We've seen a few strategy games come out lately that run the entire spectrum in a variety of areas. For example, Steel Panthers from SSI brought a level of graphics never before been used in a straight strategy game. While the average gamer will find it a great game, the hardest of hard-core gamers might find it a little short on sophistication. At the other end of the continuum lies Empire II from New World Computing, which gave the gamer the ability to set and control any attribute and modifier within the considerable game structure. The only trouble is that it was deficient in graphics and excitement. What's needed these days is a game to step in and fill that gap, which is just what D-Day: America Invades! does really well. It has all of the things like terrain movement tables and barrage fatigue modifiers, but at the same time has a high level of playability and good graphics. Don't expect D-Day: America Invades! (which is the third in Avalon Hill's World At War series) to be something new and innovative, but it is a very good strategy game that takes all the things most popular about PC wargaming and incorporates them into a single product.
D-Day: America Invades! puts the player in command of only seven different scenarios which occurred during the Allied invasion of Normandy. With the ability to play either the Allied or Axis commander in these battles, one could argue that there are really fourteen scenarios, but even given that, it's a fairly limited number. Granted, some of the scenarios could take a really long time to get through, but the lack of different scenarios is this game's biggest flaw. A scenario editor or random battle generator would have been very welcome.
Once you get past the fact that there aren't lots of different scenarios to get through, D-Day is a whole lot of fun. It plays like any other standard strategy/war game; you give your troops orders and then watch as the actions are carried out. The game is laid out such that each turn consists of four hours, with four turns being daylight turns and two turns occurring at night. All of the action is parallel between the two sides, that is, both sides give orders to their troops then all of the movement and combat happens at the same time. It's a structure that feels right and works very well.
The feature that makes this such a good game is that the designers, Atomic Games, have managed to take all of the involved features of strategy games and made them simple and fun to play with, so you don't need to be the world's foremost expert on strategy games to have fun in D-Day. Basic gameplay includes ground, air and naval units, along with various types of artillery and anti-aircraft units.
Each ground unit has two commands to follow on each turn, one involving either moving or attack, and the other involving being attacked. If a unit is moving, you set how fast and cautiously it moves, and if it's attacking, you can set which of a variety of attack styles to use, like a small probing attack for information or an all out assault. The secondary command determines the defensive posture of the unit. It can likewise be set for a range of possibilities such as retreating if attacked, defending itself or holding at all costs.
When you start dealing with air units things get a bit more simplistic. You just call up your aircraft menu selection and pick from a variety of types of aircraft at your disposal. The design genius of balancing sophistication with simplicity can most easily be seen when dealing with aircraft. While there were a slew of different types of aircraft participating in the war, each designed for a specific task like bombing and recon, D-Day breaks them down into very understandable categories. So, instead of being presented with the different types of aircraft like Mustangs or B-52's, you're given categories of what the planes were used for. If you want to use fighter bombers for a certain job, you don't have to know that such and such model of plane is good for that mission, because all you do is pick a division of planes labeled "fighter-bombers" from the aircraft menu. While it's not as realistic as dealing with the actual models of planes, it's easy, efficient, and keeps the game rolling at an interesting pace, instead of having the player peruse the manual just to find out what model of plane does what. When you do find the unit you want to use, you simply click on that unit's name, then just click on the enemy unit you want it to attack.
Naval units are handled much the same way that aircraft is. By pulling up the naval units menu you can cycle through the different types of ships available off shore, then you just click on the ship you want to use and click on the enemy you want to fire at. The naval units are not controllable in any way except to use them for fire missions. And in a departure from aircraft, which have different uses, the only difference between the types of ships is their range of fire. They do have limited ammo, and disappear for a few turns while getting more, but you can't attack them, you can't move them around - you just use them to fire with.
With all of this to deal with, the designers had to come up with an easy way to sort through all of the information, which is accomplished through an excellent interface. Upon first inspection, the interface looks to be cluttered, but after playing through a scenario or two it becomes surprisingly easy to deal with, but you will need to keep the manual nearby to keep track of what some of the numbers mean. All of the main functions are accessed through a bar at the top, and all of the sub-menus show up on the side and bottom of the screen. The information is laid out in such a way that's easy to understand, with most information you want accessible with a minimum of mouse clicks.
Obviously, the folks who will get the most out of this game are the gamers who really get into WW II. Strategy/war game lovers of all types will be able to enjoy this game, but the lack of scenarios really becomes a drawback. But keep in mind that this game focuses not on what happened after D-Day, but on the invasion itself. The actual drive into Germany is left out, and only the battles involved in and immediately after the invasion are included. But be that as it is, D-Day is a very, very good game that newbies can grow into and advanced gamers won't outgrow.
