Hearts of iron 5 stories3/21/2023 The subject matter lends itself well to difficult choices, but War Stories is content to present things in a very black and white way. You can be the good boy who always follows orders, or the daring risk-taking maverick, and there isn’t any good reason that you shouldn’t just lean hard in one direction or the other. If you don’t know your World War 2 history well, you could probably add another couple of choices to that total, but in a game that entirely pivots around making choices, having everything be too obvious is a significant drawback. There were two or three points in the story where I actually had to take a second and think about what to choose, and that’s not nearly enough to make for an enjoyable game. The right answers are always obvious, and the simple fact that there are right answers so often is an issue in and of itself. There’s no intrigue to the choices in War Stories at all. Unfortunately, it’s also tied in with some of the game’s major issues. That’s likely a point in the game’s favor for anyone who tends to find games in this genre to be too strict, unfair, or downright frustrating. Unless you’re intentionally being extremely reckless, you’re sure to find your way to one happy ending or another before too long. There are more than a dozen different ends to the game, largely depending on how well you’ve built up your stats and relationships, but it’s fairly obvious which outcomes will result from which choices. The path to the ending is usually quite clear. I’ve also got to hand it to War Stories as far as fairness goes. Few of them have voices of their own, but since the story is told from your character’s point of view, it’s not as big of a problem as it might seem. The pace is brisk, perhaps too brisk, and while a few characters stand out, many of them start to bleed together over the course of the story. It’s more than a little on the generic side in terms of the details of the plot, but there’s only so much you can do when you’re trying to keep to the reality of historical events, I think. Of course, such love for details presents a high risk of turning into a dull encyclopedia of war memorabilia, but the author, Aaron Rosenberg, crafts an enjoyable tale to tie everything together. There’s an infectious adoration that shines through in the way War Stories describes all of these things. As you might expect from a game published by Paradox, the game is full of factual information about the war, the equipment used, and the conditions of the RAF during that period. There are typos here and there, but apart from that, the text is compelling. Hearts of Iron: War Stories is certainly written well enough. There’s a real art to it, and even the best of the bunch stumble with remarkable frequency. It’s a tricky thing to nail down, because the limitations of the format mean you’re really trying to successfully peddle an illusion. Ideally, a gamebook is well-written, makes the player feel like they have significant control over the ultimate outcome, presents choices that make the player think, and gives the player all the hints and tools they need to make a successful run if they’re observant enough. Without going into too much detail, I’d say the most important elements of a gamebook are the overall quality of the writing, the variety of choices, player agency, and the difficulty in finding a successful path. You see, there are a lot of little pieces that go into a game of any genre, and gamebooks are no different. If nothing else, it’s a change of pace for Paradox, and it shows. You’re no grand commander, but rather a young recruit to the British RAF. Instead of the familiar tactical gameplay fans know and love, War Stories is a gamebook. Hearts of Iron: War Stories (Free) is a spin-off of the World War 2 strategy series Hearts of Iron, which originated on Windows PCs in 2002 and just saw its most recent release a few days ago. Their latest iOS release brings one of their more popular strategy brands to the platform, but in a very different form. Its most famous series in that vein is probably Europa Universalis, but Paradox shepherds several successful strategy brands, including both internally developed titles and games where they act only as a publisher. Paradox Interactive is mostly known for its complex strategy games covering wars and situations both real and imagined.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |