Review: DEFCON: Everybody Dies
Few subjects can inspire as much fear and fascination as the threat of all-out nuclear war. Ever since Oppenheimer uttered his famous quote "I am become death, the destroyer of worlds" the world has lived in constant fear of total thermonuclear annihilation. And rightly so: such a conflict would result in the deaths of billions and would end human civilization as we know it. As such, few have looked at the potential entertainment factor of such an event. The question is obvious: what possible fun could there be in simulating a global nuclear holocaust?
Known for innovative titles such as Darwinia and Uplink, Introversion Software is the kind of company that not only would tackle the issue of making global thermonuclear war entertaining but actually succeeds in doing so. Defcon is a magnificent creation that is undoubtedly a dark horse contender for best multiplayer game of the year.
Ready Stations
PROTIP: Mixing fleets may be tactically advantageous: carriers are sitting ducks without battleship support.
There are six playable sides in Defcon--the USSR, South Asia, North America, South America, Africa, and Europe--and each is vying to nuke the other nations back into the Stone Age, all the while keeping their own casualties down to a minimum. Surviving a nuclear war is not an easy feat to accomplish, especially when several hundred nukes are being thrown about in any given game. Thankfully, even in the hectic moments of an all-out nuclear assault players won't feel themselves drowning in a fit of micromanagement - the game interface, much like its premise, is deceptively simple.
Games start off at Defcon 5 and during this phase, you place your silos and units onto the playing field. The game clock slowly begins to wind down and the Defcon level begins to drop. Your units can engage in battle or survey your enemy's territory but it isn't until the game hits Defcon 1 that things get crazy: you can start to launch your nuclear arsenal at one another and things rapidly heat up as the nukes begin to fly.
Using fighters for scouting is crucial for disabling enemy radar or anti-missile defenses.
Thankfully, players are only required to handle a handful of radar stations, airbases, and nuclear silos, along with three types of naval vessels - battleships, carriers, and submarines. The lack of unit variety may make the game seem simple at first glance, but dig a little deeper and you'll find a surprising amount of tactical depth lurking underneath. Players will quickly find that the tools they've been given are often not enough to effectively defend all of their territory. They must then make the toughest choice a world leader who is embroiled in full-scale nuclear conflict must make: do you concentrate all defenses on the most densely populated areas or attempt to spread everything out in order to defend every possible angle of attack?
It's choices like these that elevate the game to a whole new level, especially if you keep in mind the real-world implications of your actions. There's nothing quite like the thrill of ordering an attack on the city where you physically reside and wondering what it would be like if a missile were actually screaming towards your living room.
PROTIP: Missile launches tend to curve to the north; cover the northern approaches with anti-missile defense.
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