Download Chaos Overlords

In 1995., New World Computing released an excellent game that was striving to be a little bit of comedy, strategy, science fiction, complexity and mafia, all at the same time. Luckily, they succeeded. They made them, mixed them, and finally balanced them. The result was more than could be hoped for. Chaos Overlords, as it is now, is a game that truly should have been known more widely, as it had some neverseen ideas, excellent gameplay and a very clever AI. Best of all, it all worked perfectly - as a turnbased boargame.

Basics
The goal is to conquer the city that you populate along with other organisations of rivaling cyberpunk mafiosos. The victory, however, may be achieved trough several different paths which are available in the "New game" menu. You could be the victor of the game by eliminating the "right hands" of the rival mafiosos, or simply by conquering the whole city (square by a square). Alltogether, there are ten possibilities to choose as the starting point and goal, and they differ from eachother enough to avoid the feeling of a "replay" function.

The city is made of several squares (representing different parts) that can be controlled. Each of these squares have three different buildings within them, that can be influenced upon conquering. Each of these buildings, after being influenced, give notable benefits to the mafia organisation holding them within their grasp. Mainly, this may be money, but it can also be tolerance from the ordinary people. "Tolerance" allows you to create even more chaos on the square in question, thus increasing your bank account or support, which will make it harder for rivaling mafiosos to sieze the control of a square you own.

The "inner sanctum" of the game is built around orders and tasks, that you may give to you lackeys and mercenaries. These orders are carried out at the end of each turn. When the turn is over, you will need to give them another task in order to take advantage of all their skills. However, you may also give continuous orders that your lackeys will repeat each turn, thus saving your time spent on micromanagement. Alltogether, there are 14 different orders in the game, and as stated previously, they are the backbone of the game. Starting from bribery, researching, snitching, control, all the way to attacking and hiding. Basically, you run your whole imperium with continuous orders, especially with the "chaos" command, as it will be your main source of cash...

The lackeys (or mercenaries depending on how you see them), are one of the most unique additions to the game. Firstly, they come as gangs that always differ from eachother and which all have their own abilities. These abilities range from unique stats to weapon handling and researching. Secondly, they are funny. To be specific, they are inventively funny, and not because of their character portrait or name, but because of their small picture representations in their gang-screen which have been created with lots of imagination and vision. Finally, they are very well balanced, so you will always get what you want with the money you spend. Correspondingly, the upkeep of your forces will be directly proportional to their abilities.

Overall
The difficulty level is challenging even at the lowest level, and it lies mostly in balancing of your empire and keeping your own area secured while moving further into your enemies territory. The computer will surely be quick to invade your zone if you would leave it unprotected and far from your main combat team. Another challenging task will be successful balancing of your account in the earliest stages of the game, as your mercenaries will be sure to leave quickly if someone forgets their monthly paycheck...

The graphics are surprisingly good, but then again, animations are very scarse, meaning the game mostly consists of still pictures. The gameplay, however, is excellent, and along with the game's strategic elements, it makes a succeeding combination. I feel that Chaos Overlords is an excellent game, perfect for anyone who is intrested either in turnbased strategy games, or cyberpunk fiction. Even if you do not belong to either of the previously mentioned categories, the game is still worth of a try, for it is a truly unique piece of work...

NOTE:
-The music is missing-
-Unzip the files to c:chaos-
-After unzipping the game, run chaosreg.reg-
-Saved games should be saved to the games own directory, otherwise they won´t work-
-If you are experiencing problems with the cursor, turn the ingame music to mute-