Eastern Front was certainly a wargame from the future played in 1981.
Graphics: 8
Sounds: 4
Value: 9
Tilt: 9
Trying to simulate any war scenarios that represent the ferocity and attention of any given situations is a daunting task. Many board games have done this quite well and considering now that the dawn of the computer age is upon us, it’s not surprising that board games are now entering the computer games market. Chris Crawford from Atari had made a cracker of a game ‘Eastern Front’ that recites that presently famous ‘Operation Barbarossa’ campaign in 1941. According to Hitler the Russian assault should only last four to five months however winding up being four long hard years of bloodshed.
In Eastern Front 1941, you’ll get the opportunity to play the Germans and your main goal is to reach Moscow hence taking out Russia. Historically this didn’t happen therefore it will be challenge from the word ‘go’ as you start off at the western side of the European map and the Russians east. As a game play perspective, your goal is to score 255 points (hmmm - 8bit scoring). However don’t be disheartened if you don’t reach this score. Scores above 200 is regarded as excellent, 100 – 200 very good, 50 – 100 good and less than 50 not so good. Apparently it’s quite common to score less than zero. As a side note, my highest score is 188.
Chris Crawford (the man behind the game) had spent some six to eight months making this game close to perfection using 8bit technology. The net result was brilliant programming by the way of just 16kb (cassette version) or 32kb (disk) so any Atari users could run this game without a hitch. There are many features in this game that was never used before especially in computer war gaming. Firstly, the entire game is programmed using pure machine language and not the commonly used BASIC format. This naturally has a fast response time instead of just sleeping through when the computer decides the next course of action.
This unsurprisingly flows to point two: the dazzling AI. Games are normally predictable (i.e. set pieces) therefore doesn’t really provide the player a unique experience every time the game loads. However in Eastern Front the Atari thinks its move when you place your move at that instance. This means that the longer you plan your attack, the longer that your Atari can anticipate the next move. This, of course flows the other way; the shorter you make you decision, the Atari will have less time to act hence will act awkwardly. However I wouldn’t be too gun-ho when deciding your next move as 1) Hitler did this and look where it got him and 2) the Atari after all is running at 1.79MHz.
Another remarkable achievement was the ease of controls for this game. Before this, war games are purely keyboard controlled however Chris decided the have the entire game play using the joystick (and to a limited extend the keyboard). Bearing in mind the game’s display is top-down, using your joystick you can scroll the entire battle field (as this was rare considering most games are coded in BASIC). Pressing the fire button will provide you details about the unit (combat strength etc) and holding the button whilst moving the stick orders your unit. If you make a mistake when ordering, press the button and hit the space bar simultaneously and it will erase the last order (remember though the time factor). If you make an error when moving, a nasty ‘buzz’ will sound and once all your orders are placed, the sounds of gunfire will apply and the Atari will calculate the next course of action. The entire movement/combat process can take approximately three seconds and sadly, this is going to be the only sounds in this game.
One of the major selling points of the Atari system is its graphical components and how it renders. Atari’s arch rivals, the Apple and the dying PET (et al) are really no match for the Atari (save the C64 which arrived later). That said, Eastern Front looks and feels fine. It is not cluttered with ASCII characters nor doesn’t act as a ‘mediator’ (e.g. Tanktics from Avalon Hill which ironically was created by the very same person Chris Crawford). It doesn’t plaster hexagonal grids all over the screen, boasts easily recognisable icons (trees, mountains, swamps, clearing and so forth) and good quality colour selections. So out goes the ‘blue and white’ screen and in comes colourful graphics.
As usual, the length of the game is determined by the player. Considering it’s a turned-based strategy game, the recommended playtime is around the 2 – 3 hours as the entire game ends at the 41st turn (one turn equates to one week gaming time). To memory, I think there are 14 turns of good weather, 4 turns of mud and 22 turns of winter (snow). The graphics will also change to reflect the current weather pattern; that is the landscape will display green for good weather then when mud sets in, a murky brown then eventually white for snow.
Considering this game reacts the way the player makes his/her decisions (basing on the time factor of each decisions), you can really make up your own imaginary scenarios to suit your needs. I have once tried to eliminate the Russian army quickly as possible (that got me no where however it was fun nevertheless), tried in many occasions to achieve the highest possible score (255) however reached at my personal best 188 (average below 50 – don’t laugh – the game is brutal) and so forth. My experience states the best approach is to try and flank the Russians (hence blocking their supply route) and position the German panzers effectively during the dreaded ‘mud’ turns. Albeit the downside is there is no save game option so it’s really a battle of ‘brain power’ attrition (and naturally the Atari will win this).
In hindsight, Eastern Front 1941 is definitely a war game that broke many facets. Chris Crawford rightfully boasts the superiority of this game by the intelligent AI, the concept ridding the computer acting as a medium for board games and using the graphical power of the Atari marks its place in gaming history. There was an interesting article written by Chris stating that (at the time) most computer war games are just simply ported board games using the computer as the ‘board’. Chris’ ideas were that this ‘ported’ idea was the incorrect approach as the computer is entirely another medium and not just a replacement for board games. So keeping this in mind, he got rid off the hexagonal grids and used smooth scrolling graphics entirely controlled (well almost anyways) by the joystick. Eastern Front was certainly a game from the future played in 1981.