I was really looking forward to this coming out, as I knew Hasbro had bought AH and so I was expecting a straight transfer to the PC. Many years ago I did own Squad Leader, but I just found it too complicated. Like Chris Geggus said in the last Despatch, players just don't have the time or the inclination to learn lots of new rules. So here we had a perfect chance for a computer game to take all the hard work of record keeping and die rolling out of your hands, whilst letting you get on with playing the game. I heard about a year ago that the game was not a straight copy, but would feature "activation points" to be used for moving or fighting - I could cope with that I thought.
I pre-ordered the game, and I
have to say I was astounded when it arrived. It's nothing like the board game -
in fact it's not even like any computer game published in the last five years.
It's so bad it's unbelievable The graphics are bad, the gameplay is bad, the
vocalisation it's so bad it's almost enough to make you weep - with laughter if
nothing else.
To play, you start by selecting
your troops and equipping them - this takes quite a while and is, lets face it,
pretty tedious. You then go to the map where you can move each man individually
- or use some of the activation points to kneel down or stand up or fire. All
this takes ages. Then the other side does the same. Yawn.
A few examples of the play: When your men run out of ammo, you have to make them re-load their guns -the computer cannot handle this vitally important facet of play. To load troops into a truck you have to line them up perfectly at the back, then the truck moves off - and then the troops can fire at full effect from the back of the truck. Mind you, try and unload the men from the truck..........But best of all is tanks firing. A lump leaves the barrel and sort of flops towards the target in a gentle curve.........It is hilarious.
I cannot believe that the
designers did not see that this game was a pile of c**p from the beginning. It's
even worse because I was hoping for something better, but I must say that it has
absolutely nothing to recommend it. I have subsequently seen some of the
reaction to the game from America where it came out first. Hasbro tried to
promote it as being like the board game but were forced to stop this after a
storm of protest.
Not quite a wargame as you also
get a flight sim, but this is still an excellent game for all that. The game
covers the air campaign in the Korean War, and you can play it in quite a few
ways. You can play it as a straight flight sim, piloting a range of different
planes on all sorts of missions - ground support, bombing, CAP, AA suppression
of air superiority. You can fly early jets or prop planes for both the UN side
and the Communists. You can also play campaigns, and this is where the second
aspect of the game comes in, as you also have to plan your missions and manage
your resources- especially pilots! You pick your own targets, and how well you
are doing affects how well the overall Campaign is going.
When you take both aspects of
play, there's a huge amount of play in the game. I must admit that this is my
first flight sim game so I had real problems with the flying and even spotting
my targets, but this doesn't alter the fact that it's an excellent game.Although
I have spent many hours on it already, I have still not played that much of the
game. It is a game that you will need a joystick for, - although you can use the
keyboard it's not easy. It's a fairly complicated game, especially the planning
but it's still good fun and I can heartily recommend it.
This was a bit of a surprise, as
I was not aware it was being done until it was almost due for release. It is
based on a board game of the same name produced in Sweden, and it covers
European History between 1492 and the 18th Century. The original boardgame was
always very highly thought of, although it did involve a lot of record keeping -
an ideal chance for a computer game?
For once, I feel that it is an excellent version which retains the feel and much of the body of the original, whilst letting the computer do all the boring things. You can play as one of the major powers, all of which offer a completely new approach because of their strengths and weaknesses. For example, if you play the campaign as England you start off with very small military forces although your navy is of excellent quality. You need to build up your economic strength for the later game. France on the other hand has a large military on land so you are tempted to use it quickly. You play the chief adviser to the Monarch in a Country, so although you have a good deal of control you may still have to put up with your Monarch demanding you immediately capture some province miles away. If you ignore this (which it often pays you to do) you lose Victory points. Everything you do has other effects - produce too much gold and inflation rises. Going to war is not to be undertaken lightly, as it's expensive and if you don't do well your provinces may revolt. You may well also gain next to nothing from even a successful war. You may also find yourself having to fight your targets Allies too, and before you know it, while gleefully bashing up Scotland whilst playing England you will find that your Country is suddenly full of French troops. The game is a "real time" game, but you can slow the computer down or speed it up if nothing much is happening. There is always plenty to do -plan the economy, explore and colonise the New World and Africa, build units, get involved in Diplomacy. One review in a computer magazine said it was more like a History lesson than a game. There's maybe a kernel of truth in this, but I still think it's good fun and it's very realistic. It's also huge and I can see many hundreds if not thousands of hours play available. I've already played it for 20+ hours and I've hardly scratched the surface.
There is the odd problem and some players have reported unrealistic combat results, but I haven't come across that so far. The manual leaves a lot to be desired, but it is fairly easy to pick up most aspects of play. I have not had any problems with bugs or crashing - at least so far!
If I was to compare it to any other readily available game from the past, it would be as a much more complex version of the old SPI and AH classic "Conquistador". I can heartily recommend it, and at £23 or so from Software First it's quite cheap too.