Historical Games from Preloaded: 1066 and Trafalgar Origins

May 6, 2010

I came across two pretty slick games last night, from Preloaded. I *think* that I remember this group from way back in the early Flash days, but maybe I’m confusing their name with someone else. The group was commissioned by Channel 4 to create a series of games – and they’re pretty spectacular.

//Edit: Ah! They also made Spooks, which was a tremendously great game that I mentioned a long while ago. Nice!

1066 denotes the year, and lets you control the English, the Vikings or the Normans. Your goal is to kill or scare off the opposing army.

You control a series of troops (fighters, archers), and the overall gameplay involves moving and strategy. To be honest, it took me a while to get the controls at first… but after I read the instructions, things got easier the second time around.

One silly thing: you can boost your morale by taunting the enemy, which involves you typing a phrase as quickly as possible. So while you’re battling things out amidst swords and arrows, you’ll hear see phrases like “Pig filth!” and “Fox beard!” pop up.

Trafalgar Origins is a game set during the Napoleonic wars, amidst tensions between the British, French and Spanish. You’re given command of a Royal Navy Ship, and all that come with it: sailing, battle, managing the ship as well as the crew. From the game description:

We were careful to ensure that the game was fun and engaging to play as well as being historically accurate. We worked closely with the Curator Emeritus at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich to make sure that we captured the detail, mood and feeling of the day in a way that was completely faithful to the facts of the battles.

I liked this game the best, and got sucked in to it faster than 1066. Although for my money, both of these games are just gorgeous.