DEFCON is a testament to the fact that you should not judge a game by its cover and looks.
The premise of DEFCON is based off of old movies such as WarGames, and Fail-Safe. So in DEFCON, you play as a military commander with control over the entire nuclear assets of your chosen country. You aren't given a 3D view of the entire world however- instead, your inside a bunker, with an interface that allows you to view the entire nuclear conflict as it unfolds. Its more interesting than it sounds here, cause DEFCON has many subtle touches with its interface and sound design that make the entire theme surrounding DEFCON feel rather moody.
In a basic match of DEFCON, your goal is determined by several DEFCON stages, numbered 1-5. The game always starts at 5, which is when you deploy your navies and buildings such as radar, silos for both nukes and defense, and airbases. When DEFCON 3 rolls in, naval and aerial combat begins between all players unless you've set up an alliance with them. And DEFCON 1? That's where the fun begins, as the nukes come out in full glory. Your ultimate goal is most commonly either to kill as many enemy civilians as possible by hitting their cities with nukes, to defend your own cities as best you can, or a combination of the two goals.
How you go about all this dirty business is where DEFCON shines. At first glance, the variety of what you are given to work with is a little simplistic and limited. However, the aspects of where, when, and how you pull off your attacks almost never works out the same way every game. Every game will play out differently- especially online. Will you make any alliances? Will you crack first and let loose all of your nukes leaving your backside vulnerable? Will your allies betray you? Will you betray them? The number of possabilites is very impressive, and turns a seemingly simple game into a surprisingly complex experience.
If you want to experience DEFCON in its full glory however, you'll definitely want to play online. You can of course practice against the AI, but DEFCON isn't nearly as entertaining without some other human brains working against you. The AI in DEFCON is decent, but it plays rather predictably and doesn't interact with the game's diplomacy interface in any fashion, making single player matches much less entertaining. Fortunately, online matches from my experience almost never suffer from any lag.
Graphically, as I've already stated, DEFCON looks simple, but it has many subtle touches that help elevate its atmosphere and theme. The entire game board looks like a digital screen in some isolated bunker with all of that big white text and white blips. Sure, its simplistic, but its effective. Sound wise, DEFCON's music is heavily undertoned, but still fits the theme perfectly. The faint sounds of nukes exploding and technical blips in the game all help to support the theme DEFCON goes for.
Ultimately, DEFCON is absolutely worth a look for any strategy gamer looking for something new. Get past the low budget look, and your in for a treat with DEFCON.
Pros: Simple, yet deceptively complex and unpredictable gameplay. Simple, yet effective graphics that fit DEFCON's theme perfectly. Great sound design.
Cons: Decent, but ultimately predictable AI.
Recommendable for: DEFCON's deceptively complex gameplay should appeal to just about any strategy gamer. Those new to strategy games should also enjoy DEFCON.