Review: DEFCON: Everybody Dies
Never leave submarines alone. Land defenses will rip them apart if they are caught in launch mode.
Nukes aside, even the maneuvering of your more mundane units requires you to keep a careful eye on strategy. Take the naval arm of your army, for instance. Aircraft carriers are tremendously versatile offensive units, as they can launch aircraft, attack enemy vessels, and launch nukes. However, they must also pull double duty to defend against submarine attacks. Players will often have to make tough decisions on how to deploy their carriers - should you keep them close to your shores in search of a potential submarine attack, or should they move forward in order to launch direct attacks on the enemy? Regardless of what you do, it'd better be the right choice because the consequences can be dire: millions of lives, virtual as they may be, are on the line.
Shall We Play A Game?
While players can cut their teeth on AI opponents in single-player, the real meat of the game lies in its extremely well-crafted multiplayer option. Much like real-world politics, backstabbing and secret, backroom deals are the name of the game. Players will revel in the devious coordinated attacks they can concoct with allies, and of course, when the opportunity presents itself, they can deliver an underhanded nuclear broadside against their former compatriots.
When your opponent launches nukes hit his silos first. Then you can hit his cities without interference.
A useful chat system allows you to broker deals and Introversion includes several different game modes to mix up the gameplay. Especially useful is the Office Mode which allows you to indulge in a little inter-office destruction with the aid of a boss key-- just hit ESC twice and the game hides itself away, so you won't catch any flack from whatever Lumbergh happens to be walking past your cubicle.
Defcon also offers several other highly entertaining game modes such as Diplomacy, which begins with all players starting on the same alliance-- when and how the war starts depends on the players. A climate of unease quickly sets in as you begin to forge secret alliances and grow increasingly paranoid about who is out to get you.
Big World mode is also interesting, as everything is made twice as large. It's not for the faint of heart as the scale of the conflict and the forces involved are increased to keep pace. But, if the default options and game modes don't suit your mood, you can simply make a new one-- almost every option can be changed with a few clicks.
If your airbases run out of nuclear missiles you can redeploy bombers onto carriers.
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