Crisis in the Kremlin

Last updated
Crisis in the Kremlin
CrisisintheKremlinBoxArt.jpg
Developer(s) Barbu Corporation [1]
Spectrum HoloByte [2]
Publisher(s)
Designer(s) Larry Barbu [2]
Artist(s) Daniel L. Guerra
Composer(s) Paul Mogg [2]
Platform(s) MS-DOS
Release
Genre(s) Strategy
Mode(s) Single-player

Crisis in the Kremlin is a 1991 strategy video game with managerial aspects in which the player acts as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 2017. [3] The player assumes the role of the reformist Mikhail Gorbachev, the nationalist Boris Yeltsin, or the hardliner Yegor Ligachyov. [4] Actual jokes recorded by the KGB can be found in the gameplay, depicting the concerns of the Soviet people in a humorous light. The game was developed and released at a time when the Soviet Union was collapsing and breaking apart with the game's events making reference to that. Indeed, the Soviet Union dissolved in the same year as the game's release. A remake and spiritual successor of the game was published in 2017 on the game platform Steam. [5]

Contents

Gameplay

A scene set in January 2013 with the Russian people in turmoil. A food shortage is about to turn into a crisis. CrisisintheKremlinFoodShortageScreenShot.png
A scene set in January 2013 with the Russian people in turmoil. A food shortage is about to turn into a crisis.

Starting in 1985, the player handles various governing tasks, from policies such as civil rights and the workweek to budgets. It was the first game to include the individual allocation of funding in a budget. [6] A significant portion of the game involves special events, such as the 1988 Armenian earthquake or the Chernobyl disaster. [4] The player's responses to these events can involve taking the historical route or a dramatically different approach; the player is given usually three to five choices after picking up the appropriate telephone. The player must walk a line between radicals, reformists, and hardliners. Overly scorning any side can cause the player to fall out of favor with it, which may lead to a vote of confidence in the Politburo. Warsaw Pact states will also begin to shy away from the Soviet Union, as will the Baltic states, the Ukraine, and other Union Republics.

The player may cut or increase spending to various parts of the nation, such as construction, environment, the military, pensions, Soviet Republics, and so on. [4] The player can spend toward different groups, such as bureaucrats or conservatives, to gain their support. [4] A food shortage can occur, for example, if not enough money is being spent on agriculture and transport (roads, buses, railroads, trucks, highways, etc.).

Extra events occur if the player lasts past the Soviet Union's (and the game's own) time frame, such as American intervention in North Korea or the ability to renegotiate a new Union treaty to form a confederation or disband the Soviet Union altogether in favor of a British-style commonwealth. New technology will also develop, as will fears of an asteroid hitting the earth. The new technology can include things like vaccines for AIDS (developed by Soviet scientists that will improve diplomatic relationships with other nations) and animal cloning solutions that will prevent world hunger - using in vitro meat.

Reception

Chuck Moss wrote in Computer Gaming World in 1992 that Crisis in the Kremlin was biased in a way that "drives the player toward establishing a free market, and both political and social liberation". The reviewer stated that as "an unreconstructed Reaganite" he agreed with the biases but noted that Cuba and China were examples of countries that did not perform USSR-like reforms and survived, writing that "This distorts the game's veracity from the outset". Moss criticized the detailed control the player has over the economy ("which was the USSR's problem in the first place!") without any way to reduce the control, and the lack of political conflicts with subordinates as in Hidden Agenda . Another example of the game's unrealism, the reviewer reported, was that he was repeatedly unable to have the USSR survive beyond 1988 when emulating Gorbachev. Moss nonetheless found the game very enjoyable ("I've played it for two months and I'm not sick of it") and approved of the graphics. He concluded that "This worthy stab at a limited genre is to be commended". [7] In a 1994 survey of wargames the magazine gave the title two stars out of five, describing it as a "superb rendition of the problems facing" the USSR before dissolution, but "somewhat tedious" for non-accountants. [8]

PCGames named Crisis in the Kremlin the best strategy game of 1992. The editors called it "at once a thing of complexity and a thing of beauty". [9]

Remake

The developer Kremlingames released a remake and spiritual successor to the 1991 version under the same name: Crisis in the Kremlin. [10] [11] The game was released in 2017, which is the final playable year in the 1991 version and marks 100 years since the October Revolution. [12] [3] Unlike the original, the goal is not just to preserve the USSR and the Warsaw Pact but to expand the communist bloc to other countries. Unlike the 1991 version, it is possible to win the Cold War by weakening the United States until it is no longer is a superpower. [11] [13] The game introduced additional factions, which included Stalinist, conservative, moderate, reformist, and liberal. It also introduced multiple endings, such as perestroika, nuclear war, world communism, and parades of sovereignty. The economic, domestic, and diplomatic systems were also made more complex. [14] Kremlingames later developed Ostalgie: The Berlin Wall and China: Mao's Legacy, in which players control Eastern European communist states and communist China, respectively. [15]

The prominent Russian gaming magazine Game World Navigator gave the game a rating of 6.2/10. [13] Another prominent Russian gaming magazine, Igromania , rated the game 8/10. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leonid Brezhnev</span> Leader of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982

Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was a Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until his death in 1982, and Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1960 to 1964 and again from 1977 to 1982. His 18-year term as General Secretary was second only to Joseph Stalin's in duration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1991 Soviet coup attempt</span> Failed coup against Mikhail Gorbachev

The 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, also known as the August Coup, was a failed attempt by hardliners of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) to forcibly seize control of the country from Mikhail Gorbachev, who was Soviet President and General Secretary of the CPSU at the time. The coup leaders consisted of top military and civilian officials, including Vice President Gennady Yanayev, who together formed the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP). They opposed Gorbachev's reform program, were angry at the loss of control over Eastern European states and fearful of the New Union Treaty, which was on the verge of being signed by the Soviet Union (USSR). The treaty was to decentralize much of the central Soviet government's power and distribute it among its fifteen republics; Yeltsin's demand for more autonomy to the republics opened a window for the plotters to organize the coup.

<i>Blitzkrieg</i> (video game) 2003 video game

Blitzkrieg is a 2003 real-time tactics video game based on the events of World War II and is the first title in the Blitzkrieg series. The game allows players to assume the role of commanding officer during the battles of World War II that occurred in Europe and North Africa. Each country has its respective historically correct military units. Similar to the Sudden Strike games, Blitzkrieg focuses on battles rather than real-time strategy aspects like base building.

A government simulation or political simulation is a game that attempts to simulate the government and politics of all or part of a nation. These games may include geopolitical situations, the creation of domestic political policies, or the simulation of political campaigns. They differ from the genre of classical wargames due to their discouragement or abstraction of military or action elements.

<i>Axis & Allies</i> (1998 video game) 1998 video game

Axis & Allies is a 1998 computer wargame closely based on the Axis and Allies: Classic board game.

<i>Blitzkrieg 2</i> 2005 video game

Blitzkrieg 2 is a real-time tactics computer game based on the events of World War II. The game is an evolution of its predecessor Blitzkrieg and is the second title in the Blitzkrieg series. The game takes place in North Africa, the Pacific and Europe, and features the 6 different factions portrayed in the game that fought in their battle respective grounds during the war.

Animation Magic was a Russian-American animation studio founded in Gaithersburg, Maryland in 1991, with offices later added in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a 100%-owned subsidiary in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The company developed animations for CD-based software. It was acquired in December 1994 by Capitol Multimedia.

Lesta Games is a Russian video game development and film production company with studios in Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Minsk and Tashkent. From 2011 to 2022, the company was owned by Wargaming.

Panzer Campaigns is a series of operational level wargames originally developed by John Tiller Software, and currently by Wargame Design Studio. The games were originally published until 2010 by HPS Simulations, then self published by John Tiller Software until being bought out by Wargame Design Studio in 2021, after Tiller's death. There are currently 29 titles in the series, spanning the various fronts of World War II.

<i>World of Warships</i> 2015 multiplayer online battle video game

World of Warships is a naval warfare-themed free-to-play multiplayer online game developed and published by Wargaming. Players control warships of choice and can battle other random players on the server, play cooperative battles against bots, or participate in an advanced player versus environment (PvE) battle mode. For the most skilled players, two seasonal competitive modes are also available.

<i>Wargame: Red Dragon</i> 2014 video game

Wargame: Red Dragon is a real-time strategy video game developed by Eugen Systems and originally published by Focus Home Interactive, released on April 17, 2014. It is the sequel to the Wargame: AirLand Battle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nostalgia for the Soviet Union</span> Retrospective fondness for USSR

The social phenomenon of nostalgia for the era of the Soviet Union can include its politics, its society, its culture and cultural artifacts, its superpower status, or simply its aesthetics.

Mushroom Wars 2 is a real-time strategy video game, developed and published by Zillion Whales. It is the sequel to Mushroom Wars, and was released on iOS, tvOS, Android and Microsoft Windows via Steam on October 13, 2016 and on Nintendo Switch on July 5, 2018. The game is also available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

<i>Tunguska: Legend of Faith</i> 2000 video game

Tunguska: Legend of Faith is an action-adventure video game by German-based studio Exortus GmbH, released on PC and later PlayStation. It received largely negative reviews from critics.

<i>Atomic Heart</i> 2023 video game

Atomic Heart is a 2023 first-person shooter game developed by Russian game developer Mundfish and published by VK Play, Focus Entertainment, and 4Divinity. The game is set in an alternate history version of the Soviet Union, during the 1950s. Initially depicted as a retrofuturistic utopia, the game follows the quick collapse of the Soviet Union into a dystopia, after a robot uprising begins.

<i>Patton Strikes Back</i> 1991 video game

Patton Strikes Back: The Battle of the Bulge is a 1991 computer wargame designed by Chris Crawford and published by Broderbund for the Macintosh and MS-DOS.

<i>The Mooseman</i> 2017 video game

The Mooseman is an adventure video game developed by the Perm-based Russian studio Morteshka and released in 2017. The game is based on the mythology of Komi, as well as other Finno-Ugric peoples, and is an attempt at artistic reconstruction of mythological plots. The game tells the story of the Mooseman, the shaman and one of the seven sons of the creator god Yen, who must travel to the underworld to retrieve Shondi and save the world from the eternal cold.

<i>EastFront</i> 1991 board game

EastFront, subtitled "The War in Russia: 1941–45", is a board wargame published by Columbia Games in 1991 that is simulation of the conflict between Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buka Entertainment</span> Russian video game developer and publisher

Buka Entertainment JSC — is one of the oldest Russian video game developers and publishers. Headquartered in Moscow, the company was officially established in 1994. Since 2008, it is a part of the 1C Company.

References

  1. ↑ "Additional developer/genre information". MobyGames . Retrieved 2011-02-11.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Release information". GameFAQs . Retrieved 2010-05-17.
  3. 1 2 Plank-Blasko, Dana (2015-10-01). "'From Russia with Fun!': Tetris, Korobeiniki and the ludic Soviet". The Soundtrack. 8 (1–2): 7–24. doi:10.1386/st.8.1-2.7_1.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Faction information/game overview". Giant Bomb. Retrieved 2010-05-17.
  5. ↑ "Crisis in the Kremlin on Steam". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  6. ↑ Social Science Computer Review, Vol. 12, No. 3, 447-448 (1994), "Software Reviews: Crisis in the Kremlin"
  7. ↑ Moss, Chuck (November 1992). "Spectrum Holobyte's Crisis in the Kremlin". Computer Gaming World. No. 100. pp. 54, 56. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  8. ↑ Brooks, M. Evan (January 1994). "War In Our Time / A Survey Of Wargames From 1950-2000". Computer Gaming World. pp. 194–212.
  9. ↑ Keizer, Gregg; Yee, Bernie; Kawamoto, Wayne; Crotty, Cameron; Olafson, Peter; Brenesal, Barry (January 1993). "Best of PCGames '92". PCGames : 20–22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32.
  10. ↑ "Kremlingames". en.kremlingames.com. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  11. 1 2 3 Васильев, Никита (March 30, 2017). Обзор Crisis in the Kremlin. А как вы развалите Советский Союз? [Review of Crisis in the Kremlin. How do you destroy the Soviet Union?] (in Russian). Игромания (Igromania). pp. 60–61. ISBN   9785040586073 . Retrieved 2021-02-04.{{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  12. ↑ "Crisis in the Kremlin (2017) - обзоры и оценки игры, даты выхода DLC, трейлеры, описание". www.igromania.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2021-05-12. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  13. 1 2 Алаев, Андрей (15 April 2017). "Рецензия: Crisis in the Kremlin" [Review: Crisis in the Kremlin]. Навигатор игрового мира (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2017-04-18. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  14. ↑ Сабуров, Сергей (2017-03-23). "Когда всё может пойти не так: обзор "Кризис в Кремле" — Офтоп на DTF". DTF (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2021-04-13. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  15. ↑ "Игры от Kremlingames – список лучших, даты выхода новых игр – Издатели и разработчики". www.igromania.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2017-06-03. Retrieved 2021-02-15.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.