If you like wargames, then you definitely know the saga of the excellent Shenandoah Studio, the developer that brought us the great Battle of the Bulge and the pretty good Drive on Moscow and Desert Fox. Even though Shenadoah made some of the best wargames on the App Store (and the app themselves worked flawlessly), for reasons unknown it ran out of money, and Slitherine jumped in and bought the developer. After a long time reorganizing, Slitherine republished Battle of the Bulge to more than just mixed reviews since it really felt like the new app had come out a few years before the original one. Menus felt clunkier, some functionality was removed, and so on, all in the name of making the game cross-platform.

Now, Slitherine has re-released the second in the Crisis in Command series, Drive on Moscow ($9.99). The new Battle of the Bulge came out as an update to the old one, but this time around, the old Drive on Moscow has been pulled from the App Store and a new app has popped up in its place. According to Slitherine, many in the community didn’t want the old app replaced (which tells you something about how the community feels about the new Battle of the Bulge) and also Slitherine didn’t have the means to support the old version.

So, they removed it from the store and now have a new one in its place. And since, as they point out, there’s no easy way for them to provide “keys" for the newer version, everyone will have to re-buy the game. The new version is iPad only by the way, unlike the original. I think they could have had a launch sale to let people who’ve owned the game in the past get it again. If you do want to get the new one, it comes with cross-platform multiplayer, Slitherine’s Tournament system, enhanced AI, and more. Now whether this app is actually better than the original, that I don’t know.