"1UP.com" said, "This just may be the finest piece of 'budgetware' ever produced, with every bit as much to offer strategywise as RTS games three times its cost," praising the "elementary" interface and calling the strategic depth "enormous." "1UP" also praised the visuals, calling it "one of the best-looking PC games all year." "Edge" said "DEFCON" was "worth it for the presentation alone." "Eurogamer" commented that it was "the least ambitious of Introversion's games in terms of design," and "its limitations are ones of the game's basic scope," while praising "DEFCON" "as pure and direct a game as its inspiration."