🚀 go-pugleaf

In <1992May20....@nmsu.edu> wcal...@nmsu.edu (William A. Calderwood) writes:

>Has any one played this game. I was thinking about buying it but I'd
>like to find out more about it. (ie. graphics, sound, modem use).

I've got it and it's a frustrating maybe. In mechanics and implementation
it's delightful. The gameplay is at the tactical(?) level - lots of individual
tanks, etc. It's hex based and looks very much like a conventional board
wargame.

Positive:

	- looks beautiful
	- does a good job of taking care of the nasty mechanics of the game
	- lines of fire graphically displayed (i.e - hexes you can hit are
	  highlighted)
	- visibility implemented well (i.e - can't see all objects on map -
	  need spotter units)
	- weather, terrain types, beach assaults (though no water craft)
	- plenty of nice scenarios

Negative:

	- no stacking
	- weird victory conditions: you get victory points for each turn in
	  which you hold a city. These accumulate through the game, and at the 
	  end the winner is (of course) the player with the most points. Means
	  you can conquer the entire map and find you've lost anyway. This
	  sort of victory condition would be ok for some scenarios - but 
	  they've got it for all of them. makes the play feel kind of weird.
	- and here's the big one - a *really* bad computer player. Does
	  incredibly stupid things and wins only by weight of numbers. Even
	  though the victory conditions mean that the game is all about holding
	  cities, the computer often doesn't bother, even when it can.

More features: reinforcement, neutral countries, engineer units. This would be
a fantastic game if it had a better range of victory conditions and a good
computer player, and a very good game if it had either. I know how hard it is
to write a really good computer player - it's a shame to see they didn't quite
make it.

I can't tell you to buy this or not to buy this. Certainly it's a better deal 
if you're likely to play with a friend. I don't know what the sound is like,
as I never turn the sound on. I *think* there's modem play, but I don't
remember. The graphics, as I said, are beautiful.

My final advice: go and buy "Civilization" - it's a wonderfully complex game
with a huge learning curve, but you can start having fun in the first few
minutes, as most of the complexity comes from optimizing your play, not from
the basic mechanics of the game. Also, the computer player is *good* - I've
never yet thought what a moron it was! Best of luck...

>Thanks.

>Bill,
>wcal...@nmsu.edu            (Yes we have SUN's in the desert)



							Steve
							st...@fulcrum.oz.au