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Squad Leader

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 15 / 17
Date: November 23, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This game had the potential to be a very interesting and exciting product that war gamers could really enjoy. The idea of a strategy game at the squad level is a good one, if done properly. However, the developers have made this game much too cumbersome to maintain the players interest. Instead of considering strategy, the player is relegated to trying to figure out how to interact with it. Not a game I will keep coming back to.

The absolute worst!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 12 / 14
Date: December 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This review is long overdue on my part. If you bought this horrible game before you read this, to you I apologize.

As for the makers of this horrible game, you should go to jail for making this game as terrible as you did. Once again, the computer gaming world steals the title of a great board game in the name of profit. Thanks, you just ruined my favorite board game from being my favorite computer game!

"Squad Leader" was and still is the absolute best BOARD game of Infantry Combat of all time. I am in the US Army Infantry so I THINK I know a thing or two about being an Infantryman.

I will not go into all the details of why the "computer game" sucks. I know this game is targeted toward fans of the "board game", to YOU I say this; this game has nothing to do with the "board game" except in title only. Not only that, "it's stupid"! It was so stupid; I was too embarrassed to give this game away. I threw it away after breaking the disk in two. I would NOT want anyone to play this thinking this is Squad Leader.

One small example of what prompted me to throw this away: When I shot my first German Soldier in the game he cried out saying "mommy"! My God what a tremendous insult to all Soldiers of any nation!!!

To anyone interested in this title I urge you, find the board game which is out of print. You can find it if you look hard enough for it. Don't waste your time even considering this computer game.

To the Computer Game "Makers": What are you doing on your job???? Drinking???? Doing drugs maybe???? Why can't you just make the game like the board game???? If you're not going to do that then DON'T name it after the board game!!!! I wasted my money on this one.

You guys selling this are in for it! I plan to review any game that sucks and post it wherever I can. Maybe if you lose some profits you'll shape up and produce a realistic game for once.

Bottom line: This is a terrible computer simulation of Squad Leader "the board game" a game about Infantry Combat in World War II. Don't waste your money here.

Michael W. McFall
michaelwmcfall@yahoo.com

Hard To Love

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 13 / 16
Date: February 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I'll get to the point - "Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord" by Big Time Software is far closer to the spirit to the original boardgame "Squad Leader" in both playability and realism than this current adaptation. In "Combat Mission" you actually experience the sudden shock on seeing German stormtroopers rising like phantoms from the snow, their burp guns spewing death, you hear the hideous screams of the 88's, and the sickening feeling on finding yourself armed with only a bazooka in the vicinity of angry Tiger. All of this with well-designed units, controls, realistic weapons, easy-to-use 3D sighting, etc. This "Squad Leader" doesn't match up. I've tried it. I mean I want to like it. Really, I spent money on it after all. The soldiers aren't all that distinct once in combat, the sound effects don't cover impacts (no ricochetts, etc.), line-of-sights are strange (example: if you're anywhere in an enemy's LOS, even if you're crawling several hundred feet away, he will see you through the dust, bushes, etc.). My copy crashed repeatedly although this was a relief after awhile. Path-finding is weak, units "disappear" in vegetation, and so on. I want to love this game (for old time's sake), but I doubt I'll play it again. You might like Squad Leader, but try the Combat Mission demo. It rocks.

Squad Leader..NICE BOX, BUT THIS GAME JUST ISN'T HAPPENING!!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: November 18, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game a couple of days ago. I thought it was going to be really fun, but to my mistake it's really complicated and the computer AI takes forever to make it's moves. I'm glad I bought this game from a store where they give you 10 day to play the game and figure out if you wanna keep it. I definatley am goin to return this. I really enjoy playing WW II strategic games, but this game really blows. The graphics are good and the sound is really cool... but don't let that fool you.

The likes of Platoon

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: January 08, 2001
Author: Amazon User

When I first saw this game, I was excited. Since I owned almost every single module of Avalon Hill's Squad Leader and Advanced Squad Leader, the prospect of having a SL/ASL type of game on computer was great. But I became a little sceptical about this game upon reading the numerous "bad" ratings here. A shop owner even recommended Sudden Strike (yes, the original version it is now available in Singapore) instead. Undaunted, I bought the game. I must say I enjoyed it very much. The game play is slow by nature, because it takes time to position your troops. As for comments on the doggy graphics, well, actually the graphics are quite good. Views can be "cut down" so that you can see the platoon sergeant that you sent around the block to flank the enemy. As for difficult controls, I would suggest going through the game's boot camp tutorial to get used to them. After only once through boot camp, I was familiar with the controls; the second time around, I breezed through boot camp without breaking a sweat. And at the end of the mission, surviving units get "promoted" e.g. my platoon sergeant was raised from first line to elite status (because he played a very active role in the mission), while the platoon commander remained the same. These units can be used in the next mission in the campaign. Finally, the only thing I disliked about the game: loading time takes way too long (my system is an AMD Athlon 550, 64 RAM, with a Vodoo3 video card), especially when you made a wrong move and want to reload a previous saved game.

WARNING

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 9
Date: January 04, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If you are a fan of Avalon Hill's Squad Leader DON'T buy this game. It has nothing at all in common with the board game. I bought this game and even before the end of the tutorial, uninstalled it and threw it in the bin. Thanks for nothing Hasbro/Microprose.

Passable Turn-based Tactical Wargame

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: August 04, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The title is certainly misleading. The design has little to do with the classic Squad Leader / Advanced Squad Leader series of board wargames. Old-timers may recall some resemblance to board games like Sniper or Ambush. However, this game lacks the more dramatic role-playing characteristics of Ambush, and is a more straightforward move-and-fire WWII fighting encounter. The graphics and game interface also pale against true state-of-the-art products. Tactical wargame fans may still be interested in playing over this one several times, but long-term replay value is probably not present.

failed attempt, but PLEASE try again!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: September 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Squad leader was the bomb as I was growing up. Believe me, I was elated at the prospect. Unfortunately, the dang thing crashes constantly. It did so on my last system and my new one. It's fairly slow to respond to commands, etc. If it weren't for these technical difficulites, it would be a masterpiece. When it works it's a blast but I've simply given up on playing it at this point and am looking for something new to satisfy my SL crave. Atari (and I know what your name means in Japanese) I have the utmost respect for you, but please try this again. If you make an SL II, as the old but functioning, you will have my money.

Squad Leader by Hasbro Interactive

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: January 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If you're expecting to play the old ASL board game classic by Avalon Hill, you're in the wrong theater of operations. This game plays more along the line of Dungeons & Dragons, where you choose individual fighters, outfit them, and take them into battle...there, their individual ability traits come into play and develop as you advance through a campaign. Once you shift your mental paradigm from ASL into a D&D mode, you find yourself immersed in an intense battle experience staged on the Western Front. I don't buy the criticism that this game's graphics and script seem "stodgy". It's not much different from other games I've played on this level, including Sid Meier's Gettysburg or Shogun Total War. I've seen far worse. The violence level is moderate. There's no blood splattering or gruesome death scenes. If anything, the manual could use some clearing up...but a deep "read me" text file augments the instructions enough to turn every visit to the game into an enjoyable and satisfying war gaming experience. I was pleasantly surprised and would recommend it to anyone who wants to play "army", without goofing around on fantasy soldier-level games like Army Men. This is WWII, down to the man. And, with some of A.H.'s old ASL developers working on the project (you'll see some familiar names in the credits), Squad Leader for computer will only get better. Watch for updates and sequels. But don't wait. Get it now and enjoy the war!

Five stars after v1.1 patch

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: April 12, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Hi,

Before buying this game I seen 20+ review on it. All of them bad :(
And it seemed all the reviews were right, this game does have problems! But did you know the v1.1 patch fixes 90% of the problems? Even the big three crashes
- crash involving artillery fire
- memory leaks which were causing slowdowns and crashes after playing the game for a while.
- crashes to desktop during the game.

After patching, this game rocks! Play American, German or Brits, durning late years of ww2 (44-45).
Random scenarios are great and if your into miniature games like, Easy Eights "Battleground WW2" or Meramic Enterprises "The Face of Battle" You'll feel right at home.

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