Nobody combined role-playing appeal with boardgame-style strategy the way SSI did in games like Roadwar 2000. You lead a road gang trying to restore the United States to its former glory after a biological warfare World War III. In 1999, the only law in America is that of the mutants, satanists, and gangs with names like the Invaders who terrorize the highways. Surviving members of the government have asked you to locate eight scientists and take them to an underground lab where they can find a cure.
Strategic and tactical views are similar to Wizard's Crown as you cruise the highways, managing your gang's men, tires, fuel and medicine. Build a convoy from interesting variety of vehicles, from sports cars to trailer trucks. In random encounters on the road and in towns, you must decide how to approach mysterious strangers who can help or hurt you. It's a little too easy to die at the beginning, but as your gang seizes control of more cities, life becomes easier. While the graphics are spartan at best, the game boasts a rich set of combat rules, allowing for vehicle ramming, climbing on board other people's cars, and shooting from from car windows.
Various surprises await you in the major cities of the U.S. If you travel to New York, you can recruit politicians from what's left of the U.N. And after a long day of highway bloodshed, you can improve your troops' morale by visiting a certain amusement park in Anaheim, Calif. Also surviving the apocalypse is SSI headquarters in San Jose, Calif., where you can buy power-ups for your vehicles.