General Chaos

About General Chaos

General Chaos (1993) is Game Refuge's satirical Genesis action-strategy game in which feuding brothers turned dictators send cartoon squads of gunners, launchers and flamethrowers against each other, for up to four players.

General Chaos in Depth

Two generals, Chaos and Havoc, fight either a single quick battle or a campaign of battles across a dynamic strategic map, with the aim of capturing the enemy's capital. Each player picks one of four teams: three of five soldiers with differing weapons, and one of two "commandos" with a control system that gives more direct control. The action is seen from an isometric view, balancing strategy with action: when opposing soldiers get close, they fight hand to hand, punching, kicking and blocking. A soldier who loses all his health falls, and the player can bring a medic to revive him a limited number of times, earning more medics by scoring points from items on the battlefield. A "boot camp" tutorial teaches the basics, and with a multiplayer adapter up to four people can play together against the computer.

The soldier classes include the Gunner, a well-rounded submachine gunner whose gun can jam; the Launcher, a slow but long-range rocketeer; the Chucker, who throws grenades over cover; the Scorcher, whose flamethrower has the shortest range but fires fastest and hits several soldiers at once; and the Blaster, who throws dynamite. The story has brothers Chaos and Havoc fall out over a torn comic book and grow up to rule the rival countries of Moronica and Viceria.

Making General Chaos

Game Refuge developed General Chaos for the Sega Genesis, and Electronic Arts published it in 1993. It received generally positive reviews. Electronic Gaming Monthly gave it 8 out of 10, praising its humour, wealth of options and four-player mode. GamePro also praised the humour, multiplayer and enemy AI, summarising that it "combines brain-squeezing battlefield strategy, challenging squad tactics, and real-time button-pressing combat with humorous cartoon graphics". Its blend of real-time squad combat and strategy kept a following, and in 2017 GamesRadar listed it 48th among the best Sega Genesis/Mega Drive games of all time. In September 2013, Brian F. Colin launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a sequel, but it fell well short of its goal.