It seems like almost every single “historical” Real Time Strategy game lately focuses on the Crusades, with knights in shining armor, or World War II time periods. While this is all good and fun, I am in some serious need of diversity in my RTS gaming. It is nice to see a fresh era to play an RTS game, and that is just what Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars provides.
This game is divided up into four really different modes of play: Campaign, Battle for Europe, Skirmish, and Multiplayer. Campaign mode is where you will be put into different scenarios and has to take out various enemies from taking over your territory. Basically it is like any other campaign mode in any other Real Time Strategy game. Battle for Europe will have you trying to conquer the content of Europe like any dictator would want to do. It is up to you to form different alliances with neighboring countries and waging war with everyone else. Finally the skirmish mode allows you to quickly get into a game and try to take out an enemy before he does the same to you. If you have an Internet connection or setup on a network, you will be able to play against other humans.
When players jump into the game they will be able to choose from five of the “super powers” at the time to play as. The nations that you will be able to take command of are: France , Russia, Austria, Britain, Prussia, and Egypt. Once you choose the nation which you want to fight for, you will choose from a list of famous commanders, including Napoleon himself, and then you will play the game. The more battles that you participate in and win the higher your experience will be which in turn affects the amount of troops that you will be able to command and recruit. What is really nice about this game is that it makes you, yes the commander, get on the battlefield and prove your worth to the nation that you are serving people and additional people will follow you.
The number of units that this game has is pretty impressive, such as dragoons, militias, grenadiers, musketeers, fusiliers, and lancers. Once you take those units into account, players then will be able to obtain their nations own specialized unit. As you see, there is a huge variety of units to keep track of, so players will have to keep attention on the formation of each of the units to that they will be able to function and be useful to them during the course of a battle. Seeing all of them fighting with the enemy on the battlefield is always a good feeling that will get your heart pumping while they are fighting each other for dominance.
If you are the type of gamer that likes all of their new games to be in 3D then you will not like Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars. This game takes an age old approach and uses sprites for all of the units on screen. This does provide some advantages, such as larger battles since the PC doesn’t have to worry about rendering thousands of little polygonal men on the screen. On the plus side the environments are really nicely done and fit well within the entire game.
One of biggest frustrations in this game is taking the time to recognize what troop is what type. This is because all of the soldiers look vaguely similar in appearance, so it makes it difficult to identify who is who. The animations for all of the soldiers are really well done. One of the things that I enjoyed about watching a battle is seeing all of the troops fire a weapon then watch them reload it, just like they would in real life. This made the game feel a lot more alive and hit closer to home to see what war was like for the people in those days.
The sound for this game is a mixed bag. First, the voice acting was a real downer. If the lines weren’t bad enough the delivery of these lines is a real killer. The voice actors seem to have no motivation in making everything seamlessly fit within the game, and it really shows. However, most of the sound effects in this game are pretty nice. Hearing a huge Calvary’s beat of marching footsteps to the sound of gunfire while in the midst of battle, sound very realistic. It also will gives you the feeling that you are in a huge battlefield. The music is tastefully done but really doesn’t add or subtract anything from the entire game.
Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars is rated T for Teen for blood, violence, and language.
Gameplay: 7.8
This game plays like many other RTS games in the world. If you have ever played any RTS game in your life then it will take hardly any time to get adjusted to the gameplay of Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars.
Graphics: 7.9
Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars looks pretty dated. The reason for this is that the developers opted to not make the game in full 3D so all of the units are sprites. While this is not a bad thing, many other games that take this approach seem to look way better then this one.
Sound: 7.8
The sound is pretty good in this game. What I like about the game is that the bigger the army gets the louder the footsteps and chatter among them will become. The horrible thing is the voice acting, just plain bad.
Difficulty: Medium
Depending on your skill level will define how hard this game will be for you.
Concept: 8.0
I really like playing in a different time period then the normal ones that historical RTS games go for. Other then that little fact, there is nothing really new that many other games have not done in the past.
Multiplayer: 7.8
Online play is smooth and pretty much lag free.
Overall: 7.9
Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars is a pretty enjoyable game, if you can overlook some of its flaws. First and foremost it was really nice playing a game that is not set in the normal historical RTS timelines. Overall, if you can overlook the mentioned flaws then you will have a fun time playing this game.
INFORMATION ABOUT THIS CONTENT:
Originally posted: gamezone.com (LINK) (ARCHIVED)
Date of publish: 20.05.2005
Author: Michael Knutson
Language of publish: english