Balance of Power

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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 eight 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 third 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.

Screenshots

Promo Images

There are no promo images for this game

Alternate Titles

• "權力平衡" -- Simplified Chinese spelling
• "Balance of Power: Geopolitics in the nuclear age" -- Tag-lined title
• "バランス・オブ・パワー" -- Japanese spelling

Part of the Following Groups

• Balance of Power series
• Genre: Simulation - Political

User Reviews

They don't make 'em like this anymore... Cold War, anyone?

DOS

Raphael (1261)

Critic Reviews

ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment)	Atari ST	Oct, 1988	950 out of 1000	95
ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment)	Amiga	Dec, 1987	950 out of 1000	95
ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment)	Atari ST	Dec, 1987	950 out of 1000	95
ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment)	Amiga	Oct, 1988	950 out of 1000	95
Tilt	Atari ST	Jun, 1987	18 out of 20	90
Happy Computer	Atari ST	1986	82 out of 100	82
Tilt	Macintosh	May, 1987	16 out of 20	80
Computer Gaming World (CGW)	Macintosh	Jun, 1991		80
Tilt	Amiga	May, 1987	14 out of 20	70
Amiga World	Amiga	Jun, 1987	Unscored	Unscored

Forums

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Trivia

Credits

Chris Crawford 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).

Difficulty

This game was probably one of the first to include a "Nightmare" level.

Manual

The manual actually contained a bibliography... how many games today can claim that?

Subversive party

For each country in the game, there's a "subversive" party/organization listed for it. For the United States, it was "Democrats".

The lost Mac original

This game was originally written for the Apple Macintosh in 1985, in a blend of Apple Pascal and 68k assembly. This version is now presumed lost, though the extant Windows 1.0 port was deemed very similar by contemporary magazines, and the sequel "Balance of Power: 1990 Edition" for Mac also survives. Check your attic!

Windows

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.

Awards

• ACE
  • October 1988 (issue #13) - Included in the Top-100 list of 1987/1988 (editorial staff selection)
  • March 1991 (issue #42) - Included in the list Greatest Games of all Time in category Strategy Games (editorial staff choice)
• Computer Gaming World
  • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) - #78 in the "150 Best Games of All Time" list
  • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #11 Best Way To Die In Computer Gaming (blowing up Earth)

Information also contributed by Kasey Chang and PCGamer77

Related Web Sites

• Chris Crawford (biography of Chris Crawford, creator of Balance of Power, its sequel, and many other games. Written by Chris himself! (site offline after 2005, but archive.org has a copy))