Posted by C at 4:19am Jan 22 '10For a long time now 4+ years, I've been looking for a game that emulated the fun times that I had when cellphones barely had color screens. There was one game in particular by the mobile entertainment company, AirG (Air Games) that had me running huge data overages back in 2001-2006-- AtomicDove. Keep in mind, AtomicDove was strictly text-based, it had no graphics and was only over WAP. These days that'd seem archaic but back then WAP was the best you could get on a crappy clamshell phone that had about 160 colors on the screen.
Even though the game was lacking any graphics, it was a very engrossing strategy empire game, sort of like Risk, more like CyberNations.net in it's complexity. I was obsessed with that game. I played it more than any human being should ever stare at a tiny LCD screen. I set my alarm clock on my phone 5 mins before "Zulu" and made sure I had my spare battery or my charger plugged in before ordering attacks and buying more things in the game to build my armada. I was sending messages and calling my other friends who played it to make sure they were ready. It was a game that really got me worked up when I'd lose and I'd cheer like a maniac when I won. A victory in that game felt like an accomplishment. There was war and chaos and many, many, good times. Sounds crazy? Here's a link to a document that talks about the addictiveness of Atomic Dove. That document also has a few predictions at the bottom that should be interesting to read 8 years after they were made :-P
Since that time, I've never come across another game quite like it. I've been searching for something very close for a long time and have mentioned it on the boards before:
(links open posts in new tabs)
Evolution 5 (attn. [private]) <-- Sep. 2005
About 6 years ago... <-- Sep. 2008
Cybernations came pretty close though but I couldn't keep up with it. Too much politics as well. Evo5 was alright but was boring and I didn't like the theme very much.
But then while searching Google today, looking for a portable reference guide for "Call of Duty: World at War", I came across "World War"...
http://www.storm8.com/games/world-war/
And oh damn, it's for the iPhone! So, I checked it out... and for the past few hours I've been geeking out and I think I've finally found a game that can take the place of AtomicDove. I know, you're probably thinking-- "Someone's a little fucking nuts!" But seriously, it's like an itch I couldn't scratch and finally I'm able to scratch it.
It's not completely like AtomicDove though. It's missing a few thing to do, like civilians and tax rates type stuff. World War is still a helluva lot of fun anyway. Most times, after a certain point in AtomicDove, you left your civilian, food and banking things on cruise control while you made war and worked on building your army and missile silos. The games namesake-- Atomic Doves-- are "counter-nukes", sort of like a missile defense system, so no matter how big and bad your empire is, you'd better have enough to thwart a nuclear attack. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that the dude that created Cybernations, got a lot—if not most—of his ideas from Atomic Dove.
If anyone else on an iPhone or iPod Touch is playing Storm8's World War, or you're planning to please join my alliance.
My Alliance Code: MH5RDJ
Even though the game was lacking any graphics, it was a very engrossing strategy empire game, sort of like Risk, more like CyberNations.net in it's complexity. I was obsessed with that game. I played it more than any human being should ever stare at a tiny LCD screen. I set my alarm clock on my phone 5 mins before "Zulu" and made sure I had my spare battery or my charger plugged in before ordering attacks and buying more things in the game to build my armada. I was sending messages and calling my other friends who played it to make sure they were ready. It was a game that really got me worked up when I'd lose and I'd cheer like a maniac when I won. A victory in that game felt like an accomplishment. There was war and chaos and many, many, good times. Sounds crazy? Here's a link to a document that talks about the addictiveness of Atomic Dove. That document also has a few predictions at the bottom that should be interesting to read 8 years after they were made :-P
Since that time, I've never come across another game quite like it. I've been searching for something very close for a long time and have mentioned it on the boards before:
(links open posts in new tabs)
Evolution 5 (attn. [private]) <-- Sep. 2005
About 6 years ago... <-- Sep. 2008
Cybernations came pretty close though but I couldn't keep up with it. Too much politics as well. Evo5 was alright but was boring and I didn't like the theme very much.
But then while searching Google today, looking for a portable reference guide for "Call of Duty: World at War", I came across "World War"...
http://www.storm8.com/games/world-war/
And oh damn, it's for the iPhone! So, I checked it out... and for the past few hours I've been geeking out and I think I've finally found a game that can take the place of AtomicDove. I know, you're probably thinking-- "Someone's a little fucking nuts!" But seriously, it's like an itch I couldn't scratch and finally I'm able to scratch it.
It's not completely like AtomicDove though. It's missing a few thing to do, like civilians and tax rates type stuff. World War is still a helluva lot of fun anyway. Most times, after a certain point in AtomicDove, you left your civilian, food and banking things on cruise control while you made war and worked on building your army and missile silos. The games namesake-- Atomic Doves-- are "counter-nukes", sort of like a missile defense system, so no matter how big and bad your empire is, you'd better have enough to thwart a nuclear attack. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that the dude that created Cybernations, got a lot—if not most—of his ideas from Atomic Dove.
If anyone else on an iPhone or iPod Touch is playing Storm8's World War, or you're planning to please join my alliance.
My Alliance Code: MH5RDJ