Ok, I've had enough following this game - time to purchase it and stop missing out! Looking forward to playing against you guys soon.
Wonderful strategy writeup for the early Allied game at the Quarter to Three site: http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2013/01/10/playing-the-odds-in-battle-of-the-bulges-bastogne-conundrum/
I have to admit I was surprised that they would take so long to get to a game with over 180 forum posts. But it turned out to be a nice review. Thanks, TouchArcade!
Yeah it's a common complaint amoung the more serious strategy gamers here that TA tends to ignore "hard core" strategy games for lack of a better term. Glad to see they actually gave BotB front page, it's much deserved.
Well I'm surprised they reviewed it at all, but I'm glad they did. TA is a more generalist website, and BotB is pretty niche and absolutely not casual while being very accessible. I'm glad they reviewed (and granted a well deserved top score) because I feel Battle of the Bulge is the PERFECT game to be introduced to the genre and be hopelessy addicted (because the game is simply stellar imho). It's slick, an audio-visual joy, it's fast and 'easy' to get into, while being incredibly deep in the long run. I'm playing it constantly since it came out and almost every other game I used to play feels a bit soul-less now. I hope this review grants them a new flow of well deserved sells. Besides that, El Alamein is now my top wanted game...can't wait to have my tanks jammed by the sand of the desert or my divisions immobilized and suffering for the lack of water
I think a lite version is sorely needed for any significant "introducing to the genre" to be made. I'm fully interested in trying this and paying full price should I find it appealing, but not really in spending ten bucks on something that's just as likely to put me to sleep in the first fifteen minutes as engage my interest. I may still change my mind and try it anyway of course, but I'm willing to bet most in a similar position won't.
Maybe you get a point, but I find it hard to provide a lite version of this particular game. It would be like to provide a lite version of 'Chess'. You can complete the fast scenario in less than 30 minutes so not even a timed demo would do imho. That's what reviews are for, I guess. To be honest I get what you say and this isn't aimed to you in particular, but I think the price is absurdily low even if you dismiss it as 'crap' after 30 minutes (this is imho valid for the whole appstore...but it's just me).
I'm surprised to see 20 pages and no mention of the word "skirmish". I see there are single player scenarios, but they are not randomly generated? Will there be a single player skirmish mode added to the game?
The dev has indicated here there may be more added but I think the longevity in this title comes from multiplayer at the moment. IMHO it's peerless as an asynchronous MP on iOS at the moment. @ Gabrien, I think Pitta summed it up perfectly. I can see no way the devs could do a lite version of this. There are no IAP's here, you get a full game with no compromises because it is on iOS, it's worth every penny. Here's another review if it helps. http://pockettactics.com/2012/12/12/review-battle-of-the-bulge/
The impressions in this thread are enough to convince me that the game is "quality." My only concern is with the genre, as it has never been my thing in the past. I guess I'll just have to keep this one on the list and either take the chance or not. Thanks though.
awesome. the original game was the first game I bought for my first PC in 1998. god, 2GB harddisk and 32mb EDO RAM, hehe. I hope they bring us the later ones of the series like "Korsun Pocket" also. just bought the game and will play tonight. EDIT: would love to see someone bring more old SSI / SSG wargame classics to the iPad. who knows, if we find the time (and have enough money), we might just do it ourselves. battles of napoleon would be fantastic...
I'm with Gabrien. I'm really interested in trying this out and supporting a dev making a quality game specifically for iPad, but as I've never played anything similar I'm afraid it may not be "my thing". I'm tempted to take the plunge anyway though, just to support them being confident enough to charge $10 in a market dominated by mostly horrible freemium and 99 cent casual games.
I agree it would be difficult to provide a lite version. One possibility perhaps would be for Shenandoah to release a Race to the Meuse scenario playing as Axis vs Monty, maybe that would be enough for people either on the fence or unfamiliar but curious about the board wargame genre to see what it's about.
I know that slitherine is planning on releasing Panzer Corps to iPad fairly soon, it's a remake of the fabled Panzer General.
@emos: yes, heard of that. will have a look at it when it's available. loved the PG series back in the days. as to a lite version: google for "ssg ardennes offensive". you should find the exe. but it works only on 32bit systems. note: the original game isn't the same as the new one. the original one had much more micromanagement and some game mechanics were quite different. this one here seems very streamlined, which is good. nevertheless, the original game gives you a rough feeling of what to expect here. I only had the chance to play a few minutes thus far, but what I have seen looks very promising. I'm off now playing!
Has anybody tried this on the first iPad, does it play well there? I haven't got a game on it in a while, so I don't know wheter newer games tend to support it well. Or I might finally have to upgrade my iPad, this seems like an awesome game
