Making History: The Calm & the Storm (pc: 2007): Reviews

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Making History: The Calm & the Storm


8.0

based on 15 reviews
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How did we calculate this?

based on 22 votes
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Official Website

This true grand strategy game places you as the leader of a country where you use your strategic skills to make policy decisions which affect the outcome of world history. Each scenario establishes a historically accurate situation; from there on in history is in your hands. Do you build to a position of strength through industry or military, or can you find an optimum balance of both? Can you trade for needed resources or must you find and take over resource-rich territories? Will a diplomatic treaty strengthen your position, or draw you in to an unwanted conflict? These and many other decisions are yours to make. You may be a statesman, a fighter, a hero, or a scoundrel. Time to get into the Game. [Muzzy Lane Software]

PUBLISHER:	Muzzy Lane Software / Strategy First
DEVELOPER:	Muzzy Lane Software
GENRE(S):	Turn-Based Strategy
PLAYERS:	8
ESRB RATING:	E (Everyone)
RELEASE DATE:	March 13, 2007

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

PC Gameworld

This game could help give people a better understanding of just how fragile the eco system of war is, giving them a sense of realism that is not found in most other strategy games. Unfortunately it's that same level of realism that might make this game unplayable for other gamers.

GameZone

Anyone who enjoys Risk type board games needs to buy this game. Muzzy Lane has done a wonderful job of designing a game that is entertaining and easy on the eyes.

Worth Playing

Not overly complicated or time-consuming to learn, and it was actually incredibly fun to play. The uncluttered interface and visually pleasing design seems to help reduce the information overload that is often associated with this genre.

Games Radar

It admirably bridges the gap between deep simulation and enjoyable "just one more turn" gameplay and would be a worthy addition to any strategy fan's game collection.

GamerNode

While it's a solid turn-based WWII strategy game, the in-depth tutorial and the rest of the game can be pretty challenging and time consuming.

Game Chronicles

Perhaps my highest compliment is that on a beautiful spring evening, I actually succumbed to the dreaded “one more turn” syndrome. This goes to prove that in a niche market that caters to hardcore stats junkies, Making History is a game every World War strategy fan can enjoy.

IGN

On the one hand, the Hearts of Iron crowd will find that Making History isn't complex enough. On the other hand, the World at War fans will find that Making History gets bogged down in too many unnecessary details.

Gamers' Temple

It won’t make history in the annals of strategy gaming, but Making History is a decent enough diversion for those with an interest in World War II strategy on a global scale.

Gamer's Hell

A complex strategy game, challenging both for its detailed economy and its various spheres of military operations.

Strategy Informer

The gameplay and graphics plus the historical accuracy of the game make this game a good choice for the right kind of gamer.

GameSpot

Making History is an interesting, though dry, turn-based World War II strategy game.

Armchair Empire

Despite the steady stream of real historical events, Making History seems strangely outside of history, inhabiting some alternate universe where nations go through the motions, behave erratically or simply do nothing at all. It’s hard to feel immersed in such a situation. And it’s hard to really care.

PC Zone UK

A decent bit of strategy, but it's hardly treading new ground. [July 2007, p.84]

1UP

Trouble is, your computer opponents verge on comatose.

GameDaily

The game's complex interface (composed primarily of a series of menus) makes it unapproachable to many people. Its slow pace gets exacerbated by the fact that cities can either produce or research, not both.

The average user rating for this game is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 22 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Max H. gave it a10:
A solid game that's VERY fun to play. A toolkit is promised for the first patch that should let the serious history dudes adapt the game to suit themselves. This game fits much more into the Axis & Allies board game mold, or the Civilization series mold, than it does to Hearts of Iron or one of hte "hex" games where WWII is replayed the same way every time. This game is the ultimate "what if?" WWII game. One really impressive thing about this game is the quality of the code--most games from newbie developers are filled with crashes and other serious problems. Not so with Calm and the Storm. There are some problems with the game, but nothing that a few patches shouldn't mostly take care of. Although it probably really deserves a score in the 8's, I wanted to balance the ridiculously low scores a couple people posted, just to be fair. Bottom line: if you are a fan of turn-based strategy games--buy it. Max

Jonathan S./B> gave it a7:
I played the demo, and i really liked it, so i downloaded it from steam. I think the game is quite overpriced for what you get. Those who think that the economy is broken dont get the game, some say that the use of military is wierd since it doesent matter what units you use. But it does! If you just try to read what there is to read about the different units you will know that some are better at different things than others. But the diplomacy is really messed up, often you find that some country's really need you, they dont wanna ally you (like france is being invaded by germany but they aperntly dont care). And it seems that if you got someone to dont like you its never gonna chance. This game is well thought trough but i think that it has lacked some tester who knew what they were doing.

George G. gave it an8:
People in these comments who are saying that 'diplomacy doesn't work or economy doesn't work' clearly haven't played the game at all or very much. It quite definitely DOES work and it's very enjoyable when you're able to manipulate your enemies while garnering allies to your cause. This is by NO means meant to be some kind of realistic simulation but rather an exploration of the cause and effect behind National management and diplomacy at the higher-levels during WW2. If you fail to grasp that, you'll fail to enjoy or understand this game, period. Clearly some of the other posters in here lacked the ability or insight to 'get' that aspect of this fun game. Whiny grognards should return to their beloved hex-based wargames and let the rest of us enjoy what is, by most accounts, a very good, very fun game.

Doug gave it a10:
Great game for people who love the history of World War II. For people who are unfamiliar with said history, dont worry. It still offers fun to those who enjoyed rome total war and medieval total war.

Jack C. gave it a9:
Okay now I read the reviews and a lot of bad thins were said toward the game. Now yeah it does very very boring if your not in a war. But the thing i did was to eximinate this boredum was start the game on "End of Diplomacy" scenerio and be the French and put the game play difficulty on Harder instead of the defult normal. Now beating the german power house on hard.... well thats a challenge, Or being Germany in the D-day scenerio. But as much as i like to say good things about it, there are a couple of problems but depending on what kind of gamer you are you might get a sweet deal

Derick C. gave it a5:
This game appeals to people who enjoy long board games such as risk. The game looks very good and unique in the first 100 turns or so, then suddenly, the game breaks down into an exact copy of Risk, where building the biggest army is the best. Even with that, it would had still been a good game if not for the flawed gameplay and AI. For example, Diplomatic relations do not work..... Random AI including Japan attacking Italy..... America attacking Tibet...... Australian planes in china.... and so on... The next history game they make, they should take their time.

Rick M. gave it an8:
I played the demo liked what I saw and the downloaded the game off of steam. The cool thing about this game is that every time you play it is different. You can be the Germany one day and try one strategy and then take a totally different approach the next time. I am more interested in conquering the world and having fun doing it than I am with military tactics. I also like the fact that the game uses economic factors and production, not just military manueovers - It feels more real to have to juggle those factors on the road to victory.

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