Red Lightning (video game)

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Red Lightning
Red Lightning Coverart.png
Cover art of Red Lightning
Publisher(s) Strategic Simulations
Designer(s) Norm Koger
Platform(s) Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS
Release1989
1990 (Amiga)
Genre(s) Wargame
Mode(s) Single-player

Red Lightning is a wargame created by Norm Koger and published by Strategic Simulations for the Atari ST and MS-DOS in 1989. An Amiga conversion followed a year later. The game is set in Europe and hypothesizes a Soviet invasion of Western Europe.

Contents

The Box Art for Red Lightning was created by illustrator Marc Ericksen,[ citation needed ] and features Soviet T-80 tanks, with Mig-29s flying air cover, advancing under heavy weather.

Reception

In the November 1989 edition of Games International (Issue 10), John Inglis noted that the menu driven system "can be a little tedious as it takes you many keystrokes to move you from one part to the next." However, he concluded by giving the game above average ratings of 4 out of 5 for both game play and graphics, saying, "I would [...] recommend it to traditional wargamers." [1]

In the January 1994 edition of Computer Gaming World , M. Evan Brooks stated that Red Lightning's user interface had "serious flaws". While the Atari ST version's mouse-driven user interface was not as flawed, Brooks concluded that "the overall ease of use is sorely lacking in what is supposed to be computer entertainment", and gave the game a poor rating of only 2 out of 5. [2] [3] [4]

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References

  1. Inglis, John (November 1989). "Red Lightning". Games International . No. 10. pp. 51–52.
  2. Brooks, M. Evan (September 1989). "Red Lightning". Computer Gaming World. No. 63. p. 26.
  3. Brooks, M. Evan (June 1992). "The Modern Games: 1950 - 2000". Computer Gaming World. p. 120. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  4. Brooks, M. Evan (January 1994). "War In Our Time / A Survey Of Wargames From 1950-2000". Computer Gaming World. pp. 194–212.