Reseñas

• gamedeal user

  Aug 24, 2020

  So this is a defence of the game as it stands (late summer 2020). And to perhaps save a few people who are expecting a smooth, polished, tactical wargame from being disappointed. First of all - Wow. As a historian, as a strategy gamer, as someone who loves in-depth and challenging games, and as someone with even a passing interest in the American Civil War....just wow. This game includes so many levels of the war from setting government policies, through to logistics, supply, recruitment, as well as detailed and challenging tactical battles, and much MUCH more. The depth to which a player CAN go if they so choose is impressive. Here is an example just on recruitment - only one of the many many levels of this game. March 1862, I recruit 2 fresh brigades of infantry to the Army of Northern Virginia. That can be as simple as opening up the Order of Battle, choosing which division/s to edit, and selecting the state from which to recruit them (allowing for availability of recruits). HOWEVER, you can also choose which commander to assign to the new brigade - even promoting a plucky colonel mentioned in the newspapers. Perhaps you are desperate for manpower now, so select from the pool of draftees in Virginia? No, Georgia has plenty of volunteers, it will just take longer for them to get there, but they will have higher morale, and Virginia won't thank you for drafting too many of its citizens. But no grey or butternut for these gents, light blue trousers and red tunics because it amuses me to have half a division of "redcoats" on the field. Damn, the rest of the division they will be joining are armed with old muskets and are understrength as well. I'll merge the veteran brigades together and reequip them with Enfield rifles. There, very cool. Oh dear, the Yankee IV corp is marching on Manassass and one of my frontline divisions now has only 1 veteran brigade in its OOB with 2 green brigades more than a fortnight away.... It goes far further than that. To truly appreciate the depth and scale of this game, before you buy I would STRONGLY recommend you watch some Youtube videos of playthroughs to see if this game is for you. The main thing to note is that this game is a PERFECT example of what Early Access should and could be on Steam. This is a game created by a tiny development team (I think there are 3 lads working on it), of a depth and scale of detail that is amazing, and filled with potential. What is currently here is, admittedly, buggy but it is an Early Access title - you buy into it to support the game's development. The team is active in the discussion groups on steam, engaging with the players and working hard to produce patches and hotfixes alongside the development. For the more casual tactical player, this game offers historical battles and a tactical level for battles on the campaign map but in all honestly, there is nothing "casual" about this game. In battle orders take time to reach units - if the brigade is out of bugle range you see messengers galloping from the general's staff to the relevant brigade. Perhaps one of your division commanders is feuding with his corp commander and thinks he knows best, marching his division off contrary to the player's wishes. All this takes time and is contrary to the experience of many recent tactical wargames where players are used to instantaneous responses from their individual units. Its fun, its deep, its frustrating, and not easy to pick up. TLDR: This is a great game with awesome potential for in-depth wargamers. However, it is Early Access. It is still in development from a small studio who is using Early Access as a means of playtesting and supporting their development (almost like it is meant to be used). * Want an easy, quick to pick up, and simple wargame? This probably is not for you. * Enjoy in-depth and challenging wargames at multiple strategic, operational, and tactical levels? If you are happy to help support the development of one then get it. Now. Want a smooth, finished product? Then stick it on your wishlist and wait. EDIT After another 200+ hours in this game. I broadly maintain this original review with an additional emphasis that you probably need to be someone that enjoys seeing the development if you want to get it now, pre-release. A number of unhappy buyers seem to take offence at the pace and pattern of development. Let me state its a VERY small studio who are prioritising the bugs and issues their early access players are coming up with, as well as responding to and often implementing some changes the players suggest. If you want to be along for the development ride and simply cannot wait for full release get it. If you are still not sure, check out recent YouTube videos and get a feel for it all. It has a steep learning curve so that 2 hours limit for a Steam refund won't even scratch the surface of the depth and strategy this game can offer.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 27, 2020

  So let me start by saying I am a Civil War historian. My job is running a Civil War museum. I have been in the field for 20 years. I started Civil War gaming back in the early/mid 90's with games like No Greater Glory and Civil War General. Then I played Civil War Generals 2, and games like AGEOD Civil War, Ultimate General Civil War, and a number of other titles. This is a good Strategic and Tactical Civil War game but it feels a little incomplete. I know the developers are working on it, and I hope they do make some changes. I LIKE: 1) Building your own Order of Battle for your armies; that's a great feature and it's easy to do with drop and drag from one group to another or to create new units. 2) Being able to shape national policies towards recruitment, foreign relations, slavery, financing, the draft, etc. It brings a real sense that you are somewhat in control of financial policy for your side. 3) The look of the game, from the map to the leader icons really gives a great feel for the Civil War. 4) The fact that the Navy is included at all is great and it is certainly needed. I DISLIKE: 1) I think you should have more control over recruiting units. When you recruit, there are 4 types of units to recruit; Infantry brigade at 3000 men, Cavalry brigade at 2500 men, Artillery battalion at 350 men, and a Horse Artillery Battalion at 350 men. In addition, the computer randomly assigns a leader for the unit. I think you should be able to select how many men you want in your brigade (from say, 2000-4000 or for artillery 200-500 men) and you should also be able to pick a Commander to begin with. After formation, you can pick another commander, but I think you should be able to chose one upon formation. 2) Retreat distances are ridiculous. If a unit is defeated, it retreats for DAYS. In one of my games, one of the Corps from the Army of the Potomac (Union) retreated almost to Philadelphia before it stopped. Just...NO. In another game as the CS, the Charleston Squadron was defeated in a battle off the coast of South Carolina and they retreated up river and ended up in...Chattanooga. Yes, in a river they shouldn't have even been allowed to be in. 3.) Limited Battle Maps- While the Civil War battlefield maps are really neat, there are only a few of them (or so it seems). So you could fight a battle near Pittsburgh but the battlefield map will be Manassas, Virginia. More battle maps are needed and wanted. 4.) Better battle mechanics on the tactical maps. Half the time, my units (brigades) don't follow my orders or if they do, it takes 30-45 mins to execute a movement order or they just stop, or go the other direction. Talk about frustrating. SUGGESTIONS: 1.) So, in line with the political policies and options, I'd love to have an option where YOU are able to appoint members of your cabinet (since you are playing as the President of your country). Lincoln had some real issues picking Simon Cameron as his Sec of War to start with, and he had to be replaced with the much more effective Edwin M. Stanton. Jefferson Davis went through like 4-5 Secretaries of War in 4 years. There should be regional or state bonuses for picking certain politicians, or negative effects if you don't pick certain politicians for certain roles. I would say picking a cabinet of 5- Treasury, State, War, Navy, and "Special Adviser" to the President. There are all sorts of added bonuses or penalties you could get from this and I don't think it would be difficult to add. 2.) Add more battle maps and cut down on the retreating distances. 3.) Add options to customize the size and leaders of your brigades/battalions. 4.) SAVE GAME OPTIONS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. You can exit but then the game doesn't seem to want to let you continue so you can't play more than one game at a time. That's frustrating too. WRAP UP: This is one of the BETTER overall Civil War Games I've played, and I think I've played them all the last 25 years or so. It does need some improvement and some changes made to be a GREAT game. Right now, I'd give it 6.5 out of 10, but with some changes, it could be a 9 or a 9.5 out of 10. Really excited to see what happens with updates. Oh and nice soundtrack...wish you could add another dozen songs.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 12, 2021

  GT:CW is a good game and a good value. I like the flavor, immersion and the overall feel of the game. It offers a very interesting  strategic and tactical overview of the ACW. Here are my observations: Pros: *Overall Game Play. Its fun and interesting. *Maps are well done and immersive. *The strategic layer (graphics) are well done. *Logistics are well done. *Detail of personalities, weapons, etc., are really well done.  *The game is quite detailed in many ways which yields immersion. All aspects of the war are represented. Naval, Political, etc.. *Good replay value. Many policy decisions that can change game parameters for interesting game play. Dynamic Tactical Maps, makes playing on the same tactical maps different for each battle. Cons: *The AI. Strategic and tactical game play is decent but the game is not as challenging as one would wish in some cases. *Tactical/Battle Graphics. I think the graphics are serviceable but they are definitely not cutting edge. It did not detract from my experience but it will be a turn off for some if looking for a Total War type experience. *Game anomalies. There are some weird bugs. EX: In my first playthru as CSA, I never saw a single enemy Union Calvary brigade in a tactical battle. I did not encounter anything game breaking though. *Naval aspect of the game needs a great deal of work. Ex: As CSA, I parked gunboat squadrons on several key river junctions and never saw a single Union Gunboat. Overall all its a thumbs up for me. I hope the dev continues working on the game. It really is a masterpiece in many ways. Just needs some more TLC. Edit: Added "In my first playthru as CSA..." Editorial Note: One thing you will notice on the forums is a host of comments about the lack of control over units, economics, commanders, etc., in the game. Be advised that many aspects of the game are a bit nebulous and more "shoot from the hip" vs. an exact science. This is especially true with the economy and naval combat. Not everything is well explained and some of learning GT:CW will be trial and error and based on "feeling" rather than exerting exact control over everything.
• gamedeal user

  Aug 22, 2020

  First of all let me say it is in early access. I'm sure some of what I'm about to say will be fixed in the future. Pros : +++ Authenticity - It feels like 1861 when you play this game. A lot of love went into this game. The overview map is just fantastic. So many minor details, and things that you can customize. Plus, there are little tidbits of history added in. When I saw the main menu I really felt like this is finally the Civil War game I've been wanting. I'm not going to spoil it for you, but safe to say its already the best Civil War game available right now. Cons : --- The game offers you several points of information as a tutorial. You need it. This is probably the most unintuitive game I've ever played. Issuing commands is laborious and agonizing. --- This game is in definite need of optimization. Close up map screen and battle screens are sluggish. No its not my system. --- Officer replacement screen bugs out quite often. If your trying to replace a officer the selection window will simply go blank every so often. Restart fixes it untill it happens again. Just a few of the problems I've encountered playing the game. Again it's EA so most of these and others will be fixed I'm sure. The dev's seem to truly love what they have created. I highly recommend this game if you are a fan of the Civil War or history, or strategy games in general. Just realize that there are some issues, give these guys a chance to fix them and this game will be great.
• gamedeal user

  Aug 23, 2020

  I do not review often (I think I have maybe two other reviews) because I generally agree with the crowd-sourced reviews and prefer playing to writing evaluations (I'm a lawyer IRL so I get enough evaluating other people's work in my day job). But this game has so much potential--merely needing funding and active community support to prosper--that I have put aside my laziness to try and provide some context. Below in the comments you will find my original review and updates as I play through the game. Immediately below you will find my current buy/sell status for the game as of the last review update, which I will update as I play and the game develops. I hope you find this information helpful. CURRENT STATUS: *Developer Responsiveness: the small development team is CONSTANTLY online taking questions, addressing bugs, and providing support. Several patches have come out already addressing major game-breaking bugs. They are using Early Access the way it is supposed to be used--for public beta testing. *Historical Battles: functional and fun. I still prefer Ultimate General at this stage for real-time battles, but its getting close. *Campaigns: 1861 is broken, 1862 and 1863 are playable but still very buggy. *Overall: Buy or Wishlist If you want to provide financial support to some very capable and ambitious developers: buy now. If you want to have involvement in building what could be the best American Civil War game ever: buy now. If you enjoy historical battles, with some bugs, and don't mind waiting for a polished campaign: buy now. If you like the concept but want a polished product free of bugs, or object to funding a developer through their beta testing, then wishlist and keep an eye on development. At this stage, the only people I suggest move on entirely (i.e. 'sell') are those who are looking for a very simple wargame because even with auto-management functions this is going to be a very complex game. Of course, for those—like me—who are looking for a complex experience, this is shaping up to be THE best ACW game ever, and one of the best wargames period.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 7, 2021

  kinda like HOI and total war had a baby.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 20, 2023

  If I had a nickel for every time I defeated a Confederate army that then retreated north through all of Ohio through two more of my armies, before completely reinforcing in the middle of Lake Erie and then coming back to invade Cleveland, I'd have two whole nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it's happened twice. The building system is useless, you will watch the AI teleport across entire states and ford rivers straight through an entire squadron of your gunboats, you will watch 3,000 men starve to death in the middle of Philadelphia because the supply system is hot garbage, and the AI will manage to tie down 80,000 of your soldiers in a battle for six months using less than a tenth of that. The game has so many great features, but it's like one step forward, two steps back because every good feature goes hand in hand with something just mindbogglingly stupid or hopelessly broken. In my latest game, the Confederacy was two billion in debt with no credit, before proceeding to glitch their army morale, raise 400,000 men, and then drown me in angry bulletproof rednecks. The naval system is decent, but also completely useless. Blockading every single AI port has no tangible effect nor will it stop them from zerg-rushing a squadron of ironclads with several dozen tender boats with a cannon duct taped to the bow (and winning). Controlling the rivers and coast doesn't do anything, nor will it stop the AI from sailing right through your entire navy to randomly invade New York with 50,000 dudes while you're preoccupied with burning Richmond to the ground. I really want to like this game, because it's very ambitious about portraying the Civil War to a level of detail that no other game has, but it's simply too busted to like right now. The less said about optimization, UI, and performance, the better.
• gamedeal user

  May 24, 2022

  This but set during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars would be legendary. I can't wait for Grand Tactician: Napoleon!
• gamedeal user

  Sep 25, 2021

  I really wanna love this game, it is everything I want in a Civil War Grand Strategy game. But they dropped 1.0 way to damn early, this game needs a huge QoL update. All the tiny little annoyances that add up to major frustration long term, I will gladly change my review if they overhaul the way you interact/manage your army and fleets. (managing armies and fleets is much easier now) Alright we are getting closer guys but it seems the past few updates have made combat unbareable; ive had units lose behind cover to units with no cover (i was to annoyed at this point to check why so maybe it was gear and unit size but still), ive built defenses only for them to be completely bugged and unuseable, units will refuse to move without showing their back to the enemy (sometimes), cannons are easier to understand why they won't shoot but good lord good luck getting them to shoot unless you use bombardment (Line of Sight needs tweaking, ive had cannons clearly above my infantry only for them to just idle), LET ME USE FALLBACK OR ADVANCE REGARDLESS OF WHICH WAY THE UNIT IS FACING WTF. Can Unit Cohesion and Rallying of troops be a little more user friendly please!! I hate that my units are basically out of the fight if they get to far away. Some Pros since ive harped pretty hard on a decent game: overall the combat is a lot harder even if it is annoying sometimes (recommend using an open grassland for your combat, trees and any obstacles can really make things tedious). The AI seriously knows how to exploit any weaknesses in your line and will hammer down. Ultimately this game deserves your money but i'd recommend holding off on playing a bit longer, hopefully the devs keep up the solid updates.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 25, 2021

  While I am only too aware that the "point" of this game is to give a much fuller experience than that of most "war-only" games, I must say that I found the clunkiness of the tactical combat screens to be SO off-putting as to bury the VERY well done pieces outside of that, in garbage. I can play and enjoy this game very much UNTIL fighting a combat. Five minutes into a battle, I'm DONE with it for months. As a new game, I would have expected it to have at LEAST the fluidity and the intuitive control afforded by ten year to twenty year old Total War games. Sadly, it does not. I'd suggest a merger with the folks making Ultimate General: Civil War. THEIR battle screens and YOUR background story-line material, and you'd have the absolute BEST Civil War game ever made.