DEFCON: Global Nuclear Domination Game

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Description

The world is on the brink of Armageddon. A full-scale global thermonuclear war has broken out, and as a general in a bunker somewhere, you must direct your offensive and defensive systems to nuke your opponents. Nobody wins, but maybe you can lose the least. Everybody dies.

DEFCON is an online multiplayer strategy game, but it can also be played in a singleplayer mode. Players place units, such as missile silos, airbases and radar dishes, on their territorial maps, and the game counts down from DEFCON 5 to DEFCON 1, during which time the players are to make strategic choices to eliminate their opponents without losing too much themselves.

The gameplay is shown on a large world map and the action is represented by icons and lines reminiscent of the drawing style of their two previous games: Darwinia and Uplink.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Alternate Titles

• "DEFCON: Strategic Nuclear War" -- 2007 budget release title
• "Defcon: Guerre Mondiale Thermonucléaire " -- French title
• "DEFCON: guerra termonucleare globale" -- Italian title
• "DEFCON: Globalna Wojna Termonuklearna" -- Polish title
• "DEFCON: Everybody Dies" -- European title

Part of the Following Groups

• Middleware: SDL
• Technology: amBX

User Reviews

So damned dark, its hard to take it seriously.	Windows	Victor Joseph (9)
A breathtaking anti-war game	Windows	Lumpi (206)
A so-so game that makes you feel like a horrible person	Windows	kvn8907 (180)

Critic Reviews

GotNext	Windows	Nov 08, 2006		90
GamingExcellence	Windows	Dec 30, 2006	8.6 out of 10	86
IGN	Windows	Oct 20, 2006	8.5 out of 10	85
Press Start Online	Windows	Sep 25, 2006	17 out of 20	85
FZ	Windows	Oct 09, 2006		80
GamerDad	Windows	Oct 04, 2006		80
PC Games (Germany)	Windows	Oct 23, 2006	76 out of 100	76
GameStar (Germany)	Windows	Nov, 2006	75 out of 100	75
DarkZero	Windows	Jun 17, 2007	7 out of 10	70
Bordersdown	Windows	Feb, 2007	6 out of 10	60

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
When the Bomb Goes Off	1	Lumpi (206) May 07, 2009

Trivia

1001 Video Games

DEFCON appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Inspiration

DEFCON is probably inspired by Wargames more than anything else (the movie and it's videogame adaptation). The game's look as well as text on the main menu are direct references to this.

Sound

DEFCON applies a bunch of casual sounds to heighten the psychological effect of dealing with a thermonuclear war. Among these, the background music stays very much in the background. However as the game approaches the Defcon 1 stage, the background music increases in both tempo and strength. During actual nuclear war, piano key strikes can be heard as nuclear warheads impact with cities.

Awards

• Games for Windows Magazine
  • March 2007 - #6 Game of the Year

Information also contributed by PCGamer77 and WildKard

Related Web Sites

• DEFCON (Official game website)
• DEFCON (DEFCON Wikipedia article.)
• How We Learned to Stop Worrying (An Apple Games article about the Mac version of DEFCON (April, 2007).)