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Raging Tiger - Battery, Counter-Battery

	Author: Aaron McKenna, Jim Cobb Article Type: Editorial Publication Date: 12/23/2005 Developer: ProSim Co. Publisher: Shrapnel Games Related Categories: Real-time, Armor Combat, Strategic, Present Day / Near Future, Simulation

Editor's Introduction

This past spring, Aaron McKenna blasted Raging Tiger in his review, calling ProSim Co's wargame "about as much fun for me as Christmas with the in-laws".  Naturally, we received quite the reader response and the review stirred discussion across the wargaming community.  Chief among the critics of McKenna's review was another Wargamer contributor, Jim Cobb.  Cobb argued that McKenna shouldn't have reviewed Raging Tiger from the perspective of a mainstream gamer, but rather from that of a grognard's.  The result was a review that didn't do justice to the purpose of the game.

What follows is a new type of column to examine these two perspectives.  In this new inaugural column of "Battery, Counter Battery," Aaron McKenna and Jim Cobb discuss Raging Tiger.

Battery: Aaron McKenna

Raging Tiger from Shrapnel Games is an example in how wargames should not be done: abominably presented, poorly designed, and explained in a manner almost beyond comprehension.

It’s not a game that looks or sounds even remotely pleasant; it doesn’t even retain some sort of angular, militarily-ugly beauty. Tellingly, players must reduce the normal screen colour depth on their PC before even loading up a scenario in order to get the game to run.

The maps look terrible, and it is difficult to even make out terrain by eyesight without consulting the terrain type box in the lower left hand corner of the screen. Unit counters are, depending on the zoom that is employed on the map, either impossible to distinguish or very difficult to control when they’re packed close together, as even on the optimum zoom factor of 1:25:000, unit counters are as dodgy as military intelligence.

The lame attempt made at sound is an insult on the ears, and the electronically synthesized sounds should be turned off at the first opportunity to be replaced with some soothing music to help allay the frustration of attempting to get a tank platoon to go anywhere. 

The problem with the gameplay however, is that even after I had mastered the art of controlling the game (no mean feat), it just didn’t feel exciting most of the time. For instance, my recon platoon was rolling down a road towards the objective, and suddenly all hell broke loose when a bunch of T-72s burst out of the woods to their rear. In other wargames this would be met with a hail of expletives and, depending on how turns are handled (Raging Tiger allows the player to stop and start time at will), a lot of button pushing. In Raging Tiger, however, I just did not feel immersed, and the said ambush just felt like another routine thing that had to be dealt with via messing around with the funky controls for five minutes. There is very little “seat of your pants” gameplay in Raging Tiger, and ultimately this is where it falls flat on its face.

Raging Tiger is not for everyone… or, for that matter, for most people. It is incredibly detailed, yes, and the potential for play is vast, once the player gets past the funky controls, poor graphics, and big manual. I like to think of The Second Korean War as a “rough diamond”, but I liken it to a student who prepares for his history test ten minutes before the exam. Sure the detail is there, and he knows his stuff, but it’s all over the shop, the handwriting is nearly illegible and I was left feeling cheated, as though with a little bit of effort it could have been so very good.

Technically it’s an impressive training tool for aspiring officers. As a game, it’s about as much fun as Christmas with the in-laws, though having said that some people do enjoy time with their mother in law, and some people will garner satisfaction from Raging Tiger. Gamers who prefer their games to kick them in the pants and fight them competently will be pleased with Raging Tiger: the AI is top notch. While the sound and graphics are lacking, its biggest fault is the inability to immerse the gamer. Units are as detailed as a wargamer could possibly want, though it will take work to learn how they work. This is not a game for the casual wargamer; Raging Tiger is aimed squarely at the hardcore wargamer who values base function over form.