Shattered Union

Shattered Union is a turn based wargame that is good for a few days diversion. You can play single battles or a full campaign. The campaign consists of a strategic map of 24 regions of the US. The basic premise is that the US split into six factions after a period of disputed elections and a nuclear attack on Washington DC. In addition to the six US factions, the European Union makes up the seventh after they sent peacekeepers to occupy the DC area.

The strategic portion of the campaign game I thought was the weakest part. It is massively simplified in that you have a maximum of 42 units and are allowed to make only one attack per turn. Whichever units are used in an attack are unavailable for defense. Instead of stationing units in the various territories you hold, you have a force pool from which you deploy units for attack and defence. Having a maximum of 42 units leads you to get stretched thin and being forced to give up territories sometimes since you don't have enough units to defend them. This in turn leads to repeated fighting over the same territory. Additionally it takes several mouse clicks to see which units you have in your force pool. There should be a way to see this in a glance.

On the plus side the tactical maps of each region, while not topographically realistic, are cool to look at. You can even learn some about US geography. For example I did not know that Seattle was that close to a mountain range etc (ok maybe I'm dumb, but I've never been there).

The tactical battles are where you spend most of your time. While again not realistic, they are fun if you liked games like panzer general, massive assault, and advance wars. Though after a few days, once you get to know the units and how the AI plays, you should be able to consistently beat the computer. However that is the case with most AI. Still it is fun. All in all, a good but not great game.

This can be a good introduction to computer wargames if you have not tried them before. The turn-based system lets you think things over, something Real-Time Strategy (RTS) games don't allow. Yes, the game is simplistic, and yes it has some flaws, but if you liked the Axis and Allies board game, you are probably going to enjoy it. That is about the level of complexity here: buy units, take territory to earn money, repair and by more units, repeat. The game is not super-demanding in terms of system specifications, a welcome change for a new game.

If you are just beginning, here are some tips:

You are given a pool of units to begin with, and some money.

Go to the "Buy Units" screen by clicking the tank icon with a dollar sign superimposed.

Use the Switch in the middle of the screen to select the Wrench icon. This is where they have hidden the option to sell units as well as repair them.

Go ahead, even before any battles, and sell your humvees, and all your light armor units. Sell the Super Cobra and Warrior helicopters, and replace them with an Apache. Purchase a couple of LAVs....these have great armor and long range, they make great scouts. If you've got any money left, buy an Avenger or Chapparalle anti-aircraft unit. Consider selling off the medium armour and just getting a couple more Abrams or LAVs.

During your turn, you may attack with any or all of the units in your army, but if you use them all, there will be nothing reserved to defend with during your opponent's turns. Generally, you can effectively defend a territory by using commandos and engineers, backed up by artillery and some air support. Lay mines like crazy around the cities, backing up as you go. Place the artillery where it can fire on the cities. Defend the artillery with jet patrols and/or with AA guns. Tanks won't be all that much use in defense, though a couple LAVs are useful, for range in recapturing territory. When the computer assigns you Partisans, you can put them out front to be an early-warning system, or you can hide them in the woods....the enemy may occupy a city, then leave it vacant to go conquer others. A Partisan can come in the back door and recapture it.

Send in LAVs to take out enemy AA units first. Then you can pick off enemies with your bombers and helicopters.

Paladin AA units are a lousy value. Weak armor. A Crusader is always better. Merls can make good defensive units if you protect them carefully.

Don't forget to set jet patrols over your units at the end or your turn, to defend against bombers and helicopters. Remember that jets have patrol zones, and you can set these to overlap, so jets will defend each other.

Heavy Infantry are fairly useless. Commandos inside cities are incredibly tough defenders. Keep your Engineers on the move, lay a mine and get outta there. The AI won't generally lay mines, so forget about using your engineers as mine sweepers, it isn't usually necessary.

Remember that you never have to attack during your turn. When you do attack, make it an enemy who has just attacked someone during their last turn...this means that they may not have many units reserved for defense of the territory you want to invade. Be cautious about the number of units you take into an attack, always leave a reserve for defense.

You can always resign and not fight, then come right back and re-take that territory, on the assumption that they won't leave much there in the way of defense. I prefer to always defend. Laying mines is inexpensive for you, and can chew up the enemy armor in a big hurry. Just be sure you have plenty of engineers.

If you are in the middle of a battle, and you want to get out, remember you can always click the "file folder" icon, and choose to resign the battle. Your units will retreat.

Plan to have a pen and some scratch paper. They designed the army selection page lousy. There is one generic icon to represent all the types in a class. For example, one icon on the page may represent an Abrams tank, or it may be a Ft. Bragg tank. You don't know until you click on the icon. Then, you'd have to memorize that fact, because to see the rest of your inventory, you have to click on each individual icon, one at at time. You can't see exactly what you have at any given time, and you can't rearrange the list. It is in order of purchase. This is a major flaw in the game, and gets to be a real drag quickly. I am hoping they will patch it, but I doubt that will happen. There isn't even a manufacturer-supported forum for this game online. So, use scratch paper to keep track of what you have. Cross of units the enemy destroys as it happens, it saves a lot of headache.

There isn't much effort at plot or story. I think a total of two times a TV announcer comes on screen to tell you things. There is a nice sort of surprise at the end of conquering the United States...I won't give it away, but I think you'll enjoy it.

I've been playing strategy games since long before computers. While I found Shattered Union to have some flaws I found the game to be fun and pretty straight forward to play. I would have liked them to develop the story more in the campaign but overall I felt the game was a great value.

Graphically, for the type of game I really enjoyed the graphics. Much better than standards in war gaming. The Xbox version was kind of muddy but from the in-game distance I played I found them clear enough and still engaging.

Game play was solid. I would have like to seen some naval units but could see how this may have added more complexity which they may have already been over the top with considering what they were trying to create.

Documentation was the area that I think brought my score down the most. I would have liked much more detail on the game play mechanics and perhaps even some tips on combat. The in-game tutorial movies were not helpful enough to make up for this area.

Again, despite some flaws I found Shattered Union to be a good game (great if they had better documentation). If you liked games like Advanced Wars or Panzer General you should give Shattered Union a try. If you've ever been tempted to try a war game then I think this would be a good first game (great if the documentation was better!).

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 12 reviews  2.9 out of 5 stars