Building Corpus of AH PC Games for study work

Hey, you alternative historians ;-)

I'm about to start my history paper dealing with counterfactual history in modern computer games (PC). Actually I wanted to present the corpus of games I'm going to work with and you might have some suggestions before I start. I am open for every kind of (constructive) criticism!

[FONT=&quot]strategy games:
World in Conflict --> guess a must-have for the Cold War gone Wild setting!
Hearts of Iron 2 /Addon --> interesting games in terms of long-term development
Medieval 2: Total War / Addon --> same as Hearts of Iron, but another setting
Command and Conquer Red Alert 2/3 --> classical AH setting?

Adventure:
Titanic: Adventure out of time --> actually I've only heard of this game but never played it. Still the idea seems intriguing.

RPG:
Fallout 1 / 2 --> this is debatable. Is Fallout AH or a clear sci-fi setting? I think as it's based on assumptions that where prominent in the US 50s, it surely has some images of history and presents those, which is crucial for my research.

Shooter:
Turning Point: Fall of Liberty --> one of the few shooters I had in mind, as it is settled in a clear alternative setting.
Fallout 3 --> actually the same as Fallout 1/2
Stalker: Shadow of Cernobyl(???) --> I had this one in mind, but admit that I don't see any traces of AH setting in here, so if noone suggests something else, I'm going to kick it.

I've also got two older games in mind:
Balance of Power by Chris Crawford
Shadow President

And I'll maybe look into Tropico3, as this is somehow settled to the Cold War Crisis.

So, this would be my corpus. Like to read your comments, feel free to debate! :)
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Red Alert: I would look at the first one as well. For one thing, while including fantastic elements into the story, once the story gets going (that is, once the initial fantastic element has caused the POD) they do not become pivotal to the overall conflict in the same way as they do in RA2. I would make a rant about RA3, EA missing the point, and such, but... hm, if you look at RA1, one thing to remember: do not analyse it solely as the game before RA2 and RA3; when released it was intended to be a prequel to Tiberian Dawn; that is, it was intended to make another game AH.

As for Fallout, they are AH, but there is no clear POD. It just seems the 50s continued, but somewhere along the way Red China took over from the Soviet Union as the Enemy.
 
There's so many out there that I fear you'd get overwhelmed if you attempted to tackle them all. For a serious paper, I'd recommend choosing a handful that are representative of types of game and eras in history.
 
Rhye's and Fall of Civilization

Then there are game modifications (or mods) made by dedicated fans.

I am a huge fan of Sid Meier's Civilization series.
And Rhye's mods for the games are on top of my list.
 
Don't use Red Alrt 3, for the lof God don't use it. It's a horrid example of AH in every sense of the word. 1/2 would be much better because they follow the same POD, where 3 does not, although it's related.

I would say maybe narrow down the list a little, although I don't know the size of the paper you're trying to write.
 

Sachyriel

Banned
Freedom Fighters.

j08tg2.jpg


Soviets invade the USA, and start winning until you (a plumber;)) show up to kill every last one of those godless communists...
 
Well, there's the Fourth Protocol game. Not exactly AH, but one of the endings is.

The Fourth Protocol, the game of Frederick Forsyth's novel from 1984, revolves around a Soviet plot to explode a nuclear bomb near a US Air Force base in Britain to influence the upcoming British elections by shocking the voters into electing an anti-NATO, anti-American, anti-nuclear, pro-Soviet government. Mess up the defusing of the nuke and you are told that the plan succeeded, the Russians were invited into the UK and began working on Europe from both fronts. Alternatively, things go even worse: the bomb leads to a limited nuclear war, destroying both sides and making the northern hemisphere uninhabitable. This comes "From the annals of the Australio-Indonesian Empire..."
 
Here's something: World War Zero (aka Iron Storm). It's a shooter that takes place in an ATL 1964 where the Great War has raged for several decades and continues to drag on. As an added bonus, a blatant expy of Ungern-Sternberg serves as the villain of the whole game.
 

MrP

Banned
There's so many out there that I fear you'd get overwhelmed if you attempted to tackle them all. For a serious paper, I'd recommend choosing a handful that are representative of types of game and eras in history.

I think Amerigo's right unless you're writing something very long indeed.

That said, Enigma: Rising Tide is quite fun, albeit not frightfully plausible. Germany wins WWI, then invades and conquers the UK, installing Edward VIII as a puppet monarch. Churchill and George VI flee to India aboard HMS Hood, where they set up an alliance with the Japanese, plotting and scheming to reacquire Britain. Fast forward about ten years and the League of Free Nations (Japan and Anglo-run India) are trying to trick America into a war with Germany. Fun stuff!
 
Here's something: World War Zero (aka Iron Storm). It's a shooter that takes place in an ATL 1964 where the Great War has raged for several decades and continues to drag on. As an added bonus, a blatant expy of Ungern-Sternberg serves as the villain of the whole game.

Thanks for the advice, I actually had that one in mind and forgot it! Wuhu, good thing you reminded me, as I wanted to implement some more shooter games.

@MrP/Amerigo: well, the amount will be a 100+ pages and I have 5 months for the whole work, so I guess I've got some pages for some games. Thank you for Enigma: Rising Tide, both games (Enigma and World War Zero) will be added to my list. I am still not sure about Fallout 1/2/3 and, as I heard some concerns already, Red Alert 3. Bad thing that I am still searching a copy of RA 1, maybe ebay can help me out on this one!

Thanks a lot, really good advices and I'm looking forward hearing from you girls and guys! :)
 
uh, sweet! Thank you! As I didn't see it on Amazon or such I didn't actually search for a download version as this normally leads to rapidshare and company - no thanks. But this is actually great!
 
And I'll probably take Making History 2, as soon as it's released. Did anyone play the first game and is it interesting, or just a poor man's Hearts of Iron?
 
Europa Universalis 2 had a bunch of alternate history mods available. Victoria might also be of interest.
 

Sachyriel

Banned
I know Iron Storm was already mentioned but do you guys know how awesome that game is?

It has attack dogs that are attached to remote-controlled explosives controlled by conscripts. If you don't shoot them and make them explode far away from yourself your next shot might make them explode so close to you that you die from the shrapnel as they explode too close from you.

But if you try to avoid the explosion they're going to eat your jugular for an appetizer.

Say nothing about their handlers...

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...who are armed with grenade launchers that shoot into bunker hallways.

Trust me I'm loving this game but I'm too dumb to get past the "Get Captured By The Enemy" mission.
 
Resistance Fall of Man has clear sci-fi elements, but it also has a rarely long and specific time line on the website. So it's essentially ASB AH. It is a shooter, though. War Front: Turning Point is a strategy game, but it is definitly set in an alternate history WWII.
 
And I'll probably take Making History 2, as soon as it's released. Did anyone play the first game and is it interesting, or just a poor man's Hearts of Iron?

It's a good game, but it's a history game, not an alternate history game.

Pepper's Adventures in Time was a little edutainment game which had you trying to restore history - if you lose, Britain still controls the Thirteen Colonies in the present.

Kronolog - the Nazi Paradox (and its sister-game Red Hell) look at the future (2020) after alternate endings to the Second World War. In Kronolog, the Germans win, in Red Hell, the Soviets really win somehow. You play a member of the resistance trying to change the timeline (or restore our timeline from our point of view).

Shadow President comes packaged with two scenarios, one which posits a US economic slump putting it behind the resurgent economies of Germany and Japan, and another which has Saddam go crazy in Gulf War I and invades Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Jordan before the US can/does intervene. This has my personal recommendation, it's a great game for the first term of your presidency. Once you're four years into the game it gets a bit dull, as you should have a lid on everything by then.
 
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