User Reviews (11 - 21 of 54)

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I really want my money back!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 15 / 20
Date: December 27, 2004
Author: Amazon User

After eagerly shelling out 50 bucks to buy this game, I have to say that it is horrible. I love A&A but you know what...this game is NOT A&A. I really feel I could get my money back by suing Atari for false advertisement. Save your money.

Stalemate after stalemate

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: July 19, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game does a terrible injustice to the original Axis and Allies board game. At first, I thought this game would be wonderful and, I too, eagerly shelled out the $50 dollars to buy it. I think that this game can be put into a simple formula: Low Unit Limit (20) + Large Map + Low Building Limit (20) = Stalemate. Granted, I got through most of the missions, but by the time I was in the Pacific Theater on Iwa Jima, I just had to quit. I was so bored with this game. There's very little strategy and it can quickly turn into a World War I trench warfare type of game, where you slowly but surely watch 20 units battle each other and quickly be replaced.

The Axis and Allies "board game" part of this game is a little interesting, but the random battles are so boring that it's more fun to let the computer compute the outcome and fight on a much larger scale. This game was a waste of money, and it's such a disappointment. I thought that this would be a great addition to the "Axis and Allies" family, but I was wrong.

Imagine my surprise...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: July 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

When I learned that after purchasing this game for the perceived nice price of only $29.99 U.S., this game is only visibly like the original board version. I haven't even gotten past the final tutorial and I'm not that impressed. The RTS portion has an interesting spin on it, with the use of supply zones, replacements, no resource gathering (not in the traditional sense), and some historical accuracy in campaign / unit Order of Battle.

Outside of this, I am pretty upset at the lack of naval units, the newly discovered ability of infantry to "walk on water" and conquer places they would never be able to reach in real life. Also, the idea that you can defeat an entire country's military resources with only a few units is totally absurd. In my mind, this latest implementation of an old favorite was rushed, poorly done, and horribly executed. I'm not sure if this game would be even worth it in the $1 bargain bin. Well, maybe the bargain bin, if only for a slight entertainment value. Sometimes, you shouldn't mess with a good formula. The old adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," comes to mind.

A simple upgrade of the graphics, with a few more bells and whistles probably would have saved this title, rather than the attempt at "innovative" gameplay the developers tried to fashion here. If anything, they could have simply taken the original PC version and beefed / revamped the AI to make it a more worthy opponent, since this seems to be lacking in many of the games out there.

All in all, save your money, at least until this game drops below the $10 mark. Maybe then, this game's flashy box and graphics will be worth the money. Even then, I doubt it.

Serious Gamer Review

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 22
Date: November 10, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Axis & Allies has been known for the past 20 years the WWII board game. Now it has been developed into a kick ass RTS as far as I'm concerned. This game isn't your board game anymore, it has become a real concrete game Atari and TimeGate can hang their hat on

There are several modes of play from which gamers can choose from. The first is campaign mode, 24 complete missions on both sides of the war, 12 missions as the Allies, 12 missions as the Axis. This gives the player two campaign options; the opportunity to play out the war as it historically took place, or to play an alternate history version of WWII. It's a compelling aspect of the game that not many other RTS can boast about. The World War II mode is a meta map version of the Axis & Allies board that lets players move pieces on a turn based map of the world. When a player meets an enemy he has the option to fight out the battle in a quick resolve (dice roll based on relative unit strengths) or in a Real Time Strategy format. Multiplayer can be played on LAN or internet with up to 8 players on varied terrains. Something hardcore guys will really like is that the original map editor used by TimeGate is included in the game.

Another awesome feature of the game is the supply lines (the perimeter around your base where units can automatically re-supply and regenerate). All of the buildings at your base are completely mobile, you have the ability to pack up and roll your entire base towards an opponent (with the exception of Air Fields, they must be sold off and repurchased to move). This gives your men the tactical advantage of rolling your supply lines towards the enemy for quicker re-supply. In my opinion, it's a unique feature that makes the game way more strategic.

One of my favorite features in the game is the company control aspect, where by units operate in companies or regiments much like they did historically in WWII. This allows for a LOT less micromanagement of units, which me focus on the larger grand scale battle at hand, which is the idea right? The units of each super power are unique and authentic to their given nation, for example Germany can call for King Tiger Tanks, where as Great Britain can produce Churchill Flamethrower tanks. Another note on authenticity is that each super power lets you control the actual Generals from each power, like Nimitz or Eisenhower from the US. They all have their own special operations as well, such as unloading an A-Bomb with Nimitz on an unsuspecting enemy.

The game does however lack a certain visual appeal found in several other fall releases. I found the zoom options and camera angles to be limiting; however the overall quality is not without merit and the games core gameplay more than makes up for its visual weaknesses. Another issue with the game is the AI and game mechanics found in World War II mode. The meta-map AI is more of a "punish your mistakes" rather than a strategic opponent, kind of pesky if you ask me. The meta map also only allows the play to invade into one occupied territory in a given turn, which makes conquering the map entire more tedious moving into one area at a time.

As both a PC strategy gamer and a fan of the original Axis & Allies, I was excited about Atari and TimeGate studios combining the two into a dynamic real time strategy game and have been impressed with the results to say the least. The game is obviously more RTS then conventional A&A gameplay, but for anyone who expected different, there are certain aspects you will still enjoy. It's a true old fashioned beer and pretzel game. Here is my breakdown:

Graphics: 7.5
Visually appealing, yet not as polished as some of the other RTS titles out this fall.

Difficulty: 8.0
AI in the game adapts to situation based on players movement, however lacks strength in several areas, primarily WWII mode.

Single Player: 8.5
Single player campaign mode faithful to some of the historical battles of WWII. However, WWII mode lacks the true A&A feel and gameplay mechanics.

Multiplayer: 9.0
Great experience, play against friends as one of 20 generals in a number of maps. The game fully utilizes the GameSpy Arcade arena and ranking system.

Sex Appeal: 8.0
I really enjoy WWII mode and have had lots of fun with the campaigns. I could see this game staying on my hard dive for an extended amount of time.

OVERALL: 8.5
I enjoy this game and haven't seen other reviewers do it justice. It is a surprising star of this RTS fall line up and highly recommended.

allies ain't so allied

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 14
Date: December 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

so, you're in charge of the ENTIRE theatre of europe right? No, wait, you're in charge of a corps, no you command the theatre again. Oh, yeah, by the way, you can only attack in ONCE every turn. The OBVIOUS bugs in this game clearly stem from the messy marriage of real-time and turn based strategy gaming. Ya know, I wish AH would, program a goddamned game that plays like one of their board games, and just settle for selling it for $10 or $5. unless, of course we're talkin about Squad Leader, now THAT game would sell. But I digress, in short save your nickels and buy some other turkey.

Axis & Allies ( Atari New Release)

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 13 / 21
Date: November 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I love playing the old board game, and playing Hasbro's CD-ROM game is exciting on the internet. Regrettably, I just received the new release of the Atari version of A&A for 49.99. I BELIEVE THE NEW GAME IS A COMPLETE WASTE OF MONEY, AND ON A MORE PERSONAL LEVEL, A TOTAL DISAPPOINTMENT. THE DIRECTIONS ON HOW TO PLAY THE GAME IS IMPOSSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND. THE NEW GAME IS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT GAME, AND A POINTLESS WASTE OF TIME. I'M PLANNING TO RETURN THE GAME TO GAMESTOP AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Tjaka Erasmus, Ellisras, South Africa

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: March 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I never played the original board game. This game is a failed attempt to bring about something proper. One day somebody shall develop the ultimate WWII game: the world map will more or less be like in Total War and the battles will be more or less like in Blitzkrieg. This game is a lot of fun if you're under the age of 12. It's a toy, not a hobby, but streets better than most other real-time games.

Another Botch Job from Atari

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: April 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Atari once again cranks out a game too quickly, with little concern for smooth design, concept or playability.

This game is a complete hack, failing to play on my dual processor Pentium IV, with the latest video and sound drivers, but playable on a far older machine with minimum requirements.

It means that if you have hardware more advanced than the game's original test bed in 2004, you'll likely run into problems.

Atari has had such problems, they've dismantled their customer service support by phone and now take 7-10 business days to respond to emails via phone.

Despite screen shots of errors, along with attachments of their own error logs and also the system event log, that illustrate clear problems with the game, they not only could not help me alleviate my problems and they refused an RMA, even though I had my receipt and was willing to email them proof of purchase.

This is yet another hack job by Atari, I should have known better. This is not a game for playing and enjoying, it's a game for laying down and avoiding at all costs.

What is this???!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 9 / 14
Date: November 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is supposed to be Axis and Allies? Where are the ships? Where are the planes? I just tried it for the first time, playing the USA. Britain and Russia fell in a couple of turns. There's no naval protection for the UK. There's no way to support them with aircraft. My few forces landed in North Africa and the war was over! Absolutely terrible!

Not the board game, but a good game nonetheless.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 14
Date: January 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is a fine game, but it doesn't follow the original board game, although it purports to. It should be obvious by now to the designers if they want to avoid alot of bad reviews that they need to revise the portion of the game that is derived from the board game to follow the board game, exactly. I am at a loss to understand why they deviated from the board game in the first place, as it has been a proven winner of a game. I can't believe that it was to save computing power; it was likely a way to license the name of the board game to get to the real time strategy part of the game. But it appears that this was a bad design and marketing strategy as it is just angering the board gamers who are looking for a computerized version of the board game.

The RTS portion of the game is the guts of the game, and an excellent job is done with the RTS, given the nature of games like these.

Hasbro should either yank the name license or Atari needs to revise this game to closely track the board game, because this version does the board game a serious injustice. In particular, I direct my comments to Messrs. Chaveleh, who are listed as being in charge of the game concept and as executive producers. However, I can recommend the game for the RTS portion.

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