In 1962 commonsense prevailed. In the world created by 1C Company, G5 Software and Nival Interactive (published by Strategy First), it does not.

Let’s back up a touch. The historical background begins with the allies’ tenuous relationship faltering in the wake of World War II. Point and counterpoint spread across the globe and in the shadow of the Cold War, the threat of thermonuclear war became real.

In 1962 the world stood on the brink. Cuba was the powder keg that threatened to explode. In October of that year, U.S. President John F. Kennedy was informed that the Soviet Union was building a secret missile base on the island. In reality, Kennedy ordered a naval blockade and demanded that Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev remove all missile bases and their contents. For his part, Khrushchev authorized Soviet field commanders to launch tactical nuclear weapons against the U.S. if American forces invaded the island nation. For seven days the two world superpowers stared at each other, before the Soviets relented and acceded to U.S. demands. That is the reality.

Now to the fantasy …

The U.S. begins air reconnaissance over Cuba and five days later, Cuba’s leader, Fidel Castro, and the Soviet military command make the decision to shoot down any American planes inside Cuban air space. On Oct. 27 a USAF U-2 recon plane is shot from the sky and under pressure from National Security Council, Kennedy issues orders to bomb the Soviet missile positions and to invade the island. Five launchers survived the attack and nuclear bombs fell on New York City, Washington, D.C. and other U.S. prime mega-cities. Soviet troops mobilize in Europe, under instructions to capture U.S. military bases. The U.S. counters with nuclear strikes to large industrial targets and military formations in both the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc.

Moscow, London, Paris, and Berlin as well as cities in Asia are not spared the devastation and are nuclear waste zones. From the ashes of World War III, four coalitions emerge – the USSR, the Anglo-American Alliance, the Franco-German Alliance and China.

In many ways, though the nuclear war is over, the battle for global supremacy is just beginning.

That is the backdrop for Cuban Missile Crisis: The Aftermath and the set-up is a good one. Offering up online multiplayer games the game combines tactical turn-based mapboard elements with real-time combat. The single-player game is broken down into four campaigns, one for each of the factions remaining. The time frame is between 1962 and 1965, with each campaign broken into chapters that reflect different theatres of war. Resources, as well as habitable land, are up for grabs. Each of the chapters has winning conditions that must be met in order to advance the “historical” time line. But while working toward the main objectives, players are given the freedom to skirmish in other areas, capture towns and bases.

Resources are valuable. Not only do they power your forces, but you can exchange them for equipment and armament.

The game itself is broken into two modes – the turn-based strategic map, which employs a map overview as well as the ability to order up units and move them into play. Think of it a little bit like a game of chess, except you can order up equipment and move it onto the game board. You make moves and when you get to the point where conflict is inevitable, the game switches up and you go into real-time combat on a finite map.

The latter is pretty stock to anyone who has played a game like Command & Conquer. You select units and use the mouse to click on a patch of ground where you wish them to move. As enemies appear (more on that in a moment), you can right click to engage them. Units have the rock, paper, scissors theme working. Air strikes can be called in; tanks will devastate trucks and small howitzer placements, and so on. There is a problem, though, with the way this all works out. Take the tank, for example. It can plow through the terrain and environment elements just disappear as the tank moves over them. Poof! There one moment and then gone, almost like you are dispersing the fog of war.

Enemies cannot be seen until you are in firing range. At the lower difficulty settings, this is not such a big deal, but the pacing of the game really slows at the higher difficulty levels simply because with this quirk, you can lose units without much forewarning.  

The control scheme is rather intuitive in this game, and that plays into the style of the game. This is very much a point-and-click driven game.  

The sounds of the game are nothing that truly stands out, but what is here is decent for the game. The graphics come in two flavors – ‘mundane’ and ‘below average.’ The latter applies to the turn-based portion and the former describes the real-time combat elements. The real-time combat of Panzer Elite Action was much better when it came to terrain elements and troop movements within the maps. But Cuban Missile Crisis: The Aftermath is decent and the online aspect is much more entertaining.

This title plays off a decent concept but quickly becomes a somewhat linear single-player experience that while challenging feels directed. But give the developers props for the way they combined two genres (turn-based and real-time combat) in a manner that is somewhat compelling. But all that said, the game has some unique ideas but the way they are pulled off is a little on the ordinary side.

Gameplay: 6.7
The controls are intuitive to a certain degree and the load times are not overly long. The game will eat a fair amount of HD space though – almost 1.3 gigs.

Graphics: 6.0
Neither the turn-based mapboard strategic elements nor the real-time combat will cause any wonder. The game is very ordinary looking, at best.

Sound: 5.5
Nothing above average here.

Difficulty: Medium
There are four difficulty settings, from low to deadly. The low end is too easy, the high end is frustrating tough and gamers should move at a slower pace.

Concept: 7.5
The melding of the two genres is a fine idea and will provide a great base as the dev team moves the concept forward.

Multiplayer: 7.0
It is always more entertaining to play a game like this against a human foe as opposed to the AI.

Overall: 6.8
The game has some fine elements, but feels a little too directed at times and while pulling two diverse genres together is novel, not really enough attention was paid to either to create an experience that will draw players back time and again.