Talvisota: Icy Hell
Encyclopedia
Talvisota: Icy Hell is a real-time tactics
and educational
computer game, developed by the international developer group Blitzfront Game Studio and is based on the events of Winter War
conflict of 1939-1940 between Finland
and Soviet Union
.
Finnish Board of Film Classification
determined that the Talvisota: Icy Hell is both a Real-time Strategy
and an Educational game
.
Because of different publishing problems, the game wasn't released for a long time despite development being completely finished. At the end of 2007 the game was finally released in CIS
countries in Russian language. A year later, at the end of 2008 the game was released in Finland in English language.
There were some negative opinions as well. As an example Finnish Captain Olli Ovaska said that the game claimed, that the Finnish military has attacked USSR on the first day of the war. But according to the game developers, Olli Ovaska misunderstood something as they have never claimed such thing.
Real-time tactics
Real-time tactics or RTT is a subgenre of tactical wargames played in real-time simulating the considerations and circumstances of operational warfare and military tactics...
and educational
Educational game
Educational games are games that have been designed to teach people about a certain subject, expand concepts, reinforce development, understand an historical event or culture, or assist them in learning a skill as they play...
computer game, developed by the international developer group Blitzfront Game Studio and is based on the events of Winter War
Winter War
The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...
conflict of 1939-1940 between Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
and Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
Finnish Board of Film Classification
Finnish Board of Film Classification
The Finnish Board of Film Classification is an official institution of the Finnish Ministry of Education...
determined that the Talvisota: Icy Hell is both a Real-time Strategy
Real-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....
and an Educational game
Educational game
Educational games are games that have been designed to teach people about a certain subject, expand concepts, reinforce development, understand an historical event or culture, or assist them in learning a skill as they play...
.
Game Features
- Two long campaigns for Soviet and Finnish side .
- Historically accurate .
- Based on real political and historical events before and during the Winter War.
- Historical encyclopedia and archives videos.
- Molotov cocktailMolotov cocktailThe Molotov cocktail, also known as the petrol bomb, gasoline bomb, Molotov bomb, fire bottle, fire bomb, or simply Molotov, is a generic name used for a variety of improvised incendiary weapons...
s, soldiers speaking Russian and Finnish, authentic battle-front reports, airplanes, skiing troops, satchel chargeSatchel chargethumb|right|250px|Weapons used in [[Winter War]]. The original Finnish satchel charge at left.A satchel charge is a demolition device, primarily intended for combat, whose primary components are a charge of dynamite or a more potent explosive such as C-4 plastic explosive, a carrying device...
s, flamethrowerFlamethrowerA flamethrower is a mechanical device designed to project a long controllable stream of fire.Some flamethrowers project a stream of ignited flammable liquid; some project a long gas flame. Most military flamethrowers use liquids, but commercial flamethrowers tend to use high-pressure propane and...
tanks, experimental units.
Development History
The game development started from the Russian language online community, which consisted of people from different countries, who were interested in military history and historical games. In 2004 they started wondering why nobody did a game about the Winter War, the highly interesting war conflict, although somewhat unknown to the public. They decided to make the game themselves.Because of different publishing problems, the game wasn't released for a long time despite development being completely finished. At the end of 2007 the game was finally released in CIS
CIS
CIS usually refers to the Commonwealth of Independent States, a modern political entity consisting of eleven former Soviet Union republics.The acronym CIS may also refer to:-Organizations:...
countries in Russian language. A year later, at the end of 2008 the game was released in Finland in English language.
Critical Reception
The game received generally positive reviews from game critics. The main web site of all Finnish historians has reviewed the game from the historical and cultural perspectives and their opinion was generally positive.There were some negative opinions as well. As an example Finnish Captain Olli Ovaska said that the game claimed, that the Finnish military has attacked USSR on the first day of the war. But according to the game developers, Olli Ovaska misunderstood something as they have never claimed such thing.