''Battlefront '' is a

computer wargame A computer wargame is a wargame played on a digital device. Descended from board wargaming, it simulates military conflict at the tactical, operational or strategic level. Computer wargames are both sold commercially for recreational use ...

developed and published by

Strategic Studies Group Strategic Studies Group (SSG) is an Australian software development company that makes primarily strategy wargames. The company was founded by strategy game enthusiasts Ian Trout and Roger Keating. Trout was proprietor of a military books st ...

for the

Apple II Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...

and Commodore 64 in 1986. The game is a turn-based strategy set in World War II.

Gameplay

''Battlefront'' is a corps-level simulation wargame. Upon starting the game, player chooses from one of four scenarios that depict battles of World War II. The scenarios are based on

Battle of Crete The Battle of Crete (, ), codenamed Operation Mercury (), was a major Axis Powers, Axis Airborne forces, airborne and amphibious assault, amphibious operation during World War II to capture the island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May ...

Operation Winter Storm Operation Winter Storm (), a German offensive in December 1942 during World War II, involved the German 4th Panzer Army failing to break the Soviet encirclement of the German 6th Army during the Battle of Stalingrad. In late November 1942 the ...

Battle of Saipan The Battle of Saipan was an amphibious assault launched by the United States against the Empire of Japan during the Pacific War, Pacific campaign of World War II between 15 June and 9 July 1944. The initial invasion triggered the Battle of the ...

, and

Siege of Bastogne The siege of Bastogne () was an engagement in December 1944 between American and German forces at the Belgian town of Bastogne, as part of the larger Battle of the Bulge. The goal of the German offensive was the harbor at Antwerp. In order to re ...

Development

The game was designed and programmed in 14 weeks.

Roger Keating Roger Keating is an Australian computer game designer. Along with Ian Trout, Keating co-founded of the video game company Strategic Studies Group, which is known for its strategic war and fantasy games with artificial intelligence. Keating and ...

created a dedicated disc operating system for the game that allowed rapid access to the data stored on the disc with subsequent reloading of the game screen. Additionally, Keating wrote a novel pathfinding routine that helped to minimize memory usage.

Reception

Jay Selover reviewed the game for ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...

'', and stated that "''Battlefront'' is a very good game which does an excellent job of putting the player into an authentic combat role: that of a Corps commander." A reviewer of ''

Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') is a British-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot web ...

'' praised the game's historical accuracy and the possibility to create custom scenarios, but criticised the graphics. He stated that ''Battlefront'' "is a very good attempt, but it is not the perfect game that it might have been". The game was nominated by ''

'' for Strategy Game of the Year in 1987, but lost to '' Gettysburg: The Turning Point'' by

Chuck Kroegel Chuck Kroegel (born 1952 in Oakland, California) is an American video game designer. He was an executive for many years with Strategic Simulations (SSI), and played a role in developing their position as an industry leader in war games and role- ...

. Bruce Geryk in his article "Innovation Wars", published in 2006 in ''Computer Gaming World'' described ''Battlefront'' as legendary and said that "its landmark gameplay revolutionized the genre".

Reviews

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Jeux & Stratégie ''Jeux'' (''Games'') is a ballet written by Claude Debussy. Described as a "poème dansé" (literally a "danced poem"), it was written for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes with choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky. Debussy initially objected to the ...

'' #47

References

{{Strategic Studies Group 1986 video games Strategic Studies Group games Commodore 64 games Apple II games Computer wargames Turn-based strategy video games Video games developed in Australia World War II video games Multiplayer and single-player video games