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too complicated

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 12
Date: July 20, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I love war strategy games and played clash of steel, panzer general series, etc. countless times, but AOW is just too complicated for me. The interface is busy and there are hundreds of tiny icons. You just can't tell how good or what a unit is without clicking on it. I tried to learn the game twice over a year and couldn't even do the tutorial. I'm sure its good if you can figure out how to play.

This Game is NOT Fun

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 14
Date: August 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

All right. This game is way to complex to be even mildly entertaining. If you can get through one turn--and actually know what you're doing--you've done better than me. The game is hard to follow, hard to understand, and pretty near impossible to enjoy. It's just a poor product.

Unsatisfactory - A complete Failure of a game

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 21
Date: April 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is overrated by the few who play it. If you want a more fun game check out the panzer campaigns or the modern
campaigns by hps simluations.

The Operational Art of War has a terrible interface, terrible game play, even worse support.

If you have XP dont waste your time or money. Incompatible.

Its alright

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 42
Date: June 19, 2000
Author: Amazon User

The Stratagy is very good but graphics are pretty bad.

There is really no strategy involved

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 7
Date: April 12, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game offer a tremendous amount of options on how to play the game, but offers very little overall strategy. There is really no way off truely developing an effective strategy. Units that provide artilery are basically non-effective. Air units seem to get crushed by other air units of equal strenght. Lacks any pre-battle set-up options. Does offer some interesting battles, and plenty of information. A little hard to truely understand. Would be better if there was a tuitorial installed.

Great game but a little complex

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 32 / 33
Date: June 25, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This is the latest package of the "Operational Art of Warfare" from Norm Koger and Talonsoft. Unlike earlier Norm Koger offerings (all fantastic) this one models warfare at a larger overall level, such as a theater level.

The game itself is very minutely modeled and complex. It is somewhat difficult to get into as you simply can't fire it up and start moving units around. The map interface is full of dozens of controls for micromanaging your forces. There is no "tutorial" campaign nor is there a tutorial in the manual, which is not very instructionally written.

However, the game itself is very well made once you learn how to play it. After you get past the learning curve, you will find a construction set, quite a few highly detailed included campaigns, and lots more stuff to be downloaded off the internet. The graphics are not over glittery and distracting (and they have different levels of display options to suit your tastes). The resolution phases of combat are highly detailed and modeled, and the AI may not be Napoleon but you're going to have to work for your victories. And furthermore, since the game sports several multiplayer options, you can face the most difficult adversary of all: That buddy of yours who pleads ignorance of wargames and whipes you from the map in six turns!

This is a true wargamer's delight. A bit complex and with a longer learning curve, but a must have for armchair generals.

Good ROI for anyone.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: September 25, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game really does have it all. If you are a hardcore strategy gamer, you simply cannot get anything better then this: it's what a lot of people have been dreaming about.
That said, they are plenty of rave reviews on this page, who can spell out the good stuff in exhaustive detail. Let me tell you about the downsides.
This game is NOT to difficult to come to grips with, anyone can pick up the basics pretty quickly. However, it is SLOW. The computer resolves moves in minutes, and you better have something else on hand to do while you wait and ponder. For those of use who don't plan on spending an entire night in front of the box (`specially after a day of it at the office), that is a serious (the most serious) downside. The scenarios are simply too big. The Grenada 1984 scenario, recommended previously as a good intro into the game (absolutely true), is sadly alone in smallish, tactical level engagements. Everything else seems to be about Division and Corps level action, with dozens (if not even hundreds!) of counters to control. For me personally, that's a little too much most of the time.
What this game needs is simple: MORE TACTICAL SCENARIOS. Basically anything you can play in an hour flat. Hopefully, some of the gognards that pump out new scenarios on the web will understand this and make some more tactical (instead theater) scenarios.
All this said, the game is definetly worth the price. Some of the larger scenarios (i.e. Korea 1999) are certainly playable on their own right, if you have the time. Also, it's simply a GREAT PRODUCT with incredible attention to detail. The only downside to this product is simply, that for some of us, it can simply be a little too much like work sometimes. But only sometimes. Buy this product.

For all those dusty Avalon Hill games on your shelf...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: October 15, 2002
Author: Amazon User

That you bought and never got to play because none of your friends could understand why it would be fun to spend 20-30 hours refighting the breakout from St. Lo. TOAW brings back the strategy of turn-based games as opposed to whack-a-mole stuff like C&C.

Not for everyone; as Steven Wright said, "One mile equals one mile" when you play this game. Defend the Korean peninsula and you'll feel like you spent three years playing the scenario. But if you remember those Avalon Hill wargames, this is definitely for you.

Exciting Total Management of Warfare, Yet AI ...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: July 20, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This has been the most challenging strategy games I played so far. For human player side, its weight on logistics and balance between the overall control vs. local concentration, and tradeoff between occupation of strategic locations(either defined by the score or simply indeed by the battle condition) vs. destruction of enemy forces(/conservation of friendly forces) --- is very well designed and applausible. The only setback I felt is the AI of my computer opponent: it is too conservative and hence easy to be outflanked(and then be encircled and destroyed if you have locally superior force). The game is still challenging but that comes from the management of your own resources as I mentioned before. I would appreciate a better AI. (for example, the AI of Close Combat II - A Bridge Too Far was good and aggressive.)

Wargamer's treat

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 39 / 43
Date: October 24, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Most wargamers look at a game as an investment. They know that a truly exceptional game will require large amounts of time, and they want the game to be able to hold up its end of the deal. TOAW:CW is no exception. Once installed, you'll be able to play some of the smaller scenarios immediately (the US invasion of Grenada is a fun one). Once you get used to the incredible level of detail here, such as the combat resolution calculations, you'll be ready to tackle larger scenarios, such as a civil war in the US - in the year 2008.

The game includes data on units and weapons from about 1880 or so to modern day, so WWI scenarios are included as is a hypothetical invasion of Yugoslavia in 1999. In fact, there are a number of "forgotten" battles (like Attu Island) and hypotheticals (Invasion of Cuba during the missile crisis in 1962), which is quite refreshing.

If you're looking for a wargame to occupy you for several weeks, lots of replayability, and a high degree of accuracy, this is it. There's a few glitches: the game runs problematically on some older CD drives (the latest patch helps a little), and a few other quirks, but overall, it's one of the best choices you can make.

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