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SSI have been doing war-games for absolutely years, but they are always computer versions of board war-games (the ones with lots of little counters and dice) so I wasn’t expecting much of this offering.

The game is set during the Korean war, which is a new era for me so the novelty helped. Three different variations can be played, and a future mid-Nineties one too. The aerial dimension is good, different air forces can be sent on different tasks. It has to be said that the Communist air force is more of an idea than a threat, but aerial play balance isn’t in evidence. Bomb them Reds!

Lay on top of this an excellent point-and-click interface, fairly fast screen update, lots of options to change the land war play balance and it makes for a fine war game. Nothing new but better than other recent SSI releases. And it multi-tasks!
Pat McDonald

Verdict: 70%

Title Conflict: Korea
Publisher Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI)
Game Type Strategy
Players 1-2
Compatibility ?
HD Installable Yes
Submission Carl Lund

Review
Designed by Norm Koger, Jr. (Red Lightning, Stellar Crusade, Conflict:
Middle East), Conflict: Korea (C:K) looks at both historical and
hypothetical conflicts on the Korean peninsula. Several scenarios are
included; however, a complete campaign game of the historical Korean
conflict is not. This wargame is at an operational level. That term is
usually a bit fuzzy; think of it as being between tactical (i.e.
man-to-man combat) and strategic (i.e. just moving armies around).
Rather, in C:K, the player is mainly in control of divisions. If you're
not a hard-core wargamer, a grognard, the level probably doesn't mean that
much to you, though. For those newer to wargaming, be aware that C:K
follows most of the conventions of the genre. The game is played upon a
grid of hexagons. Each unit or division (basically a group of units) may
usually move from any hexagon to any bordering one, thus giving six
possible movement directions.

C:K was designed at the same time on the Amiga and PC and released
simultaneously on both platforms. What that means for the Amiga gamer is
that the game was actually designed with the Amiga in mind. The mouse
interface, so often missing or poorly done in other Amiga wargames, here
is seamlessly blended with the game. To move units, one simply clicks and
drags the mouse from one hex to another. There is plenty of information
available for either the diehard player or for those who simply wish to
learn a little more about relative unit strengths. Each unit has
information available about its weapons and, important for combat, its
effectiveness. Weather also plays a factor in the game, and the player
can access weather forecasts. C:K also models supply well. Without
supply, your soldiers, to simplify it, run out of bullets. That would be
a bad thing. There's a very nice supply map to look at to see if you have
uninterrupted supply.

Besides the ground portion of the combat, the game also simulates the
air portions. For aircraft, though, you do not have the control of
individual units you do on the ground. Rather, you assign numbers of
aircraft to such tasks as air superiority and interdiction. There is also
a political module; as historically happened, if you concentrate on an
offensive run into North Korea rather than defending the south, China will
become involved and hordes of troops will storm across the border.

The game's graphics could best be described as serviceable. No, they
are not great eye candy. However, neither are they ugly. They portray
the action in a manner that is generally aesthetically pleasing, although
you won't be impressing the neighbors with them. I would add that for a
wargame, the graphics are very good. The sound effects are utilitarian
and nothing to write home about. The documentation, though, is superb.
SSI was known for thick manuals. Thick manuals are good things. I
suppose the reading is a little dry, but it gives you everything you need
to know to play the game, and play it pretty well, with just a bit of
reading effort. If only modern manuals were as good!

To sum up, Conflict: Korea is one of the very best wargames ever
available for the Amiga. If you have any interest at all in simulating
conflicts, this would be a great place to start.