I've been on a bit of a Victorian Era wargaming binge lately, and thought it was finally time to give this game a go after reading a couple of reviews. I was not disappointed. This is hands down one of the best strategy games for MS-Dos I've played in quite a while. The graphics hold up relatively well, the game plays fairly smoothly and is fairly easy to understand, and it covers such a massive time period and multiple wars, including the American Civil War, Franco-Prussian War, British colonial wars, etc., plus it has campaigns, scenarios, a fun hot-seat multiplayer function, etc. My only real critique is that the sound design isn't the greatest (audio is a bit crunchy), but whether that's the game's fault or because it's running in Dosbox is hard to tell. Overall an excellent strategy game. Just make sure to play the tutorial mission, and maybe cruise through the included manual for some details.
Gary Grigsby's World at War: A World Divided is a grand tactical strategy game similar in scope and style to the classic Axis and Allies board game series. Players can control movement and production for their chosen faction(s), and fight WWII from 1939 to 1946 (as a bonus, a what if scenario of the Soviet Union and Nato going to war from 1946-48 is also included). I won't go into too much detail, as if you've played Axis and Allies you've played this game. I will say to play the tutorials. The game is deceptively simple in premise, but only through the tutorial (or a lot of trial and error) will you figure out how to conduct naval invasions, espionage, etc. I do also wish it had some sort of combat animation (I think there was a version of this game released with them, but I may be thinking of something else). Overall, it's a solid game. Definitely worth it, and it runs great on Windows 10.
I've played all of the Railroad Tycoon games, from Sid Meier's original Railroad Tycoon for MS-DOS to Sid Meier's Railroads!, which was a spiritual remake. Inbetween the Sid Meier titles there was Railroad Tycoon 2 and 3, which were developed and published outside of Sid Meier as far as I am aware, by Gathering of Developers and PopTop. While RRT3 definitely has a better cargo management system, in terms of A.I., variety and graphics, I think RRT2 has held up a lot better. Yes this game is aged, and yes the U.I. can be a little befuddling if you're not familiar with it, but as a fan of the series this one has always been my favorite. I like that the A.I. is challenging, I like the variety and scale of the scenarios (everything from the earliest railways in the US and UK to a futuristic scenario where the Meditteranean Sea is drained to make more room for Europe and North Africa's growing populations are presented to the player), and I like the nostalgic graphics (they've also aged better than the 3rd game's too). This game also runs on newer hardware, whereas Railroad Tycoon 3, at least the actual CD version (unaware of how the GOG version runs) does not do as well and takes a lot of tweaks to work, especially if you're using the DLC expansion that PopTop released before the end of the game's life. RRT2, on the other hand, comes with it's Expansion Pack, runs well, and offers a great challenge from both an economic and strategic vantage point. Overall, I think this is just the better game, and if you want some late 90s\early 2000s nostalgia that will work well on modern hardware, this is the one to get.
