Second Front: Germany Turns East

Second Front: Germany Turns East
Developer(s)Strategic Simulations
Publisher(s)Strategic Simulations
Designer(s)Gary Grigsby
Platform(s)MS-DOS, Amiga [1]
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.

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]

References

  1. ^ a b c Bolton, Gary (July 1990). "Second Front". Games International (16): 46.
  2. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c Staff (February 1990). "Entertainment Software 'On The Pass Line'". Computer Gaming World. No. 68. pp. 34, 38, 39, 42, 47, 71.
  5. ^ a b c 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.