Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes is the latest in a long line of excellent games by the franchise that invented the stealth shooter. It is one of the prequels to the original Metal Gear game and is a sequel to Peace Walker. Gamers play the role of Big Boss (voiced by Kiefer Sutherland), who has been sent to Cuba to extract Cipher agent Pacifica Ocean and Sandinista child soldier Ricardo Libre, both of whom were key to the plot in Peace Walker.
Ground Zeroes stays true to the Metal Gear stealth formula, yet it also includes some variations. Players can sneak about, ducking danger and achieving their objectives with nary a shot, or they can tackle their missions head-on with guns blazing. The new feature Konami calls “open world” offers a variety of ways in which to do this. Want to fly in on a chopper or jump into the action on a dirt bike? Go ahead!
Now, for the first time in a Metal Gear game, players can also choose the order in which they carry out missions. No more moving from point A to point B with little chance to shake things up. While players likely will end up at the same place, how they get there can be wildly different – and that makes for a good time!
Nuklear Winter ’68: Heart of Darkness is an expansion for the Nuklear Winter ’68 board game based on an alternate history in which the United States ended Germany’s participation in World War II by dropping several nuclear bombs on the Reich. Years later, the remnants of Germany’s army emerge from underground shelters to battle America, the Soviet Union, and strange mutants called the Black Hand.
Heart of Darkness throws into this crazy mix a new mounted map, fresh counter sheets, 10 additional scenarios, a faction called the White Hand, and several new types of units. Heroes, biped weapons platforms (Mechs) and huge blobbish creatures all make an appearance. The heroes are especially fun since each comes with its own special talent, ranging from the ability to raise the dead to the gift of pyrokinesis.
All these thrilling features and many more are crammed into this challenging game that lets players try their hand at combined arms skirmishes in the late 1960s.
Hunted Cow Studios and Lordz Game Studio jump into the fray with Tank Battle: East Front 1941. Utilizing the same engine birthed in Tank Battle 1944, this iPad game puts players in the midst of tanks, infantry, mortars and rocket launchers on World War II’s Eastern Front, where they fight their way through turn-based campaigns in an effort to emerge victorious.
East Front 1941 is easy to play. For instance, simply tap a tank and then tap a target, and the tank fires and the target is blasted. Tactics, however, also play a role. Gamers can soften enemy positions with mortars and artillery, flank enemy tanks for easy shots, and close with flamethrower squads to finish off the opposing force. Attractive and cheap ($2.99), East Front 1941 is worth a try.
Mark H. Walker is a retired U.S. Navy commander and the author of over 40 books, including three novels. Read his insights into gaming, writing and living at overdaedge.blogspot. com or markhwalker.com.
Originally published in the November 2014 issue of Armchair General.
