America, 1492, it’s the start of a 321-year war and there can be only one winner. Staticplay relives American history thanks to American Conquest.
From the makers of Cossacks, American Conquest is a real-time strategy title that is massive in size and scale as players can command armies of up to 16,000 individual units over maps made up of 600 screens, with 100 unique units and a similar amount of buildings, large-scale is the phrase here!
Using a 3D isometric battle engine, the game employs the usual point and click interface, which can become a little complicated with a lack of a zoom in/out option when selecting large amounts of troops. As this is only preview code the developers may change this or they should add a simple shift + number button system that allows you to assign a group of soldiers to a number on your keyboard, as seen in Sudden Strike II, making selecting units a great deal easier. Graphics and animation in this game though are rather nice, with some really neat touches such as shimmering rivers and burning buildings.
Other gameplay elements include the ability to upgrade and research things, this usually costs the player resources which come in the form of food, wood iron, coal, gold and a few more things, this type of gameplay is typically found in most other RTS games and it’s one of the core elements of American Conquest, something fans of Cossacks and the RTS genre will enjoy.
As in other RTS games, the unit AI can at times become confused and/or attempt to do something that you didn’t order, such as stand still whilst you’re raging war a few feet away, hopefully this will be fixed in the final version as it’ll be a shame since the game is quite enjoyable when you send a mass of troops into war and they follow your every command.
With 12 different settlers to select, players have a huge choice as the game includes Spanish, English, French Aztec, Inca, Maya, Sioux, Delaware, Huron, Iroquois League, Pueblo and USA forces to play with. Each of these forces will also have historically accurate weapons and buildings accompanying them, so it won’t hurt to experiment and play around with different tribes to see which is your favourite, let’s not forget that each army has their own different set of challenges and strategies in Campaign Mode.
Other modes include Single Player (inside of which is Campaign, Single Game and Random Map) and Multiplayer; with Multiplayer players can opt to play against either computer AI or their friends via LAN or over the Internet, perfect for those little skirmishes to show off your commandeering skills.
From the code we received, American Conquest look set to become a solid RTS title, with plenty to offer in the shape of units, maps and buildings the game will definitely become one of the more large-scale RTS games on the market. If CDV Software can iron out the few wrinkles this game has they’ll be onto a winner. We’ll bring you more on this game in the near future.
INFORMATION ABOUT THIS CONTENT:
Originally posted: staticplay.net (LINK) (ARCHIVED)
Date of publish: 20.09.2002
Author: Steve
Language of publish: english