Play Modem Wars Online

Modem Wars came out in 1988 as part of the MS-DOS Classic Games series, developed by Ozark Softscape. It was a game that felt very much of its time, built around the then-novel idea of connecting two computers directly over a phone line. You didn't play against an AI; you played against another person, and that made all the difference.

You control a variety of units, like tanks and scouts, from a top-down perspective, moving them across a grid-based map shrouded in fog of war. Your main objective is to find and destroy the enemy's headquarters before they find yours. The signature mechanics involve managing your limited view of the battlefield, coordinating different unit types with unique movement and attack ranges, and dealing with terrain that slows your advance. The pacing is tense and deliberate, with mistakes costing you dearly. It feels like a very personal, very frantic game of chess played over a noisy telephone connection.

Each game uses different controls, most DOS games use the keyboard arrows. Some will use the mouse , "Alt" ,"Enter" and "Space bar".