There seems to be much consensus that Spec Ops: The Line is one of the starkest war games that shows the human cost of your actions. The mobile game Battle For Donetsk is explicitly designed to be an anti-war wargame. And This War of Mine puts one in the place of the "bystanders" of war, emphasising the real consequences of war rather than the cinematic (and illusory) glamour of frontline combat. Some folks also argue for titles like Fallout 3, though to me such games are about the aftermath of war and can still tout the accoutrements of war as part of the solution.

For more titles check out this article here, and a potentially persuasive argument as to why ARMA 2 could be counted as one.

Looks very interesting. Hits all the right "buttons" for me.

But some info is missing - so I cannot yet instabuy it.

For instance, can the 'level' be zoomed in/out? All the screenshots look almost suffocatingly zoomed in (unless those screenshots are cropped). I'd probably prefer it zoomed out some.

Can the level be 'rotated' (like the Shadowrun's)? (This isn't a deal-breaker, but still something I'd like to know.)

No mention of what type of save system it has.

How long or short of a game is it? The game sounds short: "Once the problem at one of the settings is solved, you continue on to the next two before undertaking a final mission to complete the campaign. Shadow Watch is a quick, but engrossing game, which is easy to learn and can be replayed time and time again."

Is each new game a 'randomly generated' thingy? If it's a new random set of missions each game that definitely adds to its replayability.

I'll have to await finding out out more about those things before I decide..

Fran Bow can now be purchased again as a gift.

Looks like my kind of game, wishlisted at least.

Can anyone say about how long it takes to finish the game (not trying to speedrun or any nonsense) just a methodical slowish play through.

Thanks in advance.

turn-based + tactical = wanna instabuy but have no budget.

wishlishted for now.

The comic book art style is quite good. And it is a turn-based strategy game so I'm definitely interested in this game. :-)
Is this one of the several games that Ubisoft advertised weakly in the past? Shadow Watch is completely unknown to me.
Like Beyond Good and Evil which is praised by all but sold poorly at launch.

Meh I think its because I played through the original Splinter Cell right after the original Deus Ex - really highlighted Tom's hard-on for the american military!

*EDIT* LOL 'Tom's Hard-on' - sounds like a porn parody of the popular tech news site!

i migth be wrong but i think Valiant Hearts: The Great War
and This War Of Mine focus more on the human side
Havent played either of them so cant say for sure.

Really glad this title showed up here, wishlisted :)

Never heard of Battle For Donetsk. Will check it out. This War of Mine doesn't fall into the type of game that I thought we were discussing in which you play a military force. I don't buy the argument that Fallout 3 is really anti-war, other than it showing that a nuclear holocaust that destroyed the entire world is a bad thing. I'm not sure many games suggest otherwise. Most of your "jingoistic" "western" war games are focused plot-wise on stopping such a holocaust, so are they "anti-war"? Spec Ops: The Line is anti-war I guess in the same way that the movie Fight Club was anti-violence. The whole argument in the article you linked that ARMA 2 is anti-war because it's realistic seemed to be a bit of a stretch to me.

I guess my whole thing is if you are going in to a game where you play a military force, you can't be surprised if there is a might makes right mentality or that the politics of the game's plot ring true to the region the writers were raised and live in.

Personally, I generally ignore plots and story in most games of that type (heck, in most games) and just focus on the gameplay. True, good, deep story writing in video games of the military variety is rare to the point of non-existence.

I knew this whole thing would play out this way regardless of what I posted, which is why I hesitated to even start down this track. We filter things through our own preconceptions, and if that's how you see things, fine. I see them differently. I was also aware that nothing I posted would convince you, since it was apparent your mind was already made up and you were just baiting me to follow up so that you could shoot it down and reaffirm your own preconceptions. But I made a gallant try anyway, and predictably you dismissed out of hand some of the same titles which other people have eloquently defended as being anti-war. ("Spec Ops: The Line is anti-war I guess in the same way that the movie Fight Club was anti-violence." is so fatuous yet falselysounds so meaningful.) So, as I knew in advance, wasted effort.

I find talking on the web so wearisome anymore, and I'm not directing this at you specifically. It's just every debate is so relativistic that it becomes meaningless. Nothing qualifies because no-one uses the same two metrics. Though I guess I'm in the wrong place for that kind of debate these days, given that a recurrent "hot topic" here is a meretricious thread that is ostensibly about "videogame journalism" and which is in fact nothing more than visceral hatred.

I'm done, though you can post the last word on this matter if you feel it's necessary. I'm too tired and in too much of a snit to care anymore. Fuck me for trying.

Just leaving this review for you and anyone else who is uncertain about the game. ;-)

http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/198607-shadow-watch/reviews/review-8965

If anyone bags this and has issues with it on win 7 - add it to the list of DEP exceptions, run as admin with xp compatability. Should sort it for ya!

It just amaze me when GOG pulls out something like this...a game from post 2000 era I never heard about.
Not interested as X-COMs are not my cup of tea, but I must admit this game has very alluring graphics.