🚀 go-pugleaf

fv...@pyrite.nj.pyramid.com (Fred Voss) writes:

>CompUSA had an ad for this game recently. Can anyone provide
>details on the game?

Negatives first:  It has a single-screen non-zoomable map of the 
Gettysburg field, so abandon any ideas of close-tactical escapades like 
the 20th Maine's on Little Round Top.  The AI (and the manual as much as 
admits this) can do some rather weird things when playing in the 
'non-historical' mode.  And the program installed *lots* of pictures 
of commanders (.BMP), but I have yet to see even one picture (aside 
from Lee and Meade) during the course of many playings.  (I may be 
missing something, but I couldn't find anything about them in the manual...)

On the plus side:  it is *not* a slavish imitation of a hex-board 
game, so all the artificial movement-point-counting and 
strength-point-counting is thankfully absent.  It is played in 'real 
time' (though speeded up, of course), so there are no 'turns.'  
Weaponry, terrain, fatigue, morale are all taken into account, but 
leadership factors are either abstracted or non-existent.  The sound effects, 
while not necessary to the game, are very good and really add some 
texture -- the battle sounds are sensational, and during night hours, you 
hear a plantive harmonica and crickets, and campfires flicker on the map.
(This is with a soundboard -- there is no sound if you just have 
internal PC speakers.)

The main strength of this thing, I think, is in its historical replay 
function.  When you just let it play (in demo mode, as it were), and 
read the many historical notes that pop up, you get a very good model 
of the battle and a real sense of the ebb and flow of the fighting.  
One interesting feature you can toggle is a graphic of where 
casualties are happening -- or dead bodies, if you will.  After the 
battle you can easily see where fighting was the fiercest.  You can take 
command of one side or the other and try alternative strategies if you 
wish, but as I said I'm suspicious of the AI (so far, anyway).  I would 
recommend this to a student of the battle; but not necessarily to someone 
looking for a 'game.'