Defcon: quirky, but well worth the price

Back in the early 1980s, Matthew Broderick played a teenage computer hacker in Wargames. At one point in the movie, Broderick's character hacks into what he believes to be a game company's server and starts a game of “Global Thermonuclear War.”

It turns out that it's actually a military computer and Broderick's responsible for nearly starting WW III, but that's not the point.

That one scene with Broderick 's character offhandedly targeting missiles at American cities has stuck in gamers' minds over the years. After all, who wouldn't like to (virtually) annihilate major population centers with nuclear missiles?

In short, Defcon is the Global Thermonuclear War scene from Wargames, down to the '80s era graphics — only modified. Introversion recognized that allowing players to only launch missiles at each other probably wouldn't make for a great gaming experience. So in addition to missile silos, they've given players radar sites, aircraft carriers, submarines and airbases to deploy.

It's all about game play and Defcon has two huge advantages going for it. It's easy to learn how to play and insanely addictive when you start nuking friends. But the biggest selling point? A round of Defcon can be fi nished up in around 10 minutes for those who prefer a fast, frantic game or played out over several hours for those that prefer a slower, more strategic game.

Of course, as a niche title, Defcon isn't going to appeal to everyone. Those that demand lots of eye candy in their games are likely to be disappointed by the retro 1980's graphics, as are gamers expecting a mindless action game. But for others who are willing to take a chance on a quirky – and surprisingly deep – game, Defcon's well worth the price.