

#Best world war 2 strategic war games series#
While the subsequent games in the Sniper Elite series have looked progressively better and gotten more ambitious overall, the original game remains the purest in terms of focusing primarily on the tactical, precise, slow-paced nature of being a sniper, without resorting to padding out the experience to make it more "exciting." There are enough other games like that- Sniper Elite is the best of its franchise because it is confident enough to require patience and be unappealing to the average twitchy-fingered action gamer. S niper Elite does just that, placing players behind the rifle scope of an American sniper in Berlin in 1945. To be a skilled military sniper isn't something that any soldier can become just because they stumbled across a sniper rifle leaning up against a wall near an open window or on a rooftop- it's a job specialty, and deserves a game specifically dedicated to it. In most WWII action games, sniping is relegated to dedicated "sniper levels," or more commonly, just specific sniping setpieces within otherwise standard levels. The bright red Nazi banners that adorn the various lushly-drawn environments serve to keep players cognizant of the overall threat that looms over the game, and help to make the adventure feel more grounded in reality than most Indy escapades. Last Crusade was one of the most ambitious of the LucasArts adventure games, and while some prefer The Fate of Atlantis- the company's other Indy adventure game- both stand side by side as the best Indiana Jones games ever made as well as some of the best games of all time, period. There's also the matter of players encountering Adolf Hitler himself during the game and, in a rarity for a video game Hitler appearance, doesn't end with his head violently exploding. As anyone who has seen the Last Crusade movie knows, setting plays a key role in the story of Indiana Jones and his father going after the fabled Holy Grail. There can be just as much value to a video game that uses WWII more as the backdrop for its story than taking place directly within the war itself. But these lists should sometimes be about honoring important games regardless of whether or not they "hold up," and to that end, Silent Service's places in the pantheons of both WWII game and sim game history in general are well earned. In fact, its 1990 sequel improved and streamlined most aspects of the game, and definitely looked a whole lot better. The incredibly slow pace of the game- even for a sub-based game- and obtuse nature of the control systems make Silent Service a difficult game to appreciate today. While looking for Japanese water craft, players were tasked with worrying about even tiny details like whether they were hidden enough so as not to produce surface bubbles. Incredibly realistic for its time (1985), Silent Service allowed patient players the chance to take control of a submarine as it made its patrol rounds in the Pacific Ocean. Here are the 18 Greatest World War II Video Games, Ranked.īefore becoming a nerd household name with games like Pirates! and Civilization, one of the games that legendary designer Sid Meier cut his teeth on was this ahead-of-its-time WWII submarine simulator. Some developers have taken the events of WWII in more creatively interesting directions and explored different angles and genres.

RTS, which typically use either actual wars or settings very similar to actual wars as their bases, have often returned to WWII as the many countries involved make for deep, varied skirmishes that can involve many sides and locales. FPS in particular have used the war as a backdrop for about as long as they've existed, beginning with Wolfenstein 3D- not technically the first FPS, but the one that laid the foundation for everything we would eventually associate with the genre. WWII games have been represented by just about every genre imaginable, though first-person shooters and real-time strategy games are perhaps the most iconic. It makes sense that dozens upon dozens of video games have been set during WWII, as not only does Hitler make for the perfect Big Bad, it is an excuse to arm players to the teeth and have them engage in an epic, globe-spanning battle. With the recent confirmation that the Call of Duty franchise is going to return to its original setting of World War II this fall, there is no better time to look back at the history of video games that have tackled the conflict of World War II.
