I recall playing Iron Cross back in the mid-90s, and I enjoyed it very much. It is a real-time strategy game that puts you in the position to fight variations of historical battles during World War Two. The battles are all drawn from the Western Front 1944-1945, and you can fight from either the Axis or Allied sides. The battles are all historical, and the maps reflect that (though in a cheesy, early 1990s graphics kind of way), but that is where the historical parallels end.
I recall playing Iron Cross back in the mid-90s, and I enjoyed it very much. It is a real-time strategy game that puts you in the position to fight variations of historical battles during World War Two. The battles are all drawn from the Western Front 1944-1945, and you can fight from either the Axis or Allied sides. The battles are all historical, and the maps reflect that (though in a cheesy, early 1990s graphics kind of way), but that is where the historical parallels end.
Instead of giving you a set army to control, Iron Cross gave you Buy Points, and you could build your own force for each battle as you saw fit. You constructed your armies out of infantry squads (equipped with differing weapons), armored
vehicles, and artillery pieces. One of the reasons that this game was so re-playable was because you could experiment with very different army compositions for each battle. If you wanted the Allies to be met on the beaches of Normandy by a force heavy on Panzers, you could. If you wanted the Allies to focus more on small-arms, and less on Shermans while navigating the hedgerows of Normandy, you could. Certain scenarios allow you to use artillery bombardment, and air support, in addition to the forces you deployed yourself. The game also featured a scenario builder, so you could recreate other battles of WWII, or make up your own.
All was not happiness and light, however. The graphics are poor, even for a game of this era. You normally have to click on a unit to actually see what it is, though the vehicles do have vaguely different shapes to them. With practice you can tell a Tiger tank from a Panther in no time. Infantry squads look identical, so you must click on them to see the differences in weaponry. There are also only about 10 playable battles, then you have to start making them up as you go. There is no support for naval units, or air units (aside from the generic Air Strike option), so those looking for a "realistic" strategy game for WWII are likely to be disappointed. The interface is relatively easy though, and that counts for a lot.
Overall, the game provided me with countless hours of entertainment as a younger game player. The real-time aspect actually lent a lot to it, since it meant that your decisions also had to be made in "real-time", and that made it a bit more exciting.
