Reviewed by Colin Edmondson Name: Conquest Of The New World By: Interplay Format: CD/Rom Available: Now Requires: O/S: Dos 5.0+ or Win95 Processor: 486DX2-66+ RAM: 8Mb+ (12MB Recommended) Graphics: SVGA CD-Rom: X2 Soundcard: All major cards supported Controls: Mouse Tested on: Processor: Pentium 166MHz O/S: Windows 95 RAM: 64Mb Graphics: Matrox Millenium 4Mb Vram CD-ROM: Panasonic quad speed Soundcard: Soundblaster AWE32 Controls: Microsoft Mouse
Conquest Of The New World
Conquest of the New World is a recent example of the now well established genre of settle/explore/develop/conquer strategy simulations. It is certainly nicely finished with some interesting features but its doubtful whether it really breaks new ground - indeed it's doubtful whether there is much new ground to break with this type of game.
The game is based on gaining control of the New World during the 16th Century competing against expeditionary forces from five European countries. You play as one of the European countries or as a native Civilisation.
Conquest doesn't seek to be a faithful historical simulation of 16th century exploration of the Americas. It is based on the spirit of the era, and to add variety a random New World is generated at the beginning of each game.
The Game is turn based - in a similar vein to Civilisation. Each turn, you move units, develop and build etc according to your objectives at the time. You have the option to play solo against the computer, selecting your own victory conditions, or against other human players connected by network, modem or serial cable. Up to 6 players can play via a network whilst 2 can play by serial cable or modem.
Conquest follows the pattern of similar games by providing a multitude of ways to win which provides variety and demands careful consideration of strategy.
The game's graphics are attractive with most of the play taking place on a 3D map of the 'New World'. Territory is uncovered as it is explored and points are gained for major rivers or mountains discovered by you. Each moveable unit - in other words Explorers, Settlers, Military Units & Ships etc. have a finite movement capability each turn. Terrain differs which also determines the maximum distance each can cover. Movement is effected by dragging the unit with a mouse - unlike Civilisation it is not constrained by a square grid.
Building colonies requires a predictable balancing of resources to optimise rates of growth and development of new units. You start with a colony centre, adding farms to produce food, mines & mills to produce raw materials to facilitate further building, housing, forts, churches , taverns etc each with its own purpose, characteristics and interaction with other buildings. When certain conditions are met and adequate resources exist, buildings can be upgraded to the next level to enhance their production capacity. Neighbouring terrain also determines output rates so it's often worth waiting to find the right spot before founding a colony.
Trade with Mother Country, Natives or other players can be used to acquire scarce resources quickly or to sell surplus production. Will the trade you enter into help you attain your goal faster than your opponents? You don't know what your opponent has decided to set out to achieve so it can be difficult to judge - this makes the game more interesting.
Diplomacy influences your relations with other players, with natives and with your mother country - keep relations with other parties on a civil level until you are ready to declare independence or go to war - particularly if you want to trade. Spies can also be used to gather information or frustrate the efforts of your opponents.
So far it's all fairly predictable stuff - and just a bit too much like all too many other games of this type although it must be said it does what it sets out to very well indeed. Combat however is perhaps the area where this game differs most - battles are resolved on a battlefield which consists of a 3x4 grid with opposing flags positioned in the middle square at each end of the grid. Infantry, Cavalry & Artillery take turns to move back and forth and from side to side (but not diagonally) and fire at adjacent square containing opposing units. I was surprised at just how difficult this was to master given the size of the grid and so few different units. Each square can contain up to 6 unit which can be a mix of types. Attacks can be sequential or en masse with differing effects. The best way to see how this works is to try the excellent Shockwave demo available from Interplay's web site:
You need the Shockwave plug-in available from the Macromedia Shockwave page:
This shows off Shockwave capabilities pretty well too - well worth a look.
In summary it would be difficult to find anything specific to fault the game on - but equally there's not too much to set it apart from others like it. There are certainly a lot of similarities with Civilisation II - the last game I reviewed here. Multiplayer capabilities are certainly a welcome feature and the combat battlefield does provide an extra dimension but I suspect this game will appeal most to those who haven't come across a game of this genre before (where have you been?) or the real dyed in the wool strategy sim fans who will relish any well presented game of this type.
====================== Rating: 6/10 (Average) ======================
