. The map screen aspect ratio is still off, but I appreciate Nintendo and Hudson Soft's effort to fix the problems present in the initial release. I have adjusted the Graphics and Tilt scores accordingly.
-- Brian J. Papineau