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Blake
PostPosted: Tue Sep 23, 2025 8:29 pm 
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M. Johnson wrote:
You really would assume someone from the History Channel would have proofread what they were doing.


Definitely no fact-checker was employed that's for sure. I'm trudging along in the game still. I'm playing it now just for laughs.

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Blake
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2025 2:55 pm 
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Mission 8: Chattanooga

I muddle onwards as Pvt. Colin Geary in this one.

Once again the voiceover at the start proclaims that Rosecrans was replaced by Grant... poor Thomas gets no respect at all even in video games!

My mission? Well it starts with some non-playable character babbling to me about how his brother was killed at Bull Run and his "mama" died soon after, then as he goes on he is (thankfully) shot and killed with a dramatic gasp and thump to the ground. Adios compadre. Now I am to "use the trenches to reach the top of the mountain." Bragg wasn't entrenched at Chattanooga (stupidly) so I can tell this is going to be another really historically accurate mission :roll:

I pick up my Henry Rifle and my Colt Revolving Rifle and head off. I've got lots of firepower in this one! About halfway up Missionary Ridge (?) I find a gatling gun the Rebs foolishly left unmanned and pointing at their own lines. Fools! I cut them down in a hurry and move on.

I find (another) mortally wounded courier who informs me the Rebs have a weakness in their line and to find the commander to let him know. Whatever... I move on.

Reaching the commander (?) he tells me that with one more assault we can push the Rebs back to Richmond (which would be amazing considering Richmond is about 500 miles away!). We charge out and then the mission suddenly ends anti-climatically. I guess we win.

Rebs Killed: 66
Accuracy: 74%

Next Mission: Fort Fisher... going to the seaboard I guess!

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Blake
PostPosted: Fri Sep 26, 2025 10:44 pm 
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Mission 9: Fort Fisher

Pvt. Jim O'Neil reporting for duty! I'm listed as in the Marine Corps... but there are no Marines in this battle so I must be an army of one!

I'm told the entire Confederacy relies on Fort Fisher (really?) and without it the Confederacy would not survive. I did not realize that but I've learned a lot of new things from this game.

My Mission? Secure the landing zone and prepare to assault the fort. Kind of feels like the Civil War version of Omaha Beach. I've got my Spencer Rifle so away I go.

I clear the (lightly held) beach and then skirt along the enemy fort searching for a swamp to meet up with the main attack force (who apparently knew some other route to reach the fort which makes me wonder why I had to attack up the beach!). Once there I find just two other soldiers (what the hell kind of attack is this?) who tell me to go blow up some cannon emplacements. Why is it always my job?

Despite having a whole fortress to use for protection the Rebs keep jumping over the walls to attack me banzai style. Rude! But I carry on. I single-handedly fight my way into the fort blowing things up as I go. I destroy the Rebel guns and the mission ends.

After this, the voiceover tells me, "the end is in sight for the Confederacy."

Rebels Killed: 63
Accuracy: 82%

Next Mission: Selma.... I was not expecting to go to Selma but I have nothing else to do so sure.

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Blake
PostPosted: Fri Sep 26, 2025 10:49 pm 
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Mission 10: Selma

I am Pvt. John Howard in this one and part of Wilson's force trying to defeat Forrest's army (?) and capture enemy supplies. Oddly, my commander is the same commander I've seen die in a few missions already so apparently he keeps respawning or is simply a vampire by this point.

I am ordered to attack Selma across a large and sprawling battlefield where the Rebs have entrenched and look to be in greater numbers than ever. I better load up my Smoothbore Musket... gees... nothing but the best for us Yanks in 1865 :roll: Selma is off in the distance looking like Stalingrad with bombed out buildings smoking and ablaze.

Well, first off, the damned Rebels have gatling guns! Where did Forrest get those from!? This is going to be a pain in the butt but someone has to end this war... might as well be me. I try to kill the men on the gatling gun from an elevated position but despite having a clear shot... they don't go down. Bulletproof vests or gaming error? Whatever... It turns out the gatling gun can't be attacked directly and so I find a trench heading around it. Luckily the great siege of Selma saw both armies building miles and miles and miles of trenches. I am told by my commander that the "great offensive on the city" is about to begin and I must deliver a message to make sure it succeeds. Given the Rebs are entrenched with gatling guns I reckon I ought to be careful.

I go through the enemy trenches like Sergeant York (albeit with a musket) and soon penetrate the enemy defenses. I then am told to make a run through the trees to find the commander (who apparently has set up HQ behind enemy lines or something). I reach him after a short jog along the trail while slashing at enemy soldiers with my bayonet.

I inform him we are ready to attack and he, and a bunch of other 70-year-old soldiers, holler charge and off we go. End of mission.

The History Channel tells us "not even Forrest can stop the Union armies and the Confederacy is doomed."

Rebels Killed: 42
Accuracy: 77%

Next Mission? Cold Harbor??? I am turning coat again to go and play as the Johnny Rebs! Here we go again!

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Blake
PostPosted: Sat Sep 27, 2025 4:11 pm 
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Mission 11: Cold Harbor

I've gone back in time from Selma to fight at Cold Harbor as a Reb? Sure, why not? I am listed as Pvt. Mosley "a veteran." I must be unattached to a unit or something.

"Grant commands an army 500,000 strong," apparently Pinkerton is giving the game developers their numbers because the AotP surely wasn't 500k strong and Grant's overall numbers as GinC were far more than that. And Grant wasn't commanding the AotP, Meade was. Much like Thomas, Meade gets no respect.

My mission is to get behind Union lines, cut the telegraph and "just for fun" blow up the enemy bridge. Sure sounds fun to me! Let's get going.

I've got my Repeating Rifle for this one (thankfully). I head up the road and fight a bunch of Yanks before cutting the telegraph line and finding some explosives conveniently left unguarded. Following the RR tracks I find the bridge I am to blow up. That being done... the mission ends. Hardly worth my time to blow it up and a waste of time generally.

It "ends" with the narrator saying the "end is in sight." I swear I've heard that before. I hope it is true.

Yanks killed: 42
Accuracy: 82%

Next Mission: Petersburg. That has to be the end... right?

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Blake
PostPosted: Sat Sep 27, 2025 4:14 pm 
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Mission 12: Petersburg (Union side)

Once more I swap over to the Union side! Here I go as USA Pvt. Frank Adams, infantryman. Any relation to Don Adams I wonder.

Showing the overhead game map of the war in 1865... I've noticed West Virginia (est. 1863) is not shown and instead it is simply all Virginia. Obviously one of my kin was in charge of mapmaking as I still resent the secession of West Virginia from the fine and noble state of Virginia. :mrgreen:

This is the last point of Confederate resistance I am told... one more fight. I hope that's true.

My mission.... to kill enemy soldiers. Straightforward! Time to end the Rebellion!

This feels a lot like Berlin 1945 as the Yanks are invading Petersburg and the fighting is street by street. I don't recall reading that.

The fighting here is rough as the Rebs are everywhere with their Repeating Rifles. I have to storm past City Hall (?) with what looks like a Confederate Monument already established out in front of it. Having blown up some obstructions I am to go and free Union prisoners. I free the prisoners (who were oddly enough already armed and ready to fight) and then return to my commander. He tells me we are to tear down the Rebel flag and raise the American flag. Huzzah!

After fighting my way past a bunch of Rebs, I reach the flag pole and the remaining Rebs surrender as I tear down the Stars and Bars. Me and the other Union soldiers help up the wounded Rebs and salute Old Glory together (USA!).

The voiceover at the end tells us that the Confederacy is defeated and the war is coming to an end. Grant has lost over "100,000 men in this battle alone." Petersburg was deadlier than I thought on April 2. Maybe they meant in the campaign.

Rebs Killed: 26
Accuracy: 76%

END OF GAME

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Blake
PostPosted: Sat Sep 27, 2025 4:21 pm 
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Wow... WORST GAME EVER!!!

Who made this garbage? Let's get some information finally.

Well, the credits told me all I needed to know. The game was developed by Cauldron Studios based in the Czech Republic. They teamed with Activision and the History Channel to release this game but the main programming was done in the Czech Republic. I'm guessing neither they nor anyone at the History Channel did more than make sure the Rebs were in gray and the Yanks in blue before they just said "okay" on this low budget game. What the hell, I bet they thought, release it and get it off our plate.

According to Wikipedia...
Upon its release, Civil War received mixed reviews with the main criticisms being stale gameplay, average graphics, low difficulty, poor AI, and the short length of the game, also, many people complained about various historical mistakes, or even lack of important details (like incorrect uniforms, lack of various infantries and regiments which is especially noticeable during the Bull Run level). However, many critics were pleased by the unique setting and fresh gameplay.

To make a Civil War game, considering how educated and exacting Civil War consumers are, cannot be easy. But to make a blatantly bad one is almost a sin.

The really bad news is that they did a sequel to this game... will I play it? You know I will! I had many good laughs playing this one and its good to play a mindless game every now and then. I will surely let you know how that experience goes.

In general, I'm sorry, but you can't do a Civil War first-person shooter game. You just can't. It does not work in any way. I could list all the reasons but I see no need to.

The "oldest" historical war which works as a first-person shooter is WW1, which was done brilliantly about 8 years ago in the Battlefield series of games (the game was called Battlefield 1). The game was very good and well received by critics for the most part. I played it a ton and, despite being set in trenches, offered fun and fast gameplay with numerous weapons, vehicles, and planes. None of that happens in pre-20th Century wars. In wars where the main tactic was to stand up en masse and fire on the enemy the idea of a first person shooter simply doesn't work.

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M. Johnson
PostPosted: Wed Oct 01, 2025 1:51 pm 
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Not the worst game dealing with a Civil War general. Don't forget about Nintendo's "Custer's Revenge" which was banned in the 80s.

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Blake
PostPosted: Thu Oct 02, 2025 12:07 pm 
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M. Johnson wrote:
Not the worst game dealing with a Civil War general. Don't forget about Nintendo's "Custer's Revenge" which was banned in the 80s.


That was for Atari. I agree that is inarguably one of the worst games ever made. But it is still remembered 40 years later, lol.

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