The Third World War

Overview

Third World War, known in Japan and in-game as The Third World War, is a geopolitical strategy game developed and published by Micronet for the Sega CD in Japan on November 26, 1993, with a North American release by Extreme Entertainment Group in 1994.

In Third World War, players take on the role as the leader of one of sixteen world powers in various hypothetical scenarios (including a modern-day Third World War, an alternate take on the latter part of the Cold War, and scenarios that shift the balance of power between certain countries) as they try to achieve global dominance through either military conquest or economic supremacy.

Along with the complex turn-based strategy-simulation aspect for handling both geopolitics and army mobilization, the game features a separate real-time tactics system for armored skirmishes, with players managing a squad of armored vehicles in an isometric perspective in order to either invade or defend key cities.

Gameplay

The game is split between a turn-based mode similar to Risk and a real-time strategy mode for invasions.

Each turn starts with a roundup of random events and actions taken by the computer over the past turn. The player is then given a limited amount of actions and resources to develop their economy and military, conduct diplomacy and covert actions, and initiate military strikes before advancing on to the next month.

If the player chooses to invade a country during that phase or if one of the player's regions is invaded, the game switches to real-time mode as the player controlled army clashes with the computer controlled opponent until one side is destroyed or surrenders.

Sixteen nations are are playable in the game, each of which start with different advantages and disadvantages in militaristic, economic, and diplomatic terms, all with varying levels of difficulty. These countries are the United States of America, Russia, Japan, Germany, China, France, the United Kingdom, India, South Africa, Brazil, Australia, Canada, Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Libya. Other nations, such as Italy, Cuba, and Sweden, are non-playable and only exist as regions to conquer in the game.

Scenarios

The game includes five scenarios to choose from:

• The Third World War is the game's main mode and takes place in the near-future 1995, with the United States assuming the role of the last remaining superpower. This is the recommended scenario for newcomers, especially as the United States.

• The Cold War is a more historical mode that takes place in the mid-to-late 1980's, during the last chapter of the real-life Cold War. Both the United States and Russia are the dominant world powers, although their bloating military spending can give room to new economic challengers.

• War of the Pacific Powers has Japan becoming a major superpower due to absorbing nations from South East Asia, sparking a rivalry between them and the United States.

• Chaos has the developed nations of the world declining in both their economies and military, while developing nations (such as Iraq, Libya, South Africa, and India) are emerging as potential superpowers.

• The Economic Struggle focuses less on military conquest and more on economic development.