Dai Senryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics

"You'll Love it or You'll Hate it"

Dai Senryaku (Grand Strategy in Japanese) is a complex strategy game based on real life military units from Israel, France, Japan, US, UK, Germany, China, and Russia. The game looks just like a board game, with hexes of many terrain types, each with complex rules regarding pieces.

Graphics:
If graphics make or break a game, run away from this one. Units are all colored blue, red, yellow, or green based on the army you chose (not the country). Considering that they are the most important part of the game, I expected the tanks, fighters, submarines, etc. to be much more detailed than they were. One major disappointment for me early on in the game was when I was playing as the U.S. I saw the cool, stealthy, black Nighthawk plane in the production menu and immediately decided to buy one. However, the piece for it was a big blue plane that looked just like the others. If you enjoy this game, it will definitely not be for the graphics.

Sound:
As if the graphics for this weren't bad enough, the sound will hit you like a ton of bricks. At some of the menus, a nice battle theme plays, but once you get into the game, you will be tuning out or turning off the volume on your TV. There are 8 horrific, repetitious tracks to choose from, none of sound appropriate for a war or battle. Weapon noises are average, but reused too much.

Story:
This game has the worst story I have ever heard. The armies are blue, red, yellow, and green, with the nationalities constantly shifting, so that all you know is blue is good, red is bad. Missions have a tenuous connection and there is no overarching story besides, "Kill Red." There are no characters, just one apparent military leader who you don't know outside of your silent mission briefings and who you never see.

Gameplay:
So far, it probably seems like all I'm doing is complaining. However, this game's serious love-or-hate-it feature is the gameplay. You have several hundred functionally identical units from the 8 countries. These are spread out throughout naval, air, and land units. There are over 100 distinct maps, including at least a dozen awesome maps based on real world locations. Winning this game takes an extreme advantage or extreme strategy. Battles will most likely last hours, but if tactics are your favorite pastime, the hours will flow like minutes. This game involves much menu-selecting, which is never exciting, but watching tanks duel or subs wipe out an infantry unit, which inexplicably explodes, will never get old if you are a military type.

Staying Power:
If you like this game and don't find it too tedious, it could last you years, or until you get tired of it.

Conclusion:
I would recommend this game for military fanatics and strategy fans who thought Advanced Wars was too "simple". I hope my first review was informative enough to help you make your decision!

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 10/25/05