Decisively... not very polished wargame!
Decisive Battles of American Civil War Vol. 1 is one of SSGs strategy game that can't really be said to be overwhelmingly well polished or very much fun. As a recipe they share the same penchant for grid/hex based turn based wargaming production, and this time around, as the name states, the material that is getting the wargame makeover is the Civil War time frame. Historically I'd lie if I didn't say that there is a level of accuracy there, just not as much as in some other of SGI's games. But, also, it would have been pretty hard to be able to tell a very precise story, because of the level with which this game operates. It's a pretty large scale operation, Decisive Battles of American Civil War, and in truth, a lot of the real life conflict was turned on its heels by very close and personal decision making, which this game simply doesn't have the gradient to provide. However, as a general purpose strategy with a strong flavor of American Civil War it does a sufficiently good job. So play it if you don't need loads of details and if you just want a playable game that is just alright. And alternatively, download Decisive Battles of American Civil War Vol. 2 and Decisive Battles of American Civil War Vol. 3, with an emphasis on this third title that did a lot more in the graphical department for the series.
