Birth of America Review
13 April 2006 | By Alexandra Jeffreys
Birth Of America uses a simultaneous turn based battle system, which basically means that its a bloody free for all, much like a typical war
Well, strategy games huh. War games. Hmm. Interesting. If you read here a lot, you may have noticed that I say a lot of them are crap. The fact that they are, in fact, crap does not dissuade many people from getting horrendously upset. Kind of the same way some people react if you say that George Bush loves monkeys, really loves them.
However, this could be considered somewhat of an occasion, as I declare this game not totally crap. Thumbs up old chaps and all that rot. No, it's not going to blow the big guns out of the water, but it will give you a serviceable gaming experience. You won't find much fancy schmancy abstract arty NATO symbology here either. Mostly because the era this game covers is a good while before those tree huggers got together, smoked too much herb and decided they weren't going to push little models around maps any more.
We all yearn for those innocent days, and Birth of America brings us mass slaughter as it should be. Soldiers who are dressed both for fighting and for attending a royal ball, polished arms, and the feeling that everything was all right really. Nowadays it's all slaughtering teenagers for no easily discernible reason. Back then, war was much more honorable. Back then people were actually up front about colonization. Vive La Revolution and all that.
This game covers two exciting wars that helped shape history. The first is the French and Indian war (1757 – 1763), which is a really good long while. The second was also rather lengthy, and was The American Revolution, which lets face it, is the more well known of the two wars, and ran from 1775 – 1783.
Birth Of America uses a simultaneous turn based battle system, which basically means that its a bloody free for all, much like a typical war. Unlike many strategy games, especially war games which tend to play as if the creators were only vaguely aware that the GUI had been invented, this game puts a fair amount of effort into making things look right, and more importantly, look obvious. If there's a mountain range somewhere, you see the mountain range. You don't see contour lines, or strange textures which could just as easily be a close up of that funny rash my friend got in Aruba, or a desert.
Despite looking simple, it doesn't skimp on complexity or detail. There are many factors that you have to take into account, and keep taking into account if you are going to be successful. Each turn takes place over the course of a month, which is good because any shorter than that and all you'd be doing is watching your troops inch their way across the map. Like Lord Of The Rings, but more boring, if that's possible.
You build various things, like forts and depots, but thats about it. There is no resource gathering or things of that nature, which means you can focus on killing people rather than all that nansy pansy building things. War is about destruction after all.
Controlling your army is done in many ways, you map out their path with a simplistic drag and drop action that even the smallest child can master, and you dictate your armies posture. The army can be in Assault, Aggressive, Defensive, and Passive posture as it proceeds about the place. This is an advantage as it makes your army somewhat 'smart', it won't just attack like a horde of hopped up barbarians on go pills.
A major part of the game is the fog of war, which is a military term for 'Ha ha, just take a guess sucker'. Essentially this just means that parts of the map are not viewable and you can't tell if they are empty or filled with Indian hordes.
The AI makes sure that the game stays challenging, and if you play like a loon it will kill you. It makes for a solid experience, and it is an element which fades into the background, as it should.
There are a few shoddy parts to the game, where it could have been rounded off a little more pleasingly. Things like sound needed more attention, as did the documentation. Note to foreign game developers in general here: Hire an English speaking writer for the love of all that is good.
Top game moment:
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| War wasn't like this in my day... | Back then we didn't have words carved across America... |
However, this could be considered somewhat of an occasion, as I declare this game not totally crap. Thumbs up old chaps and all that rot. No, it's not going to blow the big guns out of the water, but it will give you a serviceable gaming experience. You won't find much fancy schmancy abstract arty NATO symbology here either. Mostly because the era this game covers is a good while before those tree huggers got together, smoked too much herb and decided they weren't going to push little models around maps any more.
We all yearn for those innocent days, and Birth of America brings us mass slaughter as it should be. Soldiers who are dressed both for fighting and for attending a royal ball, polished arms, and the feeling that everything was all right really. Nowadays it's all slaughtering teenagers for no easily discernible reason. Back then, war was much more honorable. Back then people were actually up front about colonization. Vive La Revolution and all that.
This game covers two exciting wars that helped shape history. The first is the French and Indian war (1757 – 1763), which is a really good long while. The second was also rather lengthy, and was The American Revolution, which lets face it, is the more well known of the two wars, and ran from 1775 – 1783.
Birth Of America uses a simultaneous turn based battle system, which basically means that its a bloody free for all, much like a typical war. Unlike many strategy games, especially war games which tend to play as if the creators were only vaguely aware that the GUI had been invented, this game puts a fair amount of effort into making things look right, and more importantly, look obvious. If there's a mountain range somewhere, you see the mountain range. You don't see contour lines, or strange textures which could just as easily be a close up of that funny rash my friend got in Aruba, or a desert.
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| It actually took 4 years to play a war game... | Nothing connected with the military should ever be mauve, it's way too Village People... |
Despite looking simple, it doesn't skimp on complexity or detail. There are many factors that you have to take into account, and keep taking into account if you are going to be successful. Each turn takes place over the course of a month, which is good because any shorter than that and all you'd be doing is watching your troops inch their way across the map. Like Lord Of The Rings, but more boring, if that's possible.
You build various things, like forts and depots, but thats about it. There is no resource gathering or things of that nature, which means you can focus on killing people rather than all that nansy pansy building things. War is about destruction after all.
Controlling your army is done in many ways, you map out their path with a simplistic drag and drop action that even the smallest child can master, and you dictate your armies posture. The army can be in Assault, Aggressive, Defensive, and Passive posture as it proceeds about the place. This is an advantage as it makes your army somewhat 'smart', it won't just attack like a horde of hopped up barbarians on go pills.
A major part of the game is the fog of war, which is a military term for 'Ha ha, just take a guess sucker'. Essentially this just means that parts of the map are not viewable and you can't tell if they are empty or filled with Indian hordes.
The AI makes sure that the game stays challenging, and if you play like a loon it will kill you. It makes for a solid experience, and it is an element which fades into the background, as it should.
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 |
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| Pastels.. Looks like we're low on testosterone.. must be those girly jackets they wear... | Winter comes, and brings an end to the inane comments... |
There are a few shoddy parts to the game, where it could have been rounded off a little more pleasingly. Things like sound needed more attention, as did the documentation. Note to foreign game developers in general here: Hire an English speaking writer for the love of all that is good.
Top game moment:
TOP GAME MOMENT
All in all though, jolly good effort. What ho. Pass the crumpets.
