Second Front: Germany Turns East

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Second Front: Germany Turns East
Second Front Germany Turns East 1990 box cover.png
Developer(s) Strategic Simulations
Publisher(s) Strategic Simulations
Designer(s) Gary Grigsby
Platform(s) MS-DOS, Amiga
Release1990
Genre(s) Computer wargame

Second Front: Germany Turns East is a 1990 computer wargame developed and published by Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI). Designed by Gary Grigsby, it is a spiritual successor to his earlier game War in Russia .

Contents

Gameplay

Second Front is a grand strategy wargame that simulates the conflict between German and Soviet Russian forces during World War II, along the Eastern Front. [1]

Development

Production of Second Front began in 1989. The game was designed by Gary Grigsby, and was his first project for the IBM PC format. [2] Second Front draws on the design of Grigsby's earlier War in Russia , updated to a grand strategy structure; [3] [4] Grigsby had at first planned it as a straight remake of War in Russia. [4] It was shown off at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in early 1990, [4] and released around the middle of that year. [5] [6]

Reception

According to William R. Trotter of Game Players PC Entertainment , Second Front received critical acclaim, and was "generally hailed as the most satisfying WWII Russian Front war game yet released for the PC format." [5]

Reviewing Second Front for Computer Gaming World , M. Evan Brooks wrote that Second Front was "recommended as a mandatory purchase [for] the grognard". However, he argued that its "documentation may be summed up as abysmal", which increased its learning curve. [8] Gary Bolton of Games International called it "a valuable addition to the already large array of East Front computer games." [1]

Legacy

Grigsby followed Second Front with Western Front , which adapts the Second Front gameplay system to conflicts on World War II's Western Front. [5] Second Front itself was later retooled to create Gary Grigsby's War in Russia , [9] a game that Retro Gamer noted was "regarded by some as Grigsby's finest SSI outing." [2]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Bolton, Gary (July 1990). "Second Front". Games International (16): 46.
  2. 1 2 Ritchie, Craig (November 2007). "Developer Lookback; Strategic Simulations Inc (Part 2 of 2)". Retro Gamer (43): 82–87.
  3. ↑ DeMaria, Rusel (December 2018). "Opportunity Knocks: The Story of SSI". High Score! Expanded: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games (3rd ed.). CRC Press. pp. 166–171. ISBN   978-0-429-77139-2.
  4. 1 2 3 Staff (February 1990). "Entertainment Software 'On The Pass Line'". Computer Gaming World . No. 68. pp. 34, 38, 39, 42, 47, 71.
  5. 1 2 3 Trotter, William R. (January–February 1992). "Reviews; Western Front". Game Players PC Entertainment : 56.
  6. ↑ Trotter, William R. (November–December 1993). "The Desktop General; The Second Coming of Second Front: Gary Grigsby's War in Russia". Game Players PC Entertainment : 48, 50.
  7. ↑ Staff (June 1990). "Second Front". The Games Machine : 75.
  8. ↑ Brooks, M. Evan (June 1990). "Hitler's Second Front: SSI's Strategic Eastern Front World War II Game". Computer Gaming World . No. 72. pp. 44–46.
  9. ↑ Dille, Ed (November 1993). "The New Face of War". Electronic Games . 2 (2): 60–62.
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