DEFCON
 

I don't know how many people are aware of this great little game that recently came out from Introversion Software, the makers of Darwinia and Uplink.

If you've seen the movie War Games, then you already know the concept behind DEFCON. Global. Thermonuclear. War.

Seriously, from what I understand, the guys at Introversion were watching War Games and decided it would be cool to make an actual game sort of like the "game" in the movie.

It's more than just shooting missiles though. Aside for the obvious - missile silos - the game also includes air and naval units as well. It's not a particularly complex game, but what Introversion is great at is making relatively simple games a ton of fun. In this case, there's no hope for survival...you just want to be the one who dies least! Hence, the website: http://www.everybody-dies.com

The game has a wonderfully dark sense of humor...casually displaying stats like "7.3 million killed" as nukes pummel the various cities of the world. Better yet, it's great for background entertainment while doing something more productive. Play it in "real time" and a game can last up to 8 hours, allowing you to casually check in on the action as you work on your latest TPS report ;)

Anyway, if you've heard of or played DEFCON already, I'm curious to hear your thoughts. If not, I wanted to spread the word on this fun little game and support one of the few independent game developing studios out there.

Check out the Wikipedia page here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defcon_(computer_game)

No Mac version yet, so I've been running it with Crossover on my Macbook. Works OK but I haven't been game enough to try netplay yet. It's a great concept, though, and the presentation is superb. It doesn't have the depth of Uplink or Darwinia but still great at what it sets out to do.

I think my favorite part of the game is the soundtrack. So surreal - very appropriate to listen to while watching Thermonuclear Death fly in parabolic arcs across the globe.

Dowloading it now - I absolutely loved uplinks, so I'm looking forward to giving this game a try :D

I downloaded this yesterday and just bought it today. It's a great game, and probably the most intense RTS I've ever played.