''WARGASM'' (or ''War Ground Air Special Missions'') is a 3D

shooter Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can b ...

real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in turn-based strategy (TBS) games, players take turns to pla ...

game developed by

Digital Image Design Digital Image Design (DID) was a British video game developer founded by Martin Kenwright and Phillip Allsopp in 1989. It was originally based in Runcorn, Cheshire in England. The company specialized in aircraft simulator games, mostly published ...

and published by

Infogrames Atari SA (formerly Infogrames Entertainment SA) is a French video game holding company headquartered in Paris. Its subsidiaries include Atari Interactive#Infogrames subsidiary, Atari Interactive and Atari, Inc. (1993–present), Atari, Inc. It ...

for Microsoft Windows in 1998–1999.

Gameplay

The game uses the 3Dream engine to process populated and varied battlefields, as well as relatively advanced graphical elements for its time of release. Acting as the commander of an army, the player of ''Wargasm'' directs the actions of AI friendly units via a simple control interface on a 2D overhead map, and if desired can take the perspective of, and directly control, any allied unit in the 3D real-time environment. Playable characters available to the player are a regular infantryman, or a special forces soldier driving either a tank, an armored personnel carrier or a helicopter. The in-battle event of airstrikes are carried out by

ground attack In military tactics, close air support (CAS) is defined as air action such as air strikes by fixed or rotary-winged aircraft against hostile targets near friendly forces and require detailed integration of each air mission with fire and moveme ...

aircraft and stealth bombers, but cannot be controlled by the player.

Plot

The game is set in the year 2065, and the world's military forces have been transferred to the World Wide War Web in an effort to eliminate the loss of actual human life. Every country, whether they be a

superpower A superpower is a state with a dominant position characterized by its extensive ability to exert influence or project power on a global scale. This is done through the combined means of economic, military, technological, political and cultural ...

or in the

Third World The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the Nor ...

, have been represented accordingly. Wars are fought through this system, and the winner of each battle takes the loser's electronic infrastructure. However, the system is flawed, and is prone to hacking. In this state of "wargasm," the world has fallen into a state of corruption. It is the player's duty to bring order back to the world.

Reception

The game received above-average reviews according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

. '' Next Generation'', however, said, "At the end of the day, ''Wargasm'' has a clever moniker that makes you take notice. But even that was stolen outright from a song by thrash girl band L7, and it's a shame the game doesn't live up to it."

References

External links

*{{moby game, id=/windows/wargasm 1998 video games Action video games First-person shooters Helicopter video games Infogrames games Real-time strategy video games Tank simulation video games Third-person shooters Windows-only games Windows games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games set in the 2060s Digital Image Design games Multiplayer and single-player video games