Release Date: 1996-08-31
Developer/Publisher: SSI/SSI
Genres: Strategy,Retro
Platforms: PC Games
Rifles kicks off in 1846, when the rifled gun barrel first allowed soldiers to fire with greater accuracy and at longer distances. The massed formations of the Napoleonic era were coming to an end, since charges could now be met with a deadly hail of accurate fire. But tactics hadn't caught up with technology, and generals still clung to obsolete military doctrine. The result was a bloodbath such as the United States suffered in the Civil War, with disproportionately high casualties. These same tactical transformations were going on throughout the world, as Europe tore itself on the teeth of Teutonic aggression, the British tried to hold together their far-flung empire, and the Russians and Japanese battled for Manchuria. Aside from the American Civil War, the current epoch isn't given much attention, and as the last technological upheaval before the age of armor, it deserves it.
Koger's approach to rifled warfare is superb. The engine for Rifles puts the user in as much - or as little - control as he or she could possibly want. From the start, there's an attention to small details. The graphics and sounds are sharp (though they are sharper in Steel Panthers), and three different sets of unit icons are offered: military symbols (à la paper wargames), "miniatures" featuring little men on stands, and a separate set of little guys without stands. The player has access to detailed information on each unit, from the number ofmen to the make and model of their weapons. Careful modeling is done on command, morale, strength, and other important factors, combined and represented as a "wallop factor" that designates how hard and well a unit can attack.
Rifles kicks off in 1846, when the rifled gun barrel first allowed soldiers to fire with greater accuracy and at longer distances. The massed formations of the Napoleonic era were coming to an end, since charges could now be met with a deadly hail of accurate fire. But tactics hadn't caught up with technology, and generals still clung to obsolete military doctrine. The result was a bloodbath such as the United States suffered in the Civil War, with disproportionately high casualties. These same tactical transformations were going on throughout the world, as Europe tore itself on the teeth of Teutonic aggression, the British tried to hold together their far-flung empire, and the Russians and Japanese battled for Manchuria. Aside from the American Civil War, the current epoch isn't given much attention, and as the last technological upheaval before the age of armor, it deserves it.
Koger's approach to rifled warfare is superb. The engine for Rifles puts the user in as much - or as little - control as he or she could possibly want. From the start, there's an attention to small details. The graphics and sounds are sharp (though they are sharper in Steel Panthers), and three different sets of unit icons are offered: military symbols (à la paper wargames), "miniatures" featuring little men on stands, and a separate set of little guys without stands. The player has access to detailed information on each unit, from the number ofmen to the make and model of their weapons. Careful modeling is done on command, morale, strength, and other important factors, combined and represented as a "wallop factor" that designates how hard and well a unit can attack.
