MEDIEVAL WAR v1.1 ****************** A Windows War Game Written by Mark Brownstein Burnham Park Software Inc. Available on PC Disk 795 Reviewed by Richard Batey 1 Introduction --------------- Sue sent this to me because she believes I like war games. I do, but only good ones. Is this a good one? No. I could finish the review here but I feel I should write more but if you do not want to read on for the gory details then be my guest to skip to the next review. Still here? Oh, I better get on with it then. There is no story to tell, no reason why you would want to go to war, nothing. Good, less to write! The game is for Windows 3.1 but can be quite easily played through Windows 95. That is the end of the technical bit. 2 Game Play ------------ The game is a turn based one for 2-6 players of which all or none can be played by the computer. The idea is to bump off all the other players or gain the required victory points (this can be set yourself). You do this by capturing cities which then produce units for your army. You start with one city (you can name all the cities if you feel the need) and then expand. You can customise virtually everything about the game play including the following: a > The size of the land. It starts with a 30x20 grid but can be increased or decreased as be your wish. b > The ratio of land to sea. It starts at 50% c > You can play on preset or random maps. d > Do you want hidden pieces or hidden terrain (until you explore them? Done. e > PBM is catered for, save the game after your move then send the data to your opponent via electronic mail or via the good old Royal Mail. F > The strength of your opponents. g > How quickly your cities produce units for your army. Speaking of units, a list of the possible units you can have in your army seems to be in order (and I have a thing for lists): :) Guard Crossbowmen Light Infantry (they should eat more) Catapult Heavy Infantry (diet badly needed) Ballista Pikemen (a cross of men and fish) Horse Light Cavalry Light Galleon Heavy Cavalry Heavy Galleon Short Bowmen (under 5 foot tall) Fortification Long Bowmen (I've got to admit that the descriptions in the brackets above are not true but I have got to do something to keep me going through this game). It takes more time to produce the more useful units though at no time in the game is money involved, just time. What else is there to tell you? Ah, I know. To attack the cities or other players units all you have to do is bump into them with your piece and the battle is resolved one way or the other. Nothing fancy or exciting to watch. 3 Graphics and Sound --------------------- The land is green, the sea blue, the mountains grey and they all look as exciting as this sentence. The pieces are small with stick-like drawings on them and it is really really hard to differentiate between them. They look awful. As for the sound, what sound? A few beeps of the PC's internal speaker is all you get. I think I can sum up the graphics is one word but I am much too polite to utter it. 4 Conclusions -------------- Borrrinng! The graphics are cra*, sorry. The graphics are that word I won't mention, but in war games as we all know it is the game play that counts. This sucks. The computer players might as well not be there as they tend to do nothing at all. It is so borrrinng that I think I will give it another R. BORRRRINNNG! It costs $29-95 to register but if you feel this is worth it then Care In The Community has a lot to answer for (it does have anyway...or at least the people who thought it was a good idea...a little bit of politics there.....my name is Richard Batey, Goodnight). I must finish now as the best bit is long overdue...deleting the game from my hard drive. Joy. - o -