''V for Victory'', or ''V4V'' for short, is a series of
turn-based strategy
A turn-based strategy (TBS) game is a Strategy video game, strategy game (usually some type of wargaming, wargame, especially a wargaming#Unit or map scale, strategic-level wargame) where players take Time-keeping systems in games, turns when pla ...
games set during
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 ...
. They were the first releases for
Atomic Games
Atomic Games, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas, specializing in wargames. The company was founded by Keith Zabalaoui in 1989, and is best known for developing the ''Close Combat'' series of real-time wargames, as ...
who went on to have a long career in the wargame industry.
Like earlier computer adaptions of the pen-and-paper wargame genre, V4V used a hex-based map covering its area of action and used military markers to indicate the location of various units. However, V4V used a much simpler
user interface
In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...
where commands were given by point-and-click and dragging the units on-screen with the mouse, compared to arcane commands and map coordinates used in earlier games. At the same time, the
game engine
A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs. The "engine" terminology is similar to the term "software engine" used in the software i ...
was able to simulate many operational factors that earlier games like ''
Squad Leader
''Squad Leader'' is a tactical level board war game originally published by Avalon Hill in 1977. It was designed by John Hill and simulates on infantry combat in Europe during World War II. One of the most complex war games of its time, ''Squa ...
'' had to ignore in order to avoid overloading the user with minutia.
The result was a wargame that was both easy to play and had considerably more operational detail at the same time. It was lauded by players and reviewers, who called it a "must have". The original scenario, ''D-Day Utah Beach'', was a best-seller and was followed by three additional scenario packs. The system was written so that the scenarios plugged into a common base application, allowing users to launch newer games from whichever scenario they purchased first.
Games
Four games were produced in the series:
D-Day Utah Beach
Covers operations in the
Utah Beach
Utah, commonly known as Utah Beach, was the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944 (D-Day), during World War II. The westernmost of the five code-named la ...
and
Cotentin Peninsula
The Cotentin Peninsula (, ; nrf, Cotentîn ), also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy that forms part of the northwest coast of France. It extends north-westward into the English Channel, towards Great Britain. To its w ...
during the weeks after the initial
D-Day
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...
invasions. Includes an optional scenario where the original airborne landing areas on the west coast of the peninsula were used.
Velikiye Luki
This scenario pack covers the Soviet offensive against the German occupation during the
Battle for Velikiye Luki
The Battle of Velikiye Luki, also named Velikiye Luki offensive operation (russian: Великолукская наступательная операция), started with the attack by the forces of the Red Army's Kalinin Front against the We ...
in late 1942.
Market-Garden
Covers
Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden was an Allies of World War II, Allied military operation during the World War II, Second World War fought in the Netherlands from 17 to 27 September 1944. Its objective was to create a Salient (military), salient into G ...
and various actions by the units involved.
Gold-Juno-Sword
Revisits the D-Day beaches, this time covering the operations in the British and Canadian sectors and their battle to take
Caen
Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000, A third reviewer criticized ''Velikiye Luki'' and ''Market Garden'' as buggy and flawed. While praising ''V for Victory: Gold-Juno-Sword''s documentation and
SVGA graphics
Super VGA (SVGA) is a broad term that covers a wide range of computer display standards that extended IBM's VGA specification.
When used as shorthand for a resolution, as VGA and XGA often are, SVGA refers to a resolution of 800×600.
History
...
, he stated that the fourth game "succeeds only a technological level, bereft of soul" and compared the series to "a line of books without an editor". The reviewer concluded that "Three-Sixty's reputation in the hobby has suffered a major blow".
In 1994, ''
PC Gamer US
''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 mag ...
'' named ''Utah Beach'' the 14th best computer game ever. The editors wrote, "The ''V for Victory'' series is quite simply the most playable war games available, with an easy-to-master interface and admirable depth of game play." They continued, "We single out ''Utah Beach'' because it launched the series — but by all means, check out ''Velikiye Luki'', ''Gold*Juno*Sword'', and ''Market Garden'', too."
The ''V for Victory'' series collectively won ''
Computer Games Strategy Plus
''Computer Games Magazine'' was a monthly computer and console gaming print magazine, founded in October 1988 as the United Kingdom publication ''Games International''. During its history, it was known variously as ''Strategy Plus'' (October 1 ...
''s 1992 "Game of the Year" award. The magazine's Brian Walker wrote that it "achieved what many computer wargames have been trying to do for years: successfully convert a board wargame onto computer." ''Computer Games'' likewise named it the year's best wargame.