Offensive

Year 1996, shelves creaking under the weight of Command & Conquer and WarCraft II. Somewhere in between, Offensive by Wave Software quietly appeared — a game that didn't so much break into the market as whisper its way in.

The premise is straightforward: World War II, Western Front, roughly the conflict's last two years. You play as the Allies or Germans, the missions allegedly inspired by real operations. This era had RTS booming — every developer with a compiler and a handful of sprites tried to grab a slice of the pie that Westwood had baked.

The gameplay mechanics fit neatly into the mid-weight real-time strategy box. You command units, hold positions, eliminate the enemy. Nothing that would make you throw the joystick away and call your friends. Graphics-wise, it was decent-enough average for the time — isometric view, clear units — but the game didn't stand out visually enough for anyone to remember it for that. Controls were standard clickery, as the era's RTS etiquette demanded.

Twenty missions is a solid portion, no denying that. The problem lay elsewhere: Offensive offered nothing you couldn't find done better somewhere else. C&C had story and compelling cutscenes, WarCraft II had world and humor. Offensive had intent and middling execution. It aged exactly as expected — safely forgotten, its greatest sin not being a bad game, but a game without personality.

Today, Offensive is played mainly by devoted collectors of the DOS era and people wanting to chart just how varied the RTS genre became before it crystallized into classics. It won't stir nostalgia, because it didn't back then either. But as a historical document of what the lower leagues of the RTS genre looked like in 1996, it has its place. You can handle it in a browser through DOSBox without installation and without qualms — and if it stops being fun after twenty minutes, neither you nor the game will take offense.