Opinions on XE Gato and Eastern Front...

[ataridave]

I can't find videos of either of these two Atari XE games, so I was wondering if either is worth buying. I never played strategy games back in the '80's, so I would have no idea what to expect.

[Goochman]

Never played Gato but I enjoyed Eastern Front. It can be challenging to win and its not a fast paced game. Whirlwind the Tank game is similar and also fun.

[+orpheuswaking]

Eastern Front is a historical simulation game, played kind of like a computer version of traditional board & counter paper strategy games. It has a fairly advanced AI and can be challenging to complete. If you are a fan of that type of game it's well worth the play.

 

Gato is a World War II submarine simulation, a lot different in style to Eastern Front. personally I can't stand the game LOL

[ataridave]

Is there any difference in the XE version of Eastern Front, other then the graphics and box and manual art??

[Kr0tki]

No, it's identical to the earlier cartridge release.

[+therealbountybob]

Hopefully you've already checked out the fantastic (and new!) His Dark Majesty

 

In Eastern front you can press something, option maybe, and start with double strength forces

[Goochman]

There is also Legionaire which seems to be based on the Eastern Front model.

[+CharlieChaplin]

Never played Gato but I enjoyed Eastern Front. It can be challenging to win and its not a fast paced game. Whirlwind the Tank game is similar and also fun.

 

 

Hmm,

 

Eastern Front can be challenging to win ?!? You win in Eastern Front ?!? How do you do that ?!? The (Nazi-) Germans win over Russia ?!? You change history, did not know this was possible in Eastern Front... ;-)

 

-Andreas Koch.

[devwebcl]

Never played Gato but I enjoyed Eastern Front. It can be challenging to win and its not a fast paced game. Whirlwind the Tank game is similar and also fun.

 

 

Hmm,

 

Eastern Front can be challenging to win ?!? You win in Eastern Front ?!? How do you do that ?!? The (Nazi-) Germans win over Russia ?!? You change history, did not know this was possible in Eastern Front... ;-)

 

-Andreas Koch.

 

Yes, you cannot beat the Russians... in Legionnaire can give anyone depending on your performance and the level chosen.

Legionnaire is a Real time game too (one of the first).

[Goochman]

Ive won Eastern Front way back when - its hard to do but eventually you capture all cities and it ends IIRC

[ataridave]

So you can only play as either Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union in Eastern Front??

 

What do you all think of Final Legacy? That looks like a cool combination of strategy and action, but again, no Youtube videos.

[Marc Oberhäuser]

So you can only play as either Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union in Eastern Front??

 

IIRC you can play the German side only.

[Mclaneinc]

Dave, judging by your username these will be a big change in style, I've always found war games far too time consuming and tire some but that's just me, my mate was soo hooked on them he set up his own company (Strategic Simulations Plus) just so he could handle the wider distribution of them in the UK and was hugely successful.

 

I really have tried my best to adapt to them and RPG's but the nearest I ever got was Zelda and Secret of Mana on the Snes and a blast at Front Mission also on the Snes.

 

Out of your pair of choices I'd say Eastern Front is the most welcoming and it's a first rate game with awards all over the place...

[+therealbountybob]

For me Final Legacy is a bit more of an arcade game like Raid Over Moscow, Beach Head I/II, Computer War etc. I played Legionnaire a couple of times and this seemed pretty nice to get into and engrossing.

[Major Havoc 2049]

Eastern Front is time based. Each level of difficulty has different starting conditions, scoring conditions, victory conditions and cover different periods of time. Once the time period ends for that difficulty level, the game ends. At the end of the game you get a score. You get points for defeating arimes, capturing cities and loose points for your own losses.

 

For Example:

Advanced Level - June 22, 1941 to March 29, 1942. You command 42 German units against 96 Russian units.

 

Eastern Front also has a save game feature, but you'll need a disk or tape drive.

 

If you want to buy a copy, try to get the original silver box XL era version, as the quality of the packaging is way better than the XE version. It has a better box, color historical instruction manual and comes with a map of Eastern Europe/Western Russia.

 

If you want a sub sim, I would go with the excellent Silent Service from MicroProse, as it's much better than Gato.

Edited July 19, 2010 by Major Havoc 2049

[ataridave]

Ok, thanks for all the advice! I should change my username, because I love racing games and RPG's as much, if not more, then traditional scrolling shooters. I do love the blue Atari XE cartridge boxes-especially how the XE is done-it looks so old school, which is a plus for me.

 

I got into the Legend of Zelda series, but the only one I've beaten is II on the NES.

Edited July 20, 2010 by dave4shmups

[DracIsBack]

I tried to get into both games and really couldn't get into either.

[jaybird3rd]

Strategy games (particularly solitaire war games) are a genre that I'm seriously thinking of spending more time with. I get bored sometimes with the same old space games and arcade ports.

 

If you really like Eastern Front, you should look into getting a copy of Chris Crawford's book, Chris Crawford on Game Design. He talks at great length about his design philosophy and the development of all of his major games, especially Eastern Front and Legionnaire. I own the XE version of Eastern Front, but I do want to pick up the XL version as well.

 

The only strategy games I've played in any depth (a very long time ago) are the SSI titles by Roger Damon: Field of Fire, NAM, Panzer Grenadier, and Wargame Construction Set. I've been collecting them again recently, and I now own original copies of all of them except Grenadier. If you're interested in the genre, perhaps one of these would be a good follow-up after Eastern Front.

[ataridave]

Strategy games (particularly solitaire war games) are a genre that I'm seriously thinking of spending more time with. I get bored sometimes with the same old space games and arcade ports.

 

If you really like Eastern Front, you should look into getting a copy of Chris Crawford's book, Chris Crawford on Game Design. He talks at great length about his design philosophy and the development of all of his major games, especially Eastern Front and Legionnaire. I own the XE version of Eastern Front, but I do want to pick up the XL version as well.

 

The only strategy games I've played in any depth (a very long time ago) are the SSI titles by Roger Damon: Field of Fire, NAM, Panzer Grenadier, and Wargame Construction Set. I've been collecting them again recently, and I now own original copies of all of them except Grenadier. If you're interested in the genre, perhaps one of these would be a good follow-up after Eastern Front.

 

 

Interesting; I owned a Mac 512K back in the day, so I never played any of the SSI titles. I'll have to check out that book.