Balance of the Planet

Balance of the Planet is an environmental management simulation. It is the successor to Balance of Power. Chris Crawford seems to have a special liking for problems of global concern. Balance of Power dealt with politics in the cold war, its successor Balance of the Planet simulates nothing less than Earth's ecosystem. Although Maxis' Sim Earth is often credited as the first "ecosim", the title rightfully belongs to Crawford's game. Both games are equally interesting nevertheless, as they use two vastly different approaches to an enormously complex subject. Sim Earth tries to simulate the natural processes, i.e. continental drift, weather, global temperature etc. as accurately as possible…