PRODUCT NAME

  Lords of the Realm

 BRIEF DESCRIPTION

  Real-time strategy game, land management, and castle building in ye  
  olde England.

 AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

  Name:  Impressions

  Address:  222 3rd Street, Suite 0234, Cambridge MA USA 02142

 COPY PROTECTION

  None

  Hard drive installable.


 MACHINE USED FOR TESTING


  Amiga 1200 w/WB 3.0

  2 MB Chip, 4 MB GVP Fast

  Seagate130 MB HD

  Supra 880K external drive



REVIEW


    "Lords of the Realm" pits six different lords in a contest to become  
 king of England. The winner will have managed the various counties of  
 England through farming, ranching, castle-building, diplomacy and warfare.
 
    I was instantly attracted to "Lords of the Realm" by its multi-player 
 fan of capability, since multi-player games are rare on the Amiga. I am
 also a 'god' games and strategy games, and "Lords" has elements of both. 
 It is unfortunate that "Lords" does not fulfill either of my expectations.

    Up to six persons can play "Lords of the Realm." The game is turn- 
 based, so each player has to pass the mouse around to the next person. 
 Null-modem or modem support would have been very helpful so the computer 
 desk would not be overcrowded. According to the manual, the IBM-compatible
 version does have that capability; why is the Amiga version lacking?

    "Lords" claims to have a "detailed economic simulation." Perhaps it is 
 detailed, but any idiot can skip the details. Each county has peasants who
 can herd cows, herd sheep, tend the fields, grow crops, mine iron, cut 
 timber, make weapons or build castles. Players must adjust the numbers of 
 peasants at each task in order to make the county prosper. All this work
 is totally unnecessary.  Apparently, your peasants earn so much money that
 taxes can help you buy all the materials you need from traveling 
 merchants...
 
    The strategy element of "Lords" is poor as well. For about 10,000 gold 
 pieces (a very low price), you can raise an army of 200 merc crossbowmen
 and 200 knights. The army can annihilate almost any force thrown at it by 
 surrounding the enemy with knights and pouring crossbow bolts into the
 crowd.  The enemy is almost certain to run away eventually. What kind of 
 strategy is that? 

    Castle building is the most exciting part of the game because it is
 like a paint program. You can make funny faces, mazes and the like with   
 it.  Honestly, the most effective castle in the game consists of one keep,

 surrounded by a low wall and dozens of wooden mess halls. Yes, in "Lords
 of the Realm" wooden mess halls are impervious to catapults, trebuchets, 
 infantry, siege engines and probably fire. Any army sieging your castle
 will just sit there and try to starve you out, but you'll have so much
 food in the mess halls you would certainly outlast them.  The computer's 
 castles can be captured easily with a band of peasants because the game's 
 castle combat system makes all troops--from peasants to  knights--
 EQUAL STRENGTH. There is no sense in that.
 
    The last heralded feature of the game, diplomacy, fails to be much more
 than a way to send personalized insults to other human players. Games
 versus computer players are over so quickly that the slowing tactics of 
 alliances and flattery are next to useless.

    To summarize: Don't buy. There is little depth in "Lords of the Realm."
 Your money would be better spent on "Abba's Greatest Hits," volumes I and 
 II.
 


 @Sound@: Below average 
 @Graphics@: Good 
 @Gameplay@: Poor 
 @Lastability@: None 
 @Value@: Poor 
 @Overall@: Poor
 

                    ****************************
                    *If you want to talk games,*
                    *argue about his review, or* 
                    *just contact Carl Chavez, *
                    *he can be reached at:     *
                    *foregone@u.washington.edu *
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