Defcon

Original Review by Ben

Once in a while a game is released that is so revolutionary I can't help but become momentarily obsessed with it. Utilizing a simple game concept which seems to have gone out of vogue since the fall of the Cold War, Defcon places players in command of a nuclear armed region and gives them one simple directive: Win an all out nuclear exchange against one to four similarly armed opponents.

The game itself is rendered as a digital Big Board not dissimilar from that displayed in WarGames, Fail-Safe, and Dr. Strangelove which does an excellent job of making the player feel appropriately removed from the hypothetical megadeaths their actions are sure to generate. Unlike the visceral feelings of disgust which are not unfamiliar to players of the FPS genre (rife as it is with beheadings, disembowlments, and player characters getting their legs hacked off with giant saw blades) Defcon's horror comes from the players own mind, as white flashes and tallies of dead in the millions are the only indication of the devastation portrayed. Adding to this feeling of detached intellectual revulsion is an ambient musical score which is tastefully mixed with distant sounds of whimpering, sobbing and other assorted indicators of human suffering.

The game itself is incredibly simple to pick up from an informative and quick moving tutorial which is then followed by a short rumble between a player controlled NORAD and an AI controlled USSR. Despite this apparent simplicity however, the game is deeply engrossing with a great amount of strategic variation for the player to experiment with.

Introversion Software, never one to stay away from being savvy with their products has added a feature which only adds to my love of this game: Office Mode. In Office Mode the ability to increase the speed of play is denied. The game is then able to be minimized into a the system tray icon (by hitting escape twice, perfect for avoiding the boss) which will notify the gamer of certain events as they occur. This game mode is obviously designed for its name sake, and also adds the agonizing benefit / drawback of forcing players to watch as nuclear armed missiles slowly streak into their cities, adding an extra level of tension to an already exilerating game.

A playable (and basically fully functional) demo of Defcon is available here as well as Steam. The game retails for about $15 via the Steam network or can be ordered from the Introversion store. If anyone is up for a quick throw down some evening I'd be glad to answer the call.