Axis & Allies 1942 Online

Disclaimer: I've only played the Computer locally, I haven't played any online games yet. I've played the Axis & Allies (A&A) board game since I was a kid (first edition). I think they did a very good job of re-creating the board game experience into a video game. The design is well done, and it's obviously nice to not have to setup all of the pieces. The reason I gave this only two stars, is because there is one thing that I find almost game breaking, and that is when defending, the game automatically picks which units of mine will be destroyed. There is a Defense Profile feature where you are supposed to be able to turn this on or off, but it doesn't work, this feature is always on. Furthermore, you are supposed to be able to customize the Defense Profile, but that doesn't work either. It's preset, and I can't make any changes. What the Defense Profile does is tell the computer, when you take hits, which pieces you want to lose. The default (and cannot be changed) is to lose the least expensive cost items first and the most expensive last. This may not sound like a bad idea, however, when you're defending and the battle is close, you take a hit and the computer removes your Fighter that defends at a 4 and keeps your Bomber that defends at a 1, you realize that can and will cost you the battle. Sometimes it's better to lose the more expensive unit in order to win the battle. Because this feature is broken and I can't change it, it makes defending incredibly difficult in some situations. Much of the other parts are designed really well though, so I did want to give it at least a second star for that. Fix the Defense Profile issue and let me chose my units destroyed and I would give it 4 or 5 stars.

Was really happy to see the old board game finally available for the PC! Unfortunately, it's unplayable. I agree with other reviewers, AI is bad, and not being able to select which defenders are lost as casualties is frustrating. The worst, is the roll of the die. I know it's supposed to be "chance", and that was part of the fun of the board game. Here, though, it's laughable. At first, I chalked it up to "bad luck", then started to get frustrated, then mad. Sometimes, battles end as they should, but almost always, the AI suffers very few (sometimes none) casualties vs my forces being decimated. AI sends 4 infantry against my 2 infantry, 1 tank, 1 fighter? They take the territory. I noticed that bombing raids were a disaster, too. It seemed like I was losing way too many bombers, so I kept track. The next 10 bombers I sent, 5 got shot down! Yup, and on one raid, I sent 3 bombers, and the AI rolled three ones!! LOL Are you kidding me?? Oh, and IF my bombers make it through, then they will roll a one and take out 1 IPC. LOL Are you kidding me??? I know that there will always be a randomness to dice roll, but it's unplayable, the way it is. SOOOOO frustrating! I even watched the interview with Beamdog CEO explaining the dice. Apparently, I'm just "unlucky". Every time. Ruins the game. Love the board game, but games are supposed to be FUN. This is only fun if you're a masochist.

The game play is great. But the dice is clearly biased in favor of AI. If you purchase this game understand that fighters and bombers will constantly be shot down. There is supposed to be equal chance of the roll of dice. AI will consistently roll 1 or 2 75% of the time leaving 3,4,5,6 25%. I wish the developers would fix the dice roll. It is clear that a developer admit there is a problem until there is a fix. If they did people would stop playing. So keep denying it's must be working.

I absolutely loved A&A 98 and still will fire up the vm just play it. Even found it on an abandonware site that plays pretty good on win7 64 boxes. So when I saw a yt video of this new version, I was so excited. Unfortunately that excitement has turned to disappointment. First is movement, particularly blitzing. Trying to get a tank to blitz the right countries and in the right order seems to take forever before it finally registers correctly. In 98 it was so easy, grab a tank, drop on first country, then the second. Here if you drop it on the first, it's done. So you are supposed to hover over the first but it seems like that it is very finicky as to where you actually hover it. I don't know, it seems to be too difficult to do the blitz the I am asking it to. Especially when the countries are side by side. If they are in a line I have no trouble. Second I know that if a plane can not land after the turn it is lost. Well in my current game I have a plane that can not land and the game will NOT let me continue and the plane does not get lost. I just have a big warning that says "land the plane". No matter what I do the game will NOT continue. I have to be missing something but the help just says "if you can't land the plane it will be lost". Sooooo loose it already. Even amphibious landings seem to be not natural and confusing. Also I really miss being able to customize the rules. People have also echoed the automatic defense. So far I have not had an issue with it but I understand their issues and that it should also be fixed. To summarize, IF they fix the issues and bugs and add just a little bit more. Then it would be totally worth the cost. Until then only buy if you are a fan of the series and are willing to deal with the bugs and other problems.