I enjoy playing Clash of Steel even with all the new games that have come out lately. While its graphics are not up to par even with many of the older games, its turn based system and playing on an operational level make up for what I think is missing in most of the new RTS type strategy games.
RTS games are ok but they lose a lot of the strategy aspect when it comes down to whoever can build units the fastest rather than who is the best strategist and that is where Clash of Steel shines.
It levels the playing field and yet still keeps the game moving thought it would be nice to have a functional Play By Email version so that you can do multiplayer better without having to play hotseat.
I could still sit here years after it was released and play it rather than all the new strategy games with all of their new graphics and sound affects just because this was always a fun, rewarding game. I wish that the newer games incorporated more of Clash of Steels game aspects or at least someone rewrote the game with new graphics etc.
The naval combat leaves a lot to wish for as does some of the air combat but they are still very playable.
I wish the game allowed for play over a wider area such as combining Clash of Steel with Axis and Allies. I'd play that game in a heartbeat and probably would never play another strategy game ever.
The research in the game pretty much boils down to increasing the effectiveness and power of the armies in the game. So you can either put your resources into building new armies, navies and airforces or into research. Though the research is usually pretty expensive as is building new navies and you can expect to never really pose much of a threat to the allies other than intercepting supplies.
Amphibious operations are also available though it is hard to coordinate them and their success depends mostly on luck rather than on any skill or strategy when launching them.
Politics are hard to understand in the game too, as you can start the war before 1939 and then have to work on different countries to join you, and the reasons some of them are nice towards you as opposed to hostile is sometimes hard to figure out. Sometimes you could attack a country and several countries would become hostile to you for no reason while the next game they would become more friendly so it all seemed rather random whenever you put points into diplomacy whether or not it really mattered or not.
A very well thought out game that was ahead of its time and still provides many hours of enjoyable gaming, I'd rather play it than anything new coming out as everything new seems rather copies and pasted from all the other strategy crap that is out there whereas Clash of Steel is very different.
