The conquest of the Americas was one of the bloodiest endeavors of all time, and you can make it even bloodier as one of several nations trying to secure land and riches from the Indians and other expansionistic peoples.
As in all Strategy games, there are armies with varying skills and types of units, and there are industrial and commercial resources that must be utilized. American Conquest makes this interesting in the Campaign mode because you sometimes need to use just one or the other. The goal may be to fight your way to across the Ohio River to mine coal. All the while fighting Indians, buffalo, and deer. Your mission could be to capture the Incan leader, which requires no fort, mill, or ship building, just lots and lots of men to slaughter the Incans defending their chief. In most cases you will need to utilize a balance of both skills.
Besides the usual Campaign mode, which is full of depth and options, there are other ways to quench your thirst. Try a Single mission that pits you against many tough and sometimes different situations. There is the Random map option that will allow you to set your skills in all aspects against geography and up to eight computer opponents of variable strength. All are good ways to get familiar with the different capabilities of the game such as hunting for game while avoiding Indians, managing an armada, or using tactics in large scale warfare (we are talking thousands of troops).
I can remember playing Shogun Total War for the first time and remembering how awesome it was to see a thousand troops on the field of battle. How far they have come. One scenario puts you at the head of a French army of well over two thousand soldiers including cannons and cavalry. The sound and graphics stay in tune even with all the troops moving around. The effects are helpful for obtaining battlefield intel. You’ll hear the cannons and guns roaring, and you’ll see who is reloading, and when you need to move in fresh troops as your front line’s morale drops.
Online gaming is great, and American Conquest allows you to use all the tools of the game and then some. There is even an area where you can join a nation and battle for land from the Spanish in South America to the Delawares in the North. Just like other games online, there is chatting and rooms to meet players who have games set up on their servers. Beware of connection speeds as I did see some slow graphics because some players had slower speeds. It also sucks when you are partnered with someone that drops out and leaves you to face two other nations, a sure slaughter.
Gameplay: 8.5
I loved the approach they took in setting this game up. I see this as a fresh genre that I haven’t seen successfully implemented until now. The game itself is extremely easy to just jump right into with no tutorials needed. If you’ve played RTS type games before, then you’ll fall right into the driver’s seat here.
Graphics: 8.5
I thought the graphics were both appealing and useful. The game has a zoom capability that allows you to see the entire battlefield (very useful), and they’ve even set it up so you can still see the smoke from each soldiers gun and whether they are reloading or not (if you have really good eyes).
Sound: 8
Musical score was nice, very patriotic. Sound effects were excellent. They can be overwhelming, but after all, it is war, and it is supposed to be loud.
Difficulty: Medium
Some of the levels are ridiculously easy, and the others take several times to beat. Guess that’s a Medium.
Concept: 8
Just pick a time period where a lot of people died, and you can make a RTS game. This one is particularly fun because of the wide variety of nations and upgrades available.
Multiplayer: 8.2
Online gaming is great, and American Conquest allows you to use all the tools of the game and then some.
Overall: 8
Fun game. It had me hooked for a while, and then I moved on, but I wasted a lot of hours playing all the different modes and especially online. A good buy, especially if you like American history concerning anything from the Indians in South of North America to the Brits and French.
INFORMATION ABOUT THIS CONTENT:
Originally posted: gamezone.com (LINK) (ARCHIVED)
Date of publish: 02.04.2003
Author: Jake Schutz
Language of publish: english