European Escalation still the best title in the series

[Lonfield]

I have played all three titles and find by quite a margin that European Escalation is still the best title in the series.

Totally agree...

Another totally agree, Eugen should realize this fact asap.

[Numbers]

Despite the fact that EE remains my favorite of all three games, I enjoy RD and ALB quite a lot as well. They just offer a different sort of enjoyment.

I'll play EE if I want to have tank battles and mechanized pushes that aren't over in 5 seconds because of ATGM jet trains.

I'll play RD if I want to have giant spam battles, non-stop action, and pretty explosions everywhere.

If Eugen were to re-release EE, but with a few of the features of the later games like a reserve-move order and smokescreens, I'd love it forever, cash-grab or not.

[S4BoT]

While I too enjoyed EE a lot, it's hard going back. the empty apcs you could call in were annoying, and the huge amounts of arty one could use too. Also, graphically, it kinda looks like neon light fields. Also the housing system is better now.

I think I enjoyed Alb the most, the ship addition in RD was kinda unnecessary imo.

And to the guy above saying tank battles don't last long in RD. I disagree, with the tungies on one side and patriots on the other side and the fact that most use heavy tanks now, it's hard to lose tanks to atgm planes without them making more losses. At least i haven't had problems with it.

[JBravo]

I agree. If they just updated some of the mechanics (reverse, etc.) would be a no brainer.

People will say RD and ALB are better, but EE is the only game where you can take the time to form a plan and carry it out without half your units getting wiped out or stunned by air power the second your enemy realizes he's been had. Yeah yeah, ADN, ASF, whatever. In games like this, to a point, simplicity is key. EE was already very complicated for its time.

Also the across the board lower accuracy on units promoted battle longevity and opened the door for actual battle tactics to be used such as flanking since you don't have to worry about getting dropped by a 70%+vet accuracy M1A2 the second you expose your side armor to maneuver around the enemy. 50% accuracy was huge, and only a couple tanks in the game could shoot at 50%. Plus everything was rookie unless you paid for veterancy.

The flashy nature of ALB and RD attracts many "gamers", but to me, EE will remain the purely thinking mans game.

[Sarvik]

I agree with this, EE captivated me more then later versions. Not saying that everything was best there, it had its issues (empty APCs, decks, city combat), but overall feel was imo superior to ALB and RD. If Eugen returns to Wargame then I would suggest them to look at EE for how Wargame should feel.

[keebs63]

I liked ALB, but the Protos in this game just do not belong. There should be no M1A2, T-90, Chally 2s, none of that crap. They pushed the boundaries and now all of these units are useless because they are simply out classed by all the superheavies and super SPAAG and super IFVs and super infantry. It should have stayed 1990 with very few OOTF units to fill essential(not flavourful) gaps in nations. Also, there should be no limitation on number of transports, especially since we cant haul inf around in trucks

[Yakhont]

EE had the best gameplay because it got its final patch which was well tested and crafted.

ALB improved UI and controls, Armoury and display of unit stats, added deck specialisations and had a pretty long patch cycle but in the end had no final balance patch.

RD improved the deck systems and added coalitions that laid a foundation for gameplay balance around deck superpowers and coalitions.

Pure Naval gameplay has fundamental problems and is neither interesting nor fun for more than a few games. However it is satisfactory for interacting with land units and amphibious landings.

RD is still in the patch cycle and with no sequel so maybe Eugen will continue balancing for a long time.

[keebs63]

RD did not improve the deck system.....

[JBravo]

It's definitely hard to go back to EE without the improvements of ALB such as smoke and reverse.

I personally liked the deck system more in EE. I enjoyed being able to field a wide variety of units, some of which I didn't really pick but can still use them because I liked something in their family. It was hard to balance though, doubt it would work in these later games.

[Lonfield]

reverse is far more important than smoke