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Wii Game Review: Military Madness |
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Written by Rancour
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Monday, 23 April 2007 |
There are few that remember the short lived glory days of the Turbo Grafx 16, a onetime competitor to the NES and Genesis consoles. However, with the release of some of the system’s classic games on the Wii’s Virtual Console, millions can discover what they were missing when it died an early death. One of those games, the early strategy simulation game Military Madness, released by Hudson in 1989 was one of the earliest and, at its time, best simulation games on the market. While today there are dozens of amazing games in the genre, Military Madness was one of the first ones to do it truly well.
At the time of its release, there were very few similar options for strategy simulation games. The genre was immensely popular on board games, games like Risk, but hadn’t yet reached into the console game field yet. Military Madness was a revelation then, and despite being nearly 20 years old, still stands up fairly well on the Wii’s Virtual Console.
Graphically, it’s as simple as they come. Taking place in a futuristic World War II setting, the game is full of tiny sprites that look awful familiar with various futuristic tweaks. There are not any special flares to visual presentation though, and generally like most games in the genre, the graphics are not meant to do anything more than show you what’s going on. The same goes for the music, generally forgettable, there to serve a purpose more than wow the gamer.
However, what has so many classic gamers excited and makes this a must download for all simulation fans is the game play. Even in the early days of 16 bit gaming, in 1989, Military Madness had it done right. It plays on the standard hexagonal board based system, meaning the screen is made of a grid, on which you move your units a certain number of spaces towards your enemies and when in range, attack. It was one of the first to introduce terrain advantages, behind advantages, and any number of other features that are standard today in games like Advance Wars. In fact, one might claim this to be the main precursor to the success of Advance Wars, a very similar outing with many of the same features.
One thing to keep in mind is that this game is incredibly hard. Like many simulations you will die repeatedly in the process of completing a level, and for some people that’s a turn off, but for everyone else it’s just that much more of a challenge. Military Madness is a must download for anyone who’s ever played and loved Advance Wars. It’s well worth your $6. For everyone else, don’t spend your money unless you’re sure you want a classic simulation game that will leave you frustrated and angry. You’d better have the tenacity to keep at it if you’re going to play this classic. |
