American Conquest

Rating:
Summary: AWESOME!
Review: I just downloaded the DEMO of this game today, and the demo already had me droolingto buy the game! Gathering resources and building armies is EASY! The pop cap is one of my favorite features, up to 16000!!! Unlike games like EE which only goes up to 800 maximum. Units work together and everything, and i'm only talking about the demo alone, And I can't wait to try the full version!!!

Rating:
Summary: Accurate but Not Excellent...
Review: I just graduated from the University of Illinois with a Major in American history, my speacialty being the Revolutionary War. I got this game a few weeks ago because I thought it sounded interesting. The game is very accurate to history with a few exceptions such as the fact that, the soldiers can ONLY fight, they would really have been doing plenty of other things such as building shelters and such. Certain obstacles are also not included, like the fact that the soldiers were constantly coming down with dysentry and other illnesses. The sounds are realistic, but the music is horrible. The graphics are OK, but you are looking into the scenes from a far away view and the movements can become sticky. One thing that annoys me is the fact that the soldiers can walk throught trees! The soldiers can turn and flee, including your own, which is a realistic plus and morale is included, which makes the game harder. Its an interesting play and pretty fun, but there is definetely a better one out there. And if you're really interested in the Revolutionary war, university classes and novels are a much better way to learn and have a good time!

Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: I thought I'd like it, but was knocked out by the graphics music etc. You can definately get JIGGY with this game!

Rating:
Summary: For historians and gamers.
Review: If your are an RTS gamer and your are remotely interested in early American battle history, you simply have no choice but to buy American Conquest.

Rating:
Summary: Conquest is the BEST
Review: If your looking for a great, no awsome Colonial Strategy game this is the on to buy.

Rating:
Summary: Strategy Plus
Review: If your not good at strategy, you will be by the time you master this game. It will teach you how to use many flanking maneuvers.
Unlike many games where forest are taboo and you must go around them, here you can go through them as a real army could. Well worth its price.

Rating:
Summary: Greatest Love of All
Review: If your wondering why I didnt mark down the # of stars I would give this game, there is a simple explanation. I haven't played it yet. But this game is nothing short of candy for your eyes.
I have been waiting for 5 years for a game of the revolution to come out (well one that didn't [disappoint me]). I have waited for this moment since Age OF Empires, Age Of Empires II, and Age Of Empires II: Conquest the expansion. I was watching an invisible clock count down to the one game that hit this great part of the timeline that is computer game scenarios.

Rating:
Summary: Misses The Mark
Review: Sure, the game looks great, but I wish a little more time had been spent on playability. No great improvement from Cossacks.

First off, there are too many vexing common sense issues. Native American canoes easily sink top-of-the-line Frigates. So do small boats. Neither can be sunk by ramming as with the Cossacks series. If you've played Cossacks, you'll also notice that all aspects of this game are vastly (and annoyingly) slower. Canons move and fire so slowly that you're likely to invade and conquer an entire country before you see them. Developers seem to have spent an extraordinary amount of time on the nuances of the gun crews- setting up, moving the gun, loading, moving the gun, moving the ammo & firing- all at the pace of a Sunday drive, even when under fire. You begin to wonder if they forgot that people actually play this thing rather than just look at it. Ships move and fire just as slowly and are much more slow to build than Cossacks. Bugs are abound. Cannons and ships bunch up and get stuck constantly while on the move. Worst of you'll find that some targets, inexplicably, can not be fired on by ships, essentially making them invincible. Watching one of these "invincible" boats sink your entire fleet one shot at a time is maddening. Especially when ships take so long to build.

Besides the bugs, you'll notice that almost everything is more expensive and more restrictive than in Cossacks. Large populations and multiple buildings are much more restrictively expensive to build. Also, I've played the American side and noticed that there is no fishing fleet or trading center available- ouch!

Many problems with Cossacks play were transferred into American Conquest. Formations still fire as one, sometimes killing a peasant with 100+ shots while not being able to reload in time to address the 100 pikemen that are advancing directly behind him. Although it has improved slightly, fratricide is still a big issue- watch in horror as one of your canon wipe out half your army. A.I. still refuses to assemble large enemy armies in formation (the strength of the game).

Other gripes: Native American arrows outshoot rifles by large distances, dragoons are too weak, American units lack imagination and accuracy, 17th century units are worthless. Naval units have been reduced (from Cossacks) and boring back-end nation building still makes up the bulk of game play. Mortars are gone and canon fire has little effect on many buildings, drastically changing the power of assembling an artillery barrage on an enemy city like as in Cossacks.

Bottom line: A lot of time wasted on graphics that get old after your first play and disrupt the speed of the game. The visuals are a step ahead of Cossacks, but the play is two steps behind. The game as (a series) is still the only game in town in you're into next gen military strategy gaming. I still play, but with a lot of frustration. Buy this game if you're into military strategy gaming, and grind your teeth like the rest of us. Just wish it was better.

Rating:
Summary: Great Game
Review: The British Redcoats wait nervously, but they are confidant-they have fought yokels like these before. As the enemy advances to but a few yards distance, the commander gives the order to fire. The line unleashes its volley, tearing through the American ranks. Broken and dispirited, the Americans break ranks and flee. The Redcoats don't wait to reload and charge with their bayonets, completing the slaughter.

This is what makes American Conquest such a great game. In the original Cossacks series, I loved the idea of formations and unit subdivisions. But, I was dissapointed to see each unit within these formations fire individually. American Conquest changed this and now the formations fire as one, in a volley. Morale is also introduced in American Conquest. It's great to see enemy units flee the field when under intense fire. (Though not so great when one's own units do the same.)

There are other great features to American Conquest as well. The method in which troops are gathered is a great change of pace compared to the other Strategy Games available. In this method, one has to first create citizens or peasants and then train those peasants to fight as soldiers. This method of unit creation is much more accurate, though it would be more accurate if soldiers could construct some buildings and perform tasks other than combat.

There are several small items in American Conquest that make the game very accurate. America was usually a sideline to European affairs, so the quality and amount of military equipment sent to the Americas would be limited. This fact would explain the shortages of cannon, mortars, and howitzers and would also explain the limited variety of shipping available in the game.

American Conquest does however posses the major drawback present in most Strategy Games, and that is problem of units getting lost or hung up on various obstacles present in the map.

Overall, American Conquest is a fun game to play, and an awesome change of pace from the more basic games available for play.

Rating:
Summary: Where's Waldo?
Review: This could have been a great game, but there is only one problem with it: There are too many things going on at once! You cannot select one entire group at a time, only sections of a group, and since you usually have over 80 men on the battlefield at a time, things can get difficult to see, and therefore unit management becomes tedious. That's all I really have to say about this game. The engine is pretty, it had great promisses, but this one issue ruins the entire game.