It was suggested that I take a look at a new game Defcon from Introversion Software by a friend from work. I've played it once against the AI and lost miserably.

That being said, it is an interesting (albeit extremely morbid) game. The controls, while a bit touchy, are easy enough to learn and there aren't thousands of keyboard combinations that must be memorized in order to be even mildly proficient (and there is no "resource management" as is common in many real time strategy games). On my 1900x1200 screen, the game looks amazing (maybe even astonishing). The style is so simple, yet effective:

The game is set during the cold war. The premise, well, kill everyone else with nuclear weapons before they kill you. As I said, a bit morbid. A haunting music plays in the background setting the tone for a drama that can only end badly. The clock ticks down, stepping through the various Defcon states (ironically, Defcon is a United States term yet a UK company created the product!), various rules of engagement take place, from being able to place missle sites, airbases, to deploying military ships. As Defcon 1 approaches, signifying the ability to launch nuclear weapons, ships begin to skirmish, and submarines move stealthily into position. Defcon 1 hits and launches of nuclear weapons are detected:

Surface to air missles can destroy many incoming warheads, but some may penetrate the defenses. Reports of the number of causalties are displayed (along with updates to the score). There are no mobile nuclear missle trucks to manage in this game. Although they would be an interesting addition to the game, they aren't necessary as the game is still interesting. Defcon plays at either "real time" or accelerated time. I noticed I played it at 2-times normal and felt comfortable with the speed of the game (maybe I would have done better if I slowed it down though!).

As I said, the first game I played, after going through the tutorial, I lost. But I think the computer cheated at least once:

Note the location of the battleship. Normally, ships don't travel on land.... Could it be that there are some bugs in Defcon?

If you're curious as to what the full screen looks like (at HIGH resolution), I've included a couple full screen images (click on the image for a full size image):

I'll likely try it a couple of more times before it either gets shelved or purchased. If Introversion Software creates some 'mods' for it, I might be slightly more inclined to buy (other planets, space aliens, etc.).

You can download the 59MB demo here. It's $17.50 in the US for a direct download.