Computer Wargames
Leslie King
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Medieval Total War Viking Invasion This is an add-on for the very successful Medieval Total War game and it's well worth the £20 or so you will pay to get it. You get a complete new campaign which covers the British Isles and bits of Scandinavia - and it is not an easy campaign for any player. If you play as one of the factions in England you will immediately have strong forces all around you and very little room in which to expand. You need to pick your alliamces carefully and look after things at home. Coupled with this you are likely to find the Vikings attacking your coastal provinces on a regular basis. You need to concentrate on building up your forces and economy before you can even think about attacking anyone else. It also pays to build up your defences in your coastal provinces as that will make the Vikings look elsewhere. Of course, playing the Vikings is a blast..... |
As well as the new campaign, installing the add-on adds some extra countries you can play in the full game, and you also gain access to new weapons. The interface and some of the rules have been tweaked slightly too. Those who do not trust their generalship can now save the game once they are on a battle screen - if you're fighting the Vikings it's not a bad idea as even a small force can shred anything you send against it. If the Vikings offer you an alliance you need to accept it immediately too they are the strongest faction by far. Cavalry are much weaker in the Viking campaign too - more mounted brigands than knights.
G.I. Combat
This is a game that should have a good pedigree as some of the designers behind the Close Combat series worked on it. It's a real-time 3D game featuring some of the battles in Normandy in WWII and you can play as either the Germans or the Americans. There are a range of operational scenarios you can play - either smaller infantry fights or games featuring tanks and other vehicles so there's some variety, and there's also a range of campaigns as well. At the start you are presented with a core force and some points to buy extra units to fill out your force too - an idea taken from Close Combat 3. Once you have selected your force you proceed to your battle - you can issue preliminary orders to your units before the game actually starts. Once it starts so does the screaming as you start to take casualties - maybe realistic but it gets a bit wearing after a while. The AI does seem pretty good and you do take lots of casualties whichever side you're playing . One of the reviews of the game in a computer magazine compared it to "Band of Brothers" or "Saving private Ryan" and I know what they mean.
The interface is fairly simple - click on a unit and you get a drop down menu with a range of commands. Click on the appropriate command and then click where you want the action to take place - very simple. Line of sight etc is calculated so you cannot fire at units you cannot see or are out of range. It sound very simple and it is. Unfortunately the 3D nature of the game gets in the way. You keep finding that your viewpoint is behind a hedge or tree so you cannot see what is going on. The controls are fairly intuitive and you can use the mouse and keyboards but you will still find yourself struggling. Coupled with that is the fact that there's so much going on and so it gets difficult to keep up with anything so you find yourself moving all over the map trying to sort things out. Your units will do some things for themselves like take cover and return fire if fired on but that's about it. Many of the elements from the Close Combat series are here, but the 3D nature of the game as opposed to CCs top down view make it difficult to follow. Thereare also morale effects - if your units take too many losses you will find them melting away pretty quickly but this is realistic.
Did I enjoy it? At times I did, but I've not really gone back to it very much as there are so many better games available