I owned CONFLICT EUROPE for my Amiga 500, not long after its initial 1989 release, so was pleased to see it available on STEAM.
This strategy game centres upon tensions between the NATO Alliance and Warsaw Pact during the Cold War. It contains 5 scenarios, which may be played as either side, and is simple to play. Indeed, much of the game is spent on a single screen, a virtual War Room, with a series of terminals to access various commands.
The main screen displays a map of Europe with the units (represented as coloured squares) already in position. Each turn has 3 phases which are always followed in strict order - Movement, Assault and Rebuild - and every turn represents a single day of combat.
Moving a unit consists of merely selecting it and placing it in an adjacent space. All units, with the exception of a Russian Paratroop Division on its first turn only, may move one square. Once we are satisfied with our force disposition we are allowed to assault adjacent enemies, this time by selecting our unit and then the one we wish to fight. Long range firepower is not present here! Battles are resolved, casualties inflicted and any eliminated units immediately removed from the map. Troops either remain in place or are sometimes forced into a retreat. Next comes the Rebuild phase. Here we add points - either ARM (strength), AIR (airborne support) or SUP (supplies) - up to a maximum of 9. Obviously the higher these numbers then the more likely a unit is to win a combat. ARM and AIR points are only lost in battle and SUP is reduced by a single point every time a unit moves. If ARM is reduced to 0 then the unit is permanently lost and units with no SUP are unable to move until re-supplied.
The row of terminals along the bottom of the screen give information on Europe's civilian population and current radiation levels - which will spike during a nuclear strike - as well as special missions (such as counter air and supply dump demolition) carried out by Commando forces. We can send and receive diplomatic messages (anything from offering ceasefires and surrendering (which effectively ends the game in defeat) to threatening nuclear attacks) and deploy our air force on a series of missions from air superiority to various air strikes. AS in real life, gaining air superiority is usually a must as here it allows our forces to gain the initiative and move first each turn it is achieved. Air points can be added or subtracted to each mission every turn if desired, although those taken off duty can only be added again the next turn.
An important terminal gives us 30 fire-plans to launch ranged, battlefield or cruise missiles and adopt reflex strikes automatically should an enemy fire nuclear warheads of their own. These are directed at either units, cities, airfields or supply dumps. Of course, the nuclear option should always be a last resort as it is likely to end the game with the total destruction of Humanity!
Finally, a teleprinter will display messages to help judge how the conflict is proceeding.
Graphically the game is adequate and has no gimmicky "battle animations" to slow things down. Units are colour coded (red for Warsaw Pact, blue for NATO and yellow for neutral armies) and will flash during combat to show which are fighting. Sound consists of various beeps when moving troops and during missile attacks so is rather basic. There is not even a soundtrack or in-game music.
The game was created for 16-bit machines decades ago and comes to STEAM untouched and free of remastering, complete with original flaws. Fans of the original like me will enjoy the nostalgia value but it is rather shallow with bare-bones strategic elements and nowhere near as complex as many of the strategy games I own on the PC. This is not necessarily a bad thing, however, as the ease of use makes it an ideal entry-level wargame for people with little or no experience with the genre.
There are problems however, especially stemming from the AI, which tends to follow a strict pattern no-matter which scenario is played. Pact units tend to simply advance while NATO troops defend and stay in their original positions even if the entire Pact army retreats back to Russia. (I should know, as I have tried this tactic!) Neutral armies always remain stationary too, ensuring they seem a waste of time since they never attack and destroying them serves no viable purpose.
In all 5 scenarios the units are placed in only a couple of set positions, ensuring we seem to be playing the same game with only minor changes. It is not possible to select starting positions or have random distributions, which would have at least helped replay value of the product.
Teleprinter messages are extremely limited and often are displayed several times during a single campaign. They do not necessarily correspond to the given situation, either, (As previously mentioned, when playing as the Warsaw Pact, I once decided to move my entire army back to Russia without bloodshed yet the printed messages still insisted that the NATO forces were in retreat and Pact forces had captured key locations!)
Sometimes units are not eliminated even when their ARM rating reaches 0, allowing them to continue the fight and be reinforced "back from the dead" the following turn. Hovering the mouse over a city shows its population as 10 million citizens regardless of which or where it is, so according to the game London, Paris, Berlin, Moscow and the like are all seemingly identical.
The score system seems kaput as well. It is possible to suddenly surrender for no reason, even when in a winning position, and gain a 30% score, while a nuclear winter liable to destroy our race can receive a 40% rating. Perhaps the game developers are trying to tell us something?!
Despite all these problems, CONFLICT EUROPE is still fun to play and retains a certain charm. The game can be played extremely quickly once we learn the mechanics and even with many staple strategy elements missing (morale and different weapon types, for instance) it is a game I keep returning to time after time!
