Flashpoint Campaigns: Cold War

When great empires collapse, it can sometimes happen violently. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if the Cold War had become a hot war. Flashpoint Campaigns: Cold War asks you that question by promoting you to General of NATO or Warsaw Pact armed forces. This simulator is an attempt by On Target Simulations to let you find out what could have happened. Today, however, we know that in the last years of its existence, the Soviet Union would have found it difficult to manage a global conflict of this scale. In reality, the last years of the Soviet Union were characterised by internal problems, economic difficulties and reforms that had disastrous consequences.

I'll start by saying that this is a product for those who like old-school war strategy games in a more modern package. You have instruction manuals of nearly 1000 pages you should periodically review and a pretty high learning curve. It's helpful if you've tried Flashpoint Campaigns: Red Storm and its sequel Southern Storm. Of course, you can also jump in and just tap things, but the game is designed like a crime scene. To see fingerprints you need to have equipment, to test DNA you need access to a lab. And if you want to try to understand the sequence of events, you need to investigate the scene itself. The title requires you to be comfortable with several of its gameplay systems.

Flasphpoint Campaigns: Cold War is designed with a strong focus on using filters and commands in the user interface. To give a clear example, it's important to see how far your troops can shoot, how much height there is in each hex, or its defence value. When you layer filters like these on top of the world, you can get a deeper grasp of the simulation. It's your equivalent of being able to analyse blood, find fingerprints, and understand the course of a crime. Using these analytical tools, you can make decisions that will hopefully lead you and your forces to victory in the various campaign missions or scenarios.

I am impressed with the level of detail and the new flexible game engine. Most people reading this review may laugh at the graphics, especially if you have not played the games before. However, there have been major changes and improvements to the underlying system. In particular, I am impressed with the ability to use historically accurate variants of electronic warfare. It is extremely rare that we encounter that dimension in games and especially when they concern the Cold War. Jamming radios, radars and much more can help you win various missions.

The game is also designed in such a way that you make the decisions and your troops carry out your commands. This means that you don't micro-manage individual tanks but rather move platoons, regiments, brigades and other troop divisions which in turn do the fighting where it happens. The size of your troops varies depending on the scenario or campaign mission. You decide how the air force will be used, how electronic warfare will be conducted and where the artillery will fire. To help you, you have a behavioural system you can set up for each military unit under your command. If you want the soldiers to screen the enemy and move backwards, dig in where it is or do something else, you can decide that in advance. It's a bit reminiscent of old role-playing games, but instead of deciding the behaviour of individual characters in battle, you shape the behaviour of thousands of soldiers.

The game world looks like a handmade map and is divided into a grid pattern, which in turn is divided into hexagons. Each type of unit can fill one hexagon (the number of soldiers in each varies). To run a successful campaign, you also need to understand the world. Bridges can be destroyed, hills can be used as ambushes, artillery can shell narrow areas with poison gas or other types of ammunition. There are also nuclear weapons and other exotic variants of weapon systems. However, they are rarely given to you as a player to dispose of. The developers want you to primarily lead the troops and fight conventionally.

All actions in the game take place simultaneously. The system for this game is called WEGO (We Go), which means that everyone gives orders at the same time. Then when you press the round button, all players on the map move their troops at the same time. It's a terribly good system in my opinion for this category of games. Depending on what your orders involve, they can take different amounts of time. This can of course be exploited by both you and the enemy. You have to analyse the battlefield, use your reconnaissance troops, look at your documents about the situation and how the information about the enemy changes.

What you have here is an extremely addictive strategy game. Even if it's about checking points on the map, or completing missions with a certain time limit, you're treated to an entertaining set-up that makes you think. The game doesn't look welcoming if you're completely new to the genre. However, it is quite simple to make things happen. The big problem for you as a newcomer is the flow of information and being able to translate large amounts of information, all game-like elements in a way that favours you. The computer opponents are also quite good at making decisions. That doesn't mean you can't utilise it and that it's unbeatable. Sometimes it also makes bad choices. There are several difficulty levels that determine how much you see or don't see on the world map. This can be helpful in customising the experience.

One of my favourite missions was The Big Red One, about how the US 1st Infantry Division had to mobilise and deal with the Warsaw Pact's advance into NATO Allied territory on the European continent. What made these five scenarios interesting was how they brought together the panic the troops should have experienced. Your forces must constantly strategically retreat and fight for more time so that NATO can bring its full force and launch counter-attacks. Another highlight was an attack on French territory where my French troops are forced to screen the enemy so that they can counter-attack. There are also exciting scenarios with air troops in focus or chemical warfare. In total, there are over 100 scenarios to play and many take an hour or more. The game is packed with great content.

There are also some innovations I appreciate with this sequel. Among other things, your troops can make use of light cannons and light grenades. This can be used to see the enemy better. You also have access to a good system for unloading troops with lorries and helicopters. This was not possible in the predecessor but means that you can now make precision attacks in a different way. I also find the user interface cleaner than before and it's easier to find the information I need in the menus. There are of course some things the developers can do to make the menus look even more interesting and readable, but there have been improvements.

Although the soundscape is limited, the graphics simple, this is a complex and an exciting experience. As with other titles in this genre, your imagination fills in the details of the visuals and audiovisuals. During the course of the missions, an emergent narrative takes place thanks to your decisions. Your troops and skirmishes become part of a living painting. Reading the narrative of each scenario is one thing, watching it unfold depending on your decisions is quite another. I do like that they really tried to get historically accurate maps of Germany. It's great to be able to read about these military plans and doctrines in archives or history books and see it brought to life here.

If you are like me and like to have a cup of coffee with your old-school war strategy games, there is something to be found here. It's still an interpretation of a third world war. But it's well done, based on real documentation and real sources. The tracks on which the title is set are also historically accurate in many respects. There are certainly occasional detail errors, but it looks really good on the surface. I didn't feel the need to pick up my dusty books. When it comes to the Cold War, I think this is probably one of the better ones in its class. I really love that they chose to try and incorporate electronic warfare into this title. It's hard to pull off and doesn't feel quite as in-depth as other game-like systems, but it works well.

There is also a multiplayer mode. It is PvP based which I am totally uninterested in. However, it is a functional game system. You face another player and the WEGO system reduces the time spent. It can be fun to meet other people while having all these complex systems. However, it should be said that the audience for these titles is not that big. You may have a hard time finding matches and those who are passionate about PvP in these games are skilled. Of course, there are also forums and opportunities to find players at your level. However, don't expect it to be as polished and easy to find matches as in Starcraft 2. Technically, there were occasional synchronisation issues when I tested. All in all, it could be a little extra option on top of an already great product.

I'll raise a cautionary finger if you're not used to this school of strategy games. It takes time to master, you need to read a lot, and the instruction manuals are extensive. You'll probably want a YouTube guide and there are several good ones already out there. You'll also need to know a bit about military symbols, to understand what's what. It won't waste your time though. Each mission only lasts up to one day in the game. You'll always encounter the interesting stuff at once and yet the different courses are both varied and engaging.

It's a clear upgrade on its predecessors and it feels a little more polished and easy to boot than these games usually allow. Flashpoint Campaigns: Cold War is an exciting simulation of leading troops during the Cold War. Sure, we've seen this interpretation before in lots of games. Just this year we've even seen Warno While On Target Simulations may overstate the Soviet troops a bit, it's still scenarios that these real-life military and governments on both sides of the Iron Curtain had to contend with. In the end, I am more than satisfied and can highly recommend this to you.