''Counter Action''). Known in Germany as Eastern Front (german: Ostfront) is a

real-time tactics Real-time tactics (RTT)(Article at IGN discussing their perception of RTS and related genres as of 2006. RTT is discussed as a new and not yet established genre from the publisher's perspective, so currently all RTT possible titles are still con ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

set in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The game was developed by Russian studio Nashi Igry and published by Doka for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

in 1996. In the UK and Europe outside of Russia it was published by Mindscape in 1997.

Gameplay

''Counter Action'' is a

game played from a

top-down perspective A variety of computer graphic techniques have been used to display video game content throughout the history of video games. The predominance of individual techniques have evolved over time, primarily due to hardware advances and restrictions ...

. The game takes place during

and features two campaigns: one for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and one for the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. Each campaign consists of 14 missions. ''Counter Action'' does not use the mechanics of base building and resource management. The player can't produce new units, but is allowed to request reinforcements up to 4 times depending on the mission's rules.

Reception

In Russia, ''Counter Action'' was critically well-received.

Strana Igr ''Strana Igr'' (russian: Страна игр, Gameland) was a Russian magazine focused on video games. It was published by Gameland between January 1996 and November 2013 when the magazine was suspended due to financial problems. History and pro ...

's Sergey Losev wrote that it is "the best historical real-time game" and gave it a score of 8 out of 10.

Toy Shop ''Toy Shop'' is a Simulation video game, simulation/role-playing video game video game developed by Portuguese team Seed Studios and published by Majesco Entertainment for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console. It is often compared to the Sto ...

awarded the game with its Our Choice award. However, outside of Russia ''Counter Action'' received a mixed to negative response from critics. In the British edition of ''

PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...

'', Steve Faragher gave the game 56% and pointed out that the game's

game mechanics In tabletop games and video games, game mechanics are the rules or ludemes that govern and guide the player's actions, as well as the game's response to them. A rule is an instruction on how to play, a ludeme is an element of play like the L-shap ...

is similar to ''

Command & Conquer ''Command & Conquer'' (''C&C'') is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game franchise, first developed by Westwood Studios. The first game was one of the earliest of the RTS genre, itself based on Westwood Studios' influential strategy game ''Dune I ...

''. He also noted that in comparison to its closest competitor ''

Close Combat Close combat means a violent physical confrontation between two or more opponents at short range.''MCRP 3-02B: Close Combat'', Washington, D.C.: Department Of The Navy, Headquarters United States Marine Corps, 12 February 1999Matthews, Phil, CQB ...

'', the game lacks historical accuracy. Luc-Santiago of the French magazine ''Gen4'' gave the game two stars out of 5 and also compared it to ''Close Combat'', but concluded that ''Counter Actions outdated gameplay cannot compete with it. PC Player's critic Manfred Duy gave a negative review for the game, criticizing its boring gameplay, sluggish controls, bad AI, and the unvaried green palette.

Legacy

The game has one expansion pack, ''Burnt Snow'' (russian: Опалённый снег), released in May 1997 in Russia. It expanded the original game with a multiplayer functionality, added 11 new single player scenarios set in winter, 45 multiplayer maps, several new units, and gameplay features. In 2001 Fireglow Games, a company formed by the former employees of Nashi Igry, released '' Sudden Strike'', which was marketed in Russia as a direct sequel to ''Counter Action''.

Notes

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite journal, title = Противостояние, last1 = Лосев, first1 = Сергей, journal=

, date = February 1997, issue = 10, pages = 46–47, issn = 1609-1035 {{cite journal, title = "Противостояние". Красное знамя над Рейхстагом , last1 = Кочуров, first1 = Владимир, journal=

, date = February 1996, issue = 10, pages = 30–32 {{cite journal, title= Counter Action Review , last1 = Faragher, first1 = Steve, journal=

, date = 1997, volume = 7, issue= 45, pages=122, issn=1351-3540 {{cite journal, title= Counter-Action: La Contre Attaque , last1 = Rodriguez, first1 = Luc-Santiago, journal = Gen4, date = June 1997, issue = 101, pages=208–209, issn = 1351-3540 {{cite journal, title= Ostfront, last1 = Duy, first1 = Manfred , journal = PC Player, date = February 1998, pages = 173 {{cite journal, title = Опаленный снег, journal =

, date = August 1997, issue = 15, pages=110–113, issn = 1609-1035 {{cite web , url = http://www.ag.ru/games/sudden-strike/preview/67 , title = Превью игры Sudden Strike , author = Денис Давыдов , date = 2000-06-01 , website = Absolute Games , accessdate = 2018-02-09 , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20180210181641/http://www.ag.ru/games/sudden-strike/preview/67 , archivedate = 2018-02-10 {{cite journal, title = Clone & Conquer? История и перспективы жанра real-tile стратегии , last1 = Cамойлов , first1 = Иван , journal=

Game World Navigator ''Game World Navigator'' (russian: Навигатор игрового мира) is a Russian computer games magazine founded in 1997. It is owned by Navigator Publishing, which also produced other gaming magazines. The magazine is published mon ...

, date = September 1997 , issue = 6 , pages = 8–19, issn = 1680-3264 {{cite web , url = http://www.doka.ru:80/1251/games/index.htm , title = WWW сервер компании ДОКА! , language = ru , website = Doka.ru , publisher = ДОКА , date = 1997 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/19980204123815/http://www.doka.ru:80/1251/games/index.htm , quote = Начиная с декабря 1996 г. две наших игры, Противостояние и Чемпионат ралли, прочно удерживают лидирующее место по объемам продаж на российском рынке , access-date = 2021-05-11 , archive-date = 1998-02-04 1996 video games Doka (video game developer) games DOS games DOS-only games Mindscape games Multiplayer and single-player video games Real-time tactics video games Video games developed in Russia Video games with expansion packs World War II video games