Balance of Power
| Developer: Chris Crawford | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Mindscape | Sound: |
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| Year: 1987 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Strategy | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 2 alternating | Rating: |
7/10 | |
In this turn-based geopolitical game (released on Macintosh in 1985), you’re tasked with managing the end of the Cold War over an eight-year period, either for the Americans or the Soviets. It’s an in-depth simulation, well-documented despite its rather minimalist presentation.
Starting from a position influenced by your prestige level, the state of your alliances, and your economic and military power, you must make extremely careful and calculated decisions to strengthen your position in the world, while weakening that of the opposing camp. Various tools are at your disposal: military and political support to back or destabilise a key state; diplomacy, threats… It’s a real game of poker where you risk escalation at any moment, which could lead to World War III—your game over moment.
Provided you understand English, you’ll quickly get into the game thanks to clear menus and multiple difficulty levels. Even though the computer takes a little time to calculate its moves and the games progress slowly, it’s fascinating to see the impact of your decisions and the tension that gradually builds up. Additionally, the game spares you the bulk of the unreadable number-crunching tables that usually plague this genre. That said, the countless subtleties of the game will elude you unless you’ve read the thick manual.
An updated version was released in 1990, featuring more countries and an additional layer of complexity. It also runs more stably on an emulator.
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