History Channel: Civil War is good for a few mindless hours of shooting action, but not much else. History buffs need not apply.

By Aaron Thomas on

There's no question that World War II is the war of choice for developers looking to make a first-person shooter based on real-life events. With no shortage of games based on the Second World War already on the market, including its own Call of Duty series, Activision has gone even further into the past--all the way back to 1861--for inspiration. Despite a somewhat unique setting for a first-person shooter, History Channel: Civil War is a run-of-the-mill affair that isn't likely to please Civil War buffs or, for that matter, anyone else.

Buy History Channel: Civil War by Activision for Xbox 360 at GameStop. Find release dates, customer reviews, previews, and more.

History Channel: Civil War follows the events of the American Civil War that pitted the North against the South from 1861 to 1865. There are 12 levels in all, and you'll play as a soldier for both the Union and the Confederacy. You'll fight through five levels for the North and six for the South before fighting one last battle for the Union side in Petersburg. However, you're not likely to care which side you fight for--there's very little story, and no matter what you do, the North wins and the South loses. A brief video explains the events leading up to each scenario before each level, but other than conveying the tremendous loss of life and showing a few interesting black-and-white photos, the videos are uninteresting and consist of nothing more than dry narration about troop movements as you view colored blocks moving around maps.

Civil War Games For Xbox One

Outside of having some different weapons, History Channel: Civil War plays a lot like any other first-person shooter based on a real war. Your soldier can carry a number of weapons such as muskets, rifles, revolvers, a saber, and even a knife. You can also use hand grenades, but they cause such small amounts of damage that they're completely worthless. You'll start off each level with an objective, which is shown as a star on your radar. Radar? Yes, radar. You know, the radar that was issued to each soldier in the Civil War. These tasks include planting explosives, smashing a telegraph machine, stealing documents, or simply meeting up with a commanding officer. After completing a task, you're given a few more things to do, and then the screen fades to black--there's rarely any sense of accomplishment after a level.

Not only are the objectives for each level not particularly interesting, the gameplay isn't very exciting, either. You have some guys fighting alongside you, but they're worthless, so you'll mostly be going at it alone. Enemy artificial intelligence is subpar. Soldiers stand around while you shoot them, they're completely oblivious to a gun being pointed at their heads and rush you in an effort to fight, and they almost never try to flank you. On the default setting the game starts off quite easy and you can make it through the first five chapters by running-and-gunning through the enemy. It's when you fight for the Confederacy that things begin to get difficult. This is less due to the CPU employing any sort of advanced tactics and more a result of the game throwing more enemies at you, which in turn makes it more difficult to ignore its numerous flaws.

The Top 10 American Civil War Games on GameFAQs. The History Channel takes another stab at the Civil War, this time taking a more realistic approach by exploring the raiders and sabotage tactics of the war's most famous guerillas. Buy History Channel: Civil War by Activision for Xbox 360 at GameStop. Find release dates, customer reviews, previews, and more.

War of Rights is a multiplayer game set during the perilous days of the American Civil War, in the Maryland Campaign of September, 1862. Campfire Games is devoted to presenting the gruesome and glorious elements of the period, while maintaining the highest level of historical accuracy and realism as is possible with the wonders of CRYENGINE. The History Channel: Civil War – A Nation Divided is a historical first-person shooter video game developed by Cauldron HQ, released on November 7, 2006 by Activision Value and the History Channel for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360. The Top 10 American Civil War Games on GameFAQs. The History Channel takes another stab at the Civil War, this time taking a more realistic approach by exploring the raiders and sabotage tactics of the war's most famous guerillas. The History Channel's Civil War: A Nation Divided was absolutely a blast to play. It is in many respects a standard first-person shooter with a wonderful setting. Many weapons are one-shot and require reloading after firing (time to charge with bayonett).

By far the biggest issue is the weapons--more specifically, how long it takes to reload the guns. While it indeed took a very long time to reload these weapons, this instance of historical accuracy hurts the gameplay. The reloading animations are detailed and seem to be accurate--other than being sped up (but still too slow)--but that doesn't make them good. The first time you encounter other soldiers also out of ammo and race them to see who's going to reload first, it's funny, but after a few dozen such encounters it's much less amusing. Most of the weapons in the game hold only a couple of bullets, so you'll have to reload much more frequently than you do in other first-person shooters. Of course, if you do actually shoot someone, the game might not register the hit. If your target is currently fighting another soldier it's not always possible to shoot them; if they haven't been triggered into action, they might not get hit; and sometimes you can shoot them in the face from three feet away and the game won't register a hit. The sloppy hit detection isn't just limited to shooting, though. Eventually you'll probably get frustrated with your guns and run around and melee-attack guys instead, but the hit detection for melee combat is so poor that it's not a very effective option, either.

Unfortunately, the game is plenty vigilant when it comes to tracking how often your soldier gets shot. The CPU has a nasty habit of shooting you through solid objects and dense cover. Enemy soldiers can even shoot you before they appear onscreen, which results in many, many frustrating deaths. These deaths are made all the more infuriating by the checkpoint system--it doesn't exist. Rather than just sprinkling a few checkpoints through the levels, you're forced to save the game. Because you never know when you're going to get shot by an unseen foe, what ends up happening is that you'll sometimes wind up saving the game literally after every soldier you kill. It's as easy as hitting a button on the PC, but on the PS2 and Xbox 360 you must pause the game, select the save option, pick a spot, and then save. If you forget to save, you're screwed and have to do the entire level over again.

It takes around six hours to make it through the entire campaign, and while it can be mindless fun the first time, there's very little reason to play the game again. There's a small amount of replay value in the Xbox 360 version, which has achievements for beating levels, finding hidden items, and shooting accurately. Since it's so difficult to actually hit a target, many of the accuracy achievements are most easily earned by going back through the levels on the easy setting, shooting your gun once, and then running through the rest of the level with your sword or knife. Being a first-person shooter, Civil War might have had some sort of multiplayer component, but it doesn't even have split-screen multiplayer, much less online play.

History Channel: Civil War isn't a bad-looking game, but its visuals aren't particularly noteworthy, either. Soldiers don't look bad from a distance, but upon closer inspection they look rather silly, and the over-the-top death animations belie the generally serious nature of the game. The battlefields are filled with gunfire and explosions, which will destroy buildings and kick up huge plumes of dirt and smoke. Most of the cooler instances of destruction are scripted, though, and the PS2 version lacks many of them. This version also lacks the smaller touches, such as snow or cotton seeds wafting about certain areas, and it's got an iffy frame rate to boot. The levels, while extremely linear, give the illusion of being large and open to exploration due to the forests that surround them. But the ol' invisible wall rears its head should you stray far from your predestined path. In fact, quite a bit of your combat will take place in the forests, which would be fun if the CPU weren't so adept at shooting you through the trees. The PC and Xbox 360 versions are comparable, but the PC version looks better thanks to a solid frame rate.

Civil War's audio is as uninteresting as the rest of the game. The voice acting is dull, hokey, and irrelevant to the point that you'll probably want to skip ahead anytime there's a cutscene. Guns and cannons sound fine, but there's not a great deal of difference between different gun types. There's very little music in the game, though what is there sounds pretty good.

In the end, it's very difficult to recommend History Channel: Civil War to anyone. Civil War buffs would probably enjoy watching a show about the war more than they would spending time playing this game. The narration and cutscenes that take place before each level seem historically accurate, but anyone with any interest in the Civil War would scoff at the History Channel lending its name to a Civil War game that has you actually jump over explosive barrels that are being rolled down a ramp a la Donkey Kong. Anyone else simply looking for a solid-first person shooter will likely wind up disappointed by the derivative gameplay, lack of multiplayer options, and the numerous quirks and flaws found throughout the game.

History Civil War: Secret Missions is a historical first-person shootervideo game developed by Cauldron Ltd, and released on 4 November 2008 by Activision Value and the History Channel for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is a sequel to The History Channel: Civil War – A Nation Divided.

• 2Gameplay

Overview[edit]

In History Civil War: Secret Missions, the player assumes the role of both Union and Confederate soldiers fighting behind enemy lines in legendary battles that took place during the American Civil War.

The player's goal is to disrupt the armies of both the North and South by any means necessary, including stopping enemy supply lines, stealing ironclad ships and sabotaging enemy strongholds. Engaging in some of the Civil War's most famous battles, such as The Great Train Raid of 1861 and the fall of Vicksburg in utilizing classic weapons of the era, including the pepperbox revolver and the coffee mill gun.

All missions are based on the actions of famous partisans, scouts and rangers – fighting as a member of Mosby's Rangers, Sheridan's Scouts and Grant's Secret Service and receiving mission commands from famous generals like Robert E. Lee, 'Stonewall' Jackson, and Ulysses S. Grant.

Best Civil War Games For Xbox 360

Gameplay[edit]

This game takes the player through secret missions that took place on both sides of the war. The player has to battle enemy forces and protect his fellow soldiers. Melee is a large part of the game, as it was in the prequel. Reload times vary from weapon to weapon, with muskets taking a long time to reload, and repeating rifles taking a relatively short time.

Missions include being a part of a secret sniper mission at the Battle of Gettysburg, conducting a covert train raid on the B&O Railroad, sabotage artillery outposts during the Lewisburg Deception, etc. Using the weaponry and military advancements of the Civil War like the automatic guns of the era and the usage of repeating rifles, grenades, sabers, exploding artillery, and shotguns.

The game features intense, tactical combat. It is based on authentic Civil War combat methods, artillery barrages, urban assaults, sniping, and stealth. Set charges, place explosives, sabotage enemy strongholds, and destroy enemy buildings to complete objectives.

Each level begins with a short History Chanel documentary video, which describes the historical events depicted and their significance in the Civil War. Players encounter bonus objectives from mission to mission such as saving P.O.W.s and destroying crates. Players can ignore or accept these bonus objectives.

Weapons[edit]

The player is able to use a wide range of weaponry in each mission, all of which are historically accurate and were used by combatants during the Civil War.

A full list of firearms and melee weapons is shown below:

Easter Eggs[edit]

History Civil War: Secret Missions features many collectibles and hidden items found throughout the various levels. These range from letters and journal pages written by both Union and Confederate soldiers, to photographs of historic locations and individuals.

Levels[edit]

1.Dawn at Chancellorsville-CSA

2.Dr. Gatling'sSecret Weapon-CSA

3.The Gray Ghost-CSA

4.Sharpshooters at Devil's Den-CSA

5.The Great Train Raid of 1861-CSA

6.USS Pittsburg-USA

7.Sabotage at Lynchburg-USA

8.Infiltration of Jackson-USA

9.Captain Blazer's Scouts-USA

10.The Fall of Vicksburg-USA

11 (Bonus).The Siege of Vicksburg-USA

Reception[edit]

The game received mediocre ratings from critics. IGN praised the graphics but panned the length of the game.^[9]GameRankings criticizes the small glitches, but praised the game in portraying 'something to skip WWII shooters'.

Many critics did however noted the game to be one of the best of its genre. GameFaqs described it as currently the best first person Civil War shooter in its 'Top 10 American Civil War Games'.^[10]WhatCulture listed it as #10 in its 10 Best Historical First-Person Shooter Video Games, stating, 'While Civil War: Secret Missions was a low-budget game that garnered only mediocre ratings, it was the first to show the gaming industry that there is a place for shooters beyond the invention of tanks and portable machine guns. Civil War action games such as Bound in Blood and War of Rights would take and improve the same steps years later.'^[11]

Xbox 360 Civil War Game

References[edit]

1. ^'Aggregate score'. GameRankings.
2. ^'Aggregate score'. Metacritic.
3. ^'Xbox review'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2011-05-01. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
4. ^'Overall Review'. GameTrailers. 2010-05-17. Retrieved 2010-05-17.
5. ^'Review'. Games Rankings. Retrieved 2011-05-17.
6. ^'Xbox 360 review'. IGN.
7. ^http://www.gamerankings.com/xbox360/952381-the-history-channel-civil-war-secret-missions/index.html
8. ^http://www.g4tv.com/games/xbox-360/55459/history-channel-civil-war-secret-missions/
9. ^http://uk.ign.com/articles/2008/11/25/history-civil-war-secret-missions-review
10. ^Top 10 American Civil War Games
11. ^Bulaong, Louis (October 9, 2017). '10 Best Historical First-Person Shooter Video Games'. What Culture. Retrieved October 27, 2017.Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

External links[edit]

Civil War Xbox 360