The worst entry in the 5-Star General series published by SSI
Published in 1998, People’s General was the first game of the beloved turn-based strategy series that went from 2D graphics to pre-rendered sprites and a raster map. The game’s backstory is that the People’s Republic of China, emboldened by drastic US military budget cuts, and Russia becoming a failed state due to government incompetence and famine, further provoked when Taiwan proclaimed independence, decides to launch a conventional World War 3, to capture territory stretching from the Urals to South East Asia. When the PLA sinks a US aircraft carrier, NATO enters the war under the UN peacekeeping mandate.
The game offers a choice of two long campaigns, featuring the US-led coalition and the Chinese, two short campaigns for both sides, a UN campaign in Russia, a US campaign in the Second Korean War, and a bizarre Vietnamese campaign when their military attacks all of Indochina, while also getting into a conflict with NATO.
People familiar with 5-Star strategies will be right at home when dealing with points system to buy, upgrade, and reinforce units, the hex battle map, and “take all objectives before the last turn” rules.
Once they get past the atrocious graphics. Pre-rendered unit sprites on raster maps based on satellite imagery, with an isometric view of sorts. Why?
Moving on. Unlike the mechanic adopted in Pacific General, moving additional units adjacent to the enemy before attacking doesn’t increase your chances of a successful attack. A unit can gain a commander who gives it positive traits.
When buying units, there is a choice between regular and veteran, and in the case of Western forces, elite troops. Just go for the most expensive option, and don’t forget to buy the attachments as well. Depending on their experience level, units can also be reinforced over their initial manpower strength after spending additional RPs.
And there are no naval units present. Either all of NATO sailed unopposed to Asia, or they teleported there. Seriously, it is strange to omit naval combat in the game where the open sequence states that the catalyst for America’s engagement against China was the sinking of a USN aircraft carrier. Oh, well. Another legacy of Pacific General, which was extensive naval warfare, went down the drain.
Aerial units are divided into combat helicopters, jet fighters, and bombers. While choppers move and attack like any other unit, only unobstructed by terrain, and can only be resupplied on airfields, aircraft are based off-screen. The air combat missions are represented by the percentage of air power you have, which can be bought for resource points on the equipment screen before the battle, giving a limited number of points you can spend on air missions, from troop transport to bombing runs. Order air combat patrol or close air support, and a magical jet will hover over the hex where it was sent, and then disappear, along with the points you spent. This sucks. Why not just make jets regular units that can be bought, repaired, and upgraded, and keep them based off-screen or on an airfield? I guess if the developer decided that WW3 doesn’t need ships, then the air force can become abstract.
Choppers and tanks are also prohibitively expensive to invest in as a main offensive force in-game, but the tank units have a very useful “Overrun” capability, which instantly destroys severely weakened enemy units, while giving an option to move and attack again, thus providing a chance for tanks on suitable terrain to clear a few hexes of opponents in one turn.
Ground combat is all that there is in this game, and it is pretty straightforward. Just buy lots and lots of artillery. Soften up enemy units from afar, then keep running them over with the few tank units you have. Rinse and repeat. Non-mechanized infantry is there to storm urban hexes. Since no aerial bombardment is feasible, because you run out of “air points” real fast (not to mention that SAMs are darn effective and shoot automatically at targets that enter their range), and the enemy will give you some headaches with counter-battery fire, expect to have heavy infantry losses.
In my opinion, only the Vietnamese campaign can even remotely be considered fun, considering the insurmountable odds their army is facing with limited resource points.
The modding community concentrated on the General series was always active, and there were some attempts to make this so-called strategy entertaining, namely adding actual aircraft and naval units, stomping the bugs, and reworking the Vietnamese campaign, plus adding some user-made campaigns. Here is a great resource for anyone wanting to try out this trainwreck of a game with some mods:
https://www.peoplesgeneral.de/
The verdict:
Serbianism 