It's amazing what can be accomplished with a handful of previously used concepts and carefully balanced rules. DEFCON: Everybody Dies, the latest title from UK-based Introversion Software, places you in the middle of your very own nuclear bunker, planning the demise of the world above. Surprisingly enough, the most attractive aspect of this game is its simplicity. A single glance at a screenshot will quickly illustrate that this isn't a graphics-intensive game which, like so many on a nearby retail shelf, incite purchases with incredibly realistic rendering.DEFCON is like a game of chess with a deadly spin: a series of units is placed on a pre-defined map and a set of strategic actions take place. However, when the king falls, more than half of the world's population has been killed. As the website suggests, it's not about winning, it's about losing the least. The game divides the world into six territories which are pitted against each other in an epic struggle of who will press the big red button first.Since the rules of the game are so easy to understand, anybody can quickly join in on the mayhem. As the game timer advances, the DEFCON level increases, changing the combat options of the players.The key element to this game, which Introversion has expertly mastered, is maintaining the atmosphere. No dramatic music is queued when launching your nukes, no explosions challenge your subwoofer when a city is vaporized, and no screams are heard when a few million people die. DEFCON highlights just how easy it is to ignore the painful deaths of half the world's population when you're safely hidden in an underground bunker somewhere, plotting the demise of the enemy.DEFCON has a fairly nice presentation. Both the game's manual and website are built on a very fitting template made to look like a 50 year-old booklet which hasn't been touched since the end of the cold war. The manual reads fairly easily, in part due to the simplicity of the game.The auditory elements of DEFCON are limited at best. The game's atmosphere thrives on solemn low-volume music which just barely breaks an otherwise dreary silence. Whilst the tracks themselves are fairly good and appropriate, most gamers won't really notice unless they really crank up the volume.DEFCON is clearly intended to be played against human players. The variety of tactics and strategies that make this game challenging can only come from human minds. The AI is still respectably intelligent though, if you're not quite ready to challenge real players.Simply put, it's an amazing game. It could be argued that the appeal is limited, as after all, there is only one map to play on. But due to shifting alliances and perceived threats, the game never fails to feel anything but completely fresh.An interesting concept, classic battle graphics and tremendous replayability, this game has it all.