Hacker Chronicles 2/HACKER2.BIN/1738.GOG.REV

Text File | 1991-09-07 | 8KB | 124 lines

 GALLEONS OF GLORY

 GALLEONS OF GLORY (GOG) from Broderbund simulates the historical voyage of
Ferdinand Magellan. Although Magellan sailed around the world, this game only
takes the player as far as South America, presumably to allow for the
possibility of a sequel. (This review is based on the MS-DOS version, which
was programmed by Louis Ewens.)

 Broderbund's product fact sheet describes the game thus: "Based on
historical fact, players assume the role of Ferdinand Magellan, pitting them
against nature and shipboard politics as they try to discover the strait."
That's a pretty good description of the game. Nature plays a big role in GOG.
The weather is important, and the geography of the South American mainland is
crucial to success. Both are random. Ship's politics is really a marketing
cypher for a basic resource management game. Like the old game CAMEL, the
player has to balance food, water, and morale against speed and time spent
exploring. The only differences between the two games are that in CAMEL the
player was outrunning pygmies, and in GALLEONS OF GLORY there is a graphical
interface. Everything the player can do affects one of these basic variables.
For example, putting ashore can get some fresh food, but wastes time, or
sailing at night can increase speed, but reduces morale. There are several
dozen commands that can be issued to different members of the crew.

 Issuing orders is about all the player can do. There is no other way to
exercise skill. On the whole, arcade sequences don't work well in strategy
games, but I believe that GALLEONS OF GLORY is crying out for some action. It
would be challenging to actually haggle with native peoples, instead of
merely ordering the captain to trade with them. It would lend credibility to
the game if the player could actually control the way in which the ship was
sailed and navigated, rather than simply issuing orders to the navigator to
find a safe harbor or move further out to sea.

 There is a distinct feeling that you are not quite in control. This feeling
is strongest when faced with a mutiny. These seem to occur, if not randomly,
then with little forewarning. I experienced one mutiny when I had a morale
score of 95% and full stocks of food and water. I didn't find out why they
rebelled. Although the player can ask crew members for gossip, this potential
method of giving intuitive advice about playing the game was wasted because
they rarely give any real warnings or useful information. The player is much
better advised to look carefully at the log book statistics to see what is
going on. Likewise, there is a map in the game of the coastline, but I found
it very crude and difficult to comprehend. Given that the player is searching
inlets for one that may lead to the Pacific, it is very difficult to use the
map to actually navigate. The voyage across the Atlantic is not covered at
all, and once the player has found the path to the Pacific, the game ends. It
would have been a much grander goal for the player to have circumnavigated
the world.

 GOG begins with a pleasant animated title page, and a scroll that flashes
the historical context of the game before your eyes. The border of this
screen has an engaging and convincing late-medieval/early-Renaissance feel to
it. Unfortunately, this style of graphics is not sustained in the rest of the
game. All the graphics are in EGA mode, despite being run on a VGA system.
The other graphics are more reminiscent of the adventure games of a few years
ago, especially with the grainy effect that 16-color EGA can give. Still,
there are some nice touches, including fades, and small animations such as
changing weather conditions and when the player opens the log book. However,
the is a limited number of screens and only a few characters to encounter,
so the graphics soon lose any visual appeal and become merely functional.
They don't sustain any willing suspension of disbelief beyond the first few
minutes of the game.

 The player interacts with the game using a pointer, which can be driven by a
mouse, joystick, or keyboard. The only exception to this, and it is a strange
anomaly, is that the log book can only be closed by pressing the escape key
on the keyboard. The player's character (Magellan, the admiral of the fleet)
moves around the flagship by selecting locations from a menu at the bottom of
the screen. In any location, the player can choose to talk to a member of the
crew chosen from a menu at the top of the screen. Any encounter is driven by
a small menu of options. The menu operates in the same way for each
encounter, except that the orders that appear apply to the current character.
For example, the priest may be asked to bless the crew while the cook can be
ordered to increase the rum ration. The user interface, like the graphics, is
functional and efficient, but has little variety or attractiveness of its
own.

 The game supports Sound Blaster, Tandy, and AdLib sound cards. I don't have
a sound board, so I was able to test only the speaker sound effects. These
were good, if not outstanding. There were plenty of tunes, but few real sound
effects. It may be that these are available with a sound board, yet I cannot
help but feel that the sound in this game was a missed opportunity. I would
have liked to hear "Land ahoy!" now and again. MicroProse's SILENT SERVICE II
manages a plausible "Dive, dive, dive!" on the PC speaker (and it wasn't
referring to the state of my office!).

 The program is supplied on 3.5" and 5.25" disks; both are included in the
game package. This is increasingly common and very worthwhile. I have a
portable PC that only has a 3.5" disk drive, so I know how frustrating it is
to discover that the game that I have recently bought will not run on my
machine, simply because it came on the wrong disk size. The game claims to
run under any DOS version from 2.11 or higher. I used the latest MS-DOS 5
without any problems. GALLEONS OF GLORY requires 512K of RAM and runs on IBM
PC/XT/AT/Tandy and 100% compatibles in VGA, EGA, CGA, Tandy, and Hercules
graphics modes.

 The manual for the game is very good. It is short, but well put together,
reasonably well illustrated, and very effective at explaining the game to the
beginner. It lacks the amount of historical or background information that
MicroProse puts in their manuals, but it is better than most. The only
serious omission is any guide to long-term strategy. It would have been a
valuable addition to the manual to have suggested different solutions to the
problems the game throws at the player; I suspect that it did not because
solving these problems is the main challenge of the game.

 Once you realize that the game is not quite what it is heralded to be -- a
simulation of the voyage of Magellan -- but is in fact a simulation of
coastal exploration and rationing, it's easier to enjoy GOG and to find some
value in it. To its credit, GOG does create the sense claustrophobia of
shipboard life very well, and the mutiny sequence is well executed. There is
quite a large "solution set" to explore in managing the simulation, so there
are plenty of opportunities to experiment. There is a clearly defined goal
and distinct methods of achieving it, and various measures of intermediate
success that help guide the player.

 GOG is probably an excellent game for a young person who wants to learn
about the subject. The manual is good and is obviously well researched. As a
game for adults, who are used to programs like KING'S QUEST V or Cinemaware-
style products, GOG must be compared to a Wednesday afternoon matinee rather
than a Saturday night blockbuster.

 GALLEONS OF GLORY is published and distributed by Broderbund.