Cheet Sheets 1995 February/CHEET38.ZIP/INSTALL.DAT/4OG.TXT

Text File | 1995-02-07 | 8KB | 141 lines

~Fields of Glory


Review by Neil Hopkins

A  bit of history.  A long time ago I used to have a paper-round -  we
are  talking serious ancient history here!  As is the custom of  paper
boys  the  world over I used to read the papers and magazines  on  the
way.   Amongst the Radio Times and NMEs there was a copy of a magazine
called  Military Modelling which featured a mix of wargaming and model
soldiers.   Now  I  could understand the appeal of  tanks  and  modern
weaponry,  and  I could certainly appreciate the Dungeons and  Dragons
fantasy  battles, but for some reason the appeal of Napoleonic warfare
escaped  me.   For one thing I didn't know much about that  period  of
history,  and  judging by the coverage, Napoleonics fans seemed to  be
more  bothered  about the exact colour of Prussian  cavalry  officer's
pelisse and how many gold buttons he had, than the real blood and guts
of warfare.

Fast forward fifteen years or so.

On  the  recommendation  of  a friend I read a  book  called  Sharpe's
Waterloo  by  Bernard Cornwall.  I was hooked.  The book was one of  a
series following the bloody progress of a British rifleman through the
ranks of Wellington's army during the Napoleonic wars.  The books show
the  horrors  of  battle  from  a soldiers  eye  view,  with  frequent
descriptions  of  men  blown  in half by  cannon  balls,  shredded  by
canister  shot,  punctured by musket balls or just plain chopped  into
little  bits by Richard Sharpe's heavy cavalry sword.  The battles are
tense  affairs,  and  given  a bit of dramatic licence,  hang  on  the
heroism of the men in the front line.  Sharpe's Rifles is the first in
the series chronologically, and it is worth reading the books in order
as they all feature admirable continuity of characters and events.  By
the  way, the TV version featuring Sean Bean, while good, is  somewhat
sanitised to say the least!

So, my curiosity was piqued, and I wanted to have a go at commanding a
glorious  army  on the battlefields of Europe.  What were my  options?
Well, buying an army of toy soldiers was not really on the cards and I
didn't  really fancy an evening in the company of heavy metal Mech Eng
students at the university wargames society, so a computer game it had
to  be.   I  considered both Universal Military  simulator  and  Peter
Turcan's  Napoleonics but they both seemed to be hard to get into, and
graphically speaking the armies looked like blocks of lego arranged on
polygonal landscapes.  Not really my cup of tea.

Then  a game called Fields of Glory caught my eye.  I hesitated a  bit
before  buying, but eventually I saw it in the local computer shop for
24.99 so I handed over my credit card and treated myself.

So  what  do you get?  As you would expect for a Microprose  game  the
presentation is first class - an attractive box, a satisfyingly chunky
and readable manual and a poster map of the battle fields.

As  with  any complex strategy game the first thing to do is read  the
manual.   Well, ok the second thing then.  The first thing is to  load
the  game  up,  and watch the highly atmospheric intro  sequence  that
introduces  the background and sets the scene most effectively.   Back
to  the manual.  The first thing to follow is the tutorial which is  a
step by step guide to the game mechanics, and gets you into the action
straight  away  by leading you through the first of the two  fictional
engagements.   There is also plenty of historical detail to absorb, as
well as a good account of the four major battles - Quatre Bras, Ligny,
Wavre  and  Waterloo.   The one criticism that I have,  is  that  some
crucial  information relating to strategic targets for each battle and
the  Rejoin  command is found only in the technical supplement  errata
and the readme file.  Time for a re-print Microprose!

As  for the gameplay, the controls are simple and straightforward.  By
clicking on a unit you can change it's formation, and give it an order
to  deploy  at a selected location, hold it's position or  assault  an
enemy  unit.   Artillery can be given targets to aim at,  and  certain
infantry  units have more choice of formation - for example some units
can  move  in skirmish order which allows faster progress  over  rough
ground.   Each unit also has a position within the military  hierarchy
such  that  an order can be given to a commander, who will attempt  to
carry out.  For example a commander could have several infantry units,
some  cavalry and artillery, and if ordered to, will deploy them in an
effective  manner.   Each commander has ratings for military  ability,
leadership and charisma which will affect the way they carry out their
orders - an impetuous cavalry commander may well pursue a routed enemy
unit  off  the edge of the battlefield, when you are counting  on  his
support  elsewhere!   Why  not command all of the  units  individually
then,  I hear you asking.  As the battles grow in complexity, you find
yourself  in  the  position of Napoleon or Wellington with  dozens  of
units  to  worry  about simultaneously.  You are forced  to  strike  a
balance  between  trusting  your commanders while you focus on  a  key
engagement, and darting around the battlefield to inspire your troops.
This makes for some tense and enjoyable gameplay, as you start getting
reports  of heavy casualties and you find yourself wondering what sort
of mess that idiot William of Orange has got into now.

Graphically,  the  game  is superb.  The battle map can be  viewed  at
several  levels  of  zoom, from one mile to eight miles  each  showing
different  amounts  of detail.  At the highest level you can pick  out
individual soldiers lining up in formation and opening fire, watch the
smoke  from the cannons and hear the crackle of muskets, and of course
see  the  dead bodies piling up.  The sound effects are spot on  -  as
already  mentioned you get the sounds of gunfire, but there are plenty
of  other  neat touches such as the bugle fanfare to signal a  cavalry
charge or retreat.

There  is a complete database of every unit in the game - you can  see
the  current  strength  of  the  unit, a  picture,  it's  history  and
biographical  details of it's commander.  It is very easy to scroll up
and  down the command structure, and then jump out of the database  to
the map screen to find a particular unit.  Depending on the difficulty
setting  you are playing on, you can examine enemy units as well.  You
also get appropriate music of the period for each nation while viewing
the database.

What  problems  are  there with this game?  Sometimes  units  fail  to
respond  to mouse clicks, particularly when they are moving, which can
be  frustrating  if your infantry are about to be charged by  cavalry,
and  you  want them to form square.  In the more complex  battles  the
screen can become very cluttered with dead bodies, and units trying to
deploy  in  a  limited  area.   I suppose  that  this  represents  the
confusion  of  a  battle, but it would be nice to have  an  option  to
'switch  off corpses'!  The battle finishes when either side has  lost
seventy  percent of it's strength - this can be frustrating if you are
about  to  capture an important strategic target to boost your  score,
and  could  mean  the difference between an inconclusive  draw  and  a
victory.   A  more  flexible game end, with the  enemy  attempting  to
withdraw  would have been better.  The only other potential problem is
the  limited number of battles, although having said that each  battle
can  be  played  from either side and you can vary the set up  to  try
various  'what  if' scenarios.  A two player modem option  would  have
been nice as well.

In conclusion then, this game is aimed at battle strategy fans - it is
of  a similar level of complexity to Dune II, although with a  steeper
learning  curve as you have all of the strategic elements to cope with
from  the  start,  the difficulty being increased by the size  of  the
battle.  The graphics, sound and music are all polished and effective,
and most importantly the gameplay is fun. Highly recommended.

Coming Soon to a Cheet Sheets near you - comprehensive hints  and tips
for Fields of Glory (just as soon as I've had a bit more  time to play
the game!)