Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Worth buying if in the bargain bin, but not otherwise, 20 Dec 2006
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
The tactical battles are great fun. It's a system very much like Panzer General III, a turn based skirmish on a map, based upon seizing and holding victory locations. Like Panzer General III, the simplicity of the gameplay of the tactical battles can be deceptive - it's actually very well thought out and can be endlessly re-playable. You have to create a balanced attack/defence force. You can quit a battle at any time, so for instance if you think you have inflicted some severe losses on the enemy but still feel you can't win it, you can cut your losses while you are ahead, and have another go the next turn with a different force.
Each faction has a limited force pool (you can buy extra units but they are quite expensive - best be conservative with the ones you already have). If you decide to attack another faction that turn, the forces you use to do this will be unavaliable to defend if you are attacked at the same time. So you can never attack with all your forces. However, this makes for some interesting operational decision when going into battle. In one instance, I decided to take on a faction over two battles. In the first one, I sent in a force comprising mostly anti-tank units, and then retired from the battle once I felt I had destroyed enough of the enemy armour, with very few losses to my units. The second battle I could then send in a more balanced force. The outcome was that I lost about 2-3 units over two battles, to the enemy's 20. I would have lost far more had I staked a mixed force in one battle. As you can see, this adds surprising strategic depth the game. My only quibble with this system is that you do not deploy your forces in specific territories, much like in a Total War game.
Othwerwise, that's more or less it. I would echo much of what the previous reviewer has said. This game just doesn't have enough depth to keep you playing, which is shame because there is a lot in the game that is enjoyable. I finished playing with it within about two weeks, and there is nothing the be gained playing the campaign as a different faction - unless you are over-excited about using slightly different units. I don't really understand this - the tactical part of the game has obviously had a lot of thought and time put into it. But the strategic part of the game has been practically ignored. All it is after a couple of campaigns, you are pretty much done with it.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Fixed Dose of Fun, 13 Aug 2006
Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars
Shattered Union is set in a fractured United States of a not too distant future which has been broken into 6 parts. You control 1 faction that a region of the United States or the UN peacekeepers, and each faction has it's own special unit and can have different special abilities to draw on. You also face the Russians after you manage to unify the United States (which bizzarely also requires you to defeat the Peacekeepers if you aren't playing them) who are trying to take Alaska back.
Play is turn based, and movement happens on a hex grid which is generally not shown.
So I've had this for more than 6 months now, but haven't played it beyond the first week. Why? Because the maps are fixed and so is the starting load-out of the various factions. Once you've won as each of the factions, you've basically had all of the original material the game has to offer. So it comes down to whether you think it represents value for fun. I'd say you'd get 10-20 hours of play out of this, you can do the math.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Vista Users Beware!, 30 Jun 2009
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
I bought this game on the original Xbox a few years back but traded it in when I upgraded to the 360 as it wouldn't run on it. Just bought the PC version & it doesn't run on Vista (looking at the product description again I note it has XP as the platform - D'oh!)
Some Vista users have reported it does work, but others, myself included, have tried everything to run it on Vista (yes, tried all the usual compatibility tricks) & it crashes (in my case, when you try to open the battle screen.) So it might work on your Vista machine, but might well not & the game developers provide no support for Vista-related problems. Buy it at your own risk, as they say.
As for the game itself, if it's just like the Xbox version (& the manual is exactly the same so I assume so) it's a tidy little game, lacking in great depth or lifespan but worth playing for a week at least, especially at this price. If you're somewhat interested in strategy/war games but not really a huge devotee, or don't have hours to devote to learning a complex strategy game, this is a really good option. If you're not on Vista, you've got nothing to lose by giving it a bash.
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