War Mines: WW1

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The better of the two War Mines games, in my humble opinion. I'm very fond of the World War 1 setting and am an advocate for seeing more games using it as a setpiece rather than it's older brother World War 2. This game used it very well, even going past the previous game by including trivia alongside the gameplay. While on the topic of gameplay, I don't really have much to say since it is just Minesweeper. However, like War Mines WW2, it's at least more interesting than normal Minesweeper variants due to some of the unique level layouts.

Extremely Nice Mine Sweeper!! Easy Achievements, 100% / 35min.

Short, simple, sweet. Brief history lesson. No complaints.

I mean it's kind of neat, but not really any better of a history lesson than you probably got in history class, and not really a better minesweeper game than the copy that comes with windows. The History: Mostly just a flat recitation of the war's start, mentions of notable battles and relevant technological developments, and a whole lot of numbers & dates (the worst way to present history). The cinematics and especially the soundscape help immersion and lend a little gravitas, but ultimately the game has no voice of its own about the war, and its treatment is rather dry. At any rate, it was slightly more engaging than the lecture I got in high school. The Gameplay: If you can handle Minesweeper on beginner, you're all set. There's little need to exercise deductive reasoning in any level, and the situations where there really would be a 50/50 choice, there's a 'hint' button usually resolves it for free. Sorely missing is the ability to double-click on a solved tile and auto-click all the surrounding unflagged squares, which makes racing the timer a little tiresome. While some of the levels have non-rectangular shapes, this doesn't really do much to make the minesweeping any more interesting. And while the initial levels feel like they're building to a level of interconnection between gameplay and history, where soldiers immediately march right past a field you've swept, this never leads to anything either. Very soon you're just sweeping fields and random decorative buildings pop up where you've cleared for no reason -- just for the sake of something happening I guess. Your minesweeping only ever serves to advance a "cutscene" and some more token history facts. I got all the achievements on my first pass without any special effort, so if that's something you're looking for, that's a plus. Overall War Mines is a competent game, and a decent history lesson, but it's not quite where I'd recommend it.

It scratches the itch for Minesweeper lovers to play more Minesweeper. I really like the idea of telling history through this kind of media. My only complaint would be it's too short for it's price.

This game fixes the main problem with the previous War Mines title. The minesweeper boards are larger so you aren't reliant on getting multiple lucky guesses in a row. It's also less expensive. Does have some grammar errors in the historical descriptions, but nothing horrendous. No replay value-once you've played it you've seen all there is. For future entries, adding a re-playable basic minesweeper game with a theme based on the setting would be nice. Could also try adding some new mechanics to minesweeper based on the wartime setting.