Gettysburg! (PC Games, 1997)

I like the game but if you have anything other than windows 95 you will need the compatibility upgrade on the ea sports support page.

I thought I couldn't go wrong buying Side Meier's Gettysburg. It's from the creator of the Civilization series, which I enjoyed, it apparently won some
kind of game of the year award when it came out, and I also had a historical
interest in the battle tactics of the civil war. Wow, was I wrong. This game
disappointed me in just about every way it could have.

First, Gettysburg is incompatible with Windows XP (and Vista). Yes, there is a patch that you can download from the manufacturer's web site. And yes, it's free. But what they don't tell you is that you can only install the patch after installing the game, but you can't install the game because the installer won't run on XP without the patch. The manufacturer could have easily explained how to get around this on their web site, but didn't bother.

Once you figure that one out, you find that the game has further technical problems. Don't watch the video clips or it will crash (they're terrible anyway). Don't try to play more than one scenario in a row, or the scrolling function will stop working, leaving you staring at an empty area of battlefield while your soldiers die in droves just off your screen. You have to press the "go on to next scenario" button twice. The first press just makes random text appear nowhere in particular on the screen. The second seems to do something.
The user interface is full of weird little oddities like that.

Besides the technical problems, the game play is uncompelling as well. Regiments move REEEEALLY slowly. To move one, you have to click on its flag. But often, the flag is hidden behind the flag of another regiment, or in the woods, or the regiment has taken it upon itself to run off to a forgotten edge of the map, there to never be noticed again.

The technical problems seem to overlap with the gameplay problems.
I have watched three regiments of mine completely surround one smaller
regiment of the enemy -- and my regiments all get routed, while his
just stands there. This makes the game unplayable on all but the easiest
difficulty level, and too easy to be much fun at that setting.

This game strikes out on all fronts. It has zero value technically, historically, tactically, or as a source of entertaiment. I can't think
of a single good thing about it or a single way in which it could have
been worse.