Description
The year is 1986. You take on the role of the US President or the Russian General Secretary. You have the full industrial capacity, covert forces, and military might of your country at your command. Your job? To make your country the world's most powerful and prestigious over the course of your 8 years in office. Sounds easy, doesn't it? It would be if the other guy didn't have his finger poised over a red button that could wipe out the world!
You must use diplomacy, make treaties, issue risky, covert CIA or KGB actions, or riskier, direct military intervention to prop up 3rd world countries or help their insurgents and win them to your governmental philosophy: Capitalism or Communism. The world is a big place... and the other guy could start a nuclear war over a country as tiny as Tunisia. This game is the ultimate Cold War simulation. Every action requires careful analysis and the ability to judge your opponent (computer or human) and his reaction.
The game features 62 countries, each carefully researched with up to date (as of 1985) information regarding their government, demographics, resources, etc. This game is very challenging, and will keep you up for hours. Be sure to try playing against a human too... it adds a whole new dimension.
Alternate Titles
- "Geopolitics in the nuclear age." -- Subtitle
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Trivia
This was one of the earliest Windows-only games. You'll notice how similar the game is to the Mac interface (and you'll know why Apple sued Microsoft over the similarity!). It came with a Windows "Run Time" version for users without Windows/286 so they could just play the game.
The manual actually contained a bibliography... how many games today can claim that?
For both BOP and BOP: 1990, Chris Crawford wrote this in the Acknowledgements
section:
"I conceived, designed, programmed, developed, and tested this game. Yet, no
such project is truly single-handed; every designer owes a debt of gratitude to
a large number of people who lent him their advice, their assistance, and their
sympathy."
He credits his wife, Kathy, for consulting him about all "big decisions" (he
mentions helping with the images and posing for the pic of an anti-nuke
protester).
This game was probably one of the first to include a "Nightmare" level. :)
