Computer Graphics Memory Disk Space
Minimum 386/25 VGA/SVGA 4 MB 5MB
Max/Rec.
Control: Mouse (2), Joystick, Keyboard
Sound: Sound Blaster, Roland, General MIDI, Aria, Gravis Ultrasound,
Adlib
Reviewed version 1.0 on: 486DX2/50, 4MB RAM, SB Pro sound card.
Reviewer recommends: 8MB RAM for maximum world size
The most immediately remarkable element of the game is its fun animation's of the various types of serfs at work. When I first started playing I spent more time looking to see what each of the different serfs did rather than on actual gameplay. Also, I found the simple economic system to be a refreshing change from other city/kingdom building games. No money or taxes to worry about.
Although gameplay is simple realizing this is not. The manual is poorly written and required several readings and a call to tech support before I fully understood all the games' functions. The game does include several training missions that help familiarize the player with the basics of gameplay, though.
Probably the best way to describe gameplay is to walk through one of the production systems. Keep in mind that what I describe happening is animated and actually happens in real Serf City time, i.e., buildings are constructed by a serf they do not just appear on the screen when ready. A good point to start with is the lumberjack. Your serfs need wood to construct new buildings and tools and it is your lumberjacks' job to provide it. The lumberjack roams the countryside until he finds a suitable tree. He then proceeds to chop it down, removes the limbs and carries it back to his hut. At the hut a transporter (this type of serf is responsible for transporting all merchandise between buildings) picks up the log and takes it to the sawmill where another serf cuts the log into lumber. The lumber is picked up by another transporter and depending on the current demand for wood takes it either to a building construction site where a construction serf uses it or to the toolmaker. Or it might be stored in the castle or a warehouse. Other systems involve mining, food production, gold production, tool making and weapon making. All the systems are interdependent in some way and keeping all these systems flowing smoothly is the heart of the game and proves to be very addictive and challenging. If you fail to keep good control of these systems your roads quickly become clogged with merchandise thus slowing delivery of everything down.
Although you are given various methods of controlling supply and demand of merchandise it is only to a certain degree. Contrary to what the game manual states, you are not omnipotent. For example, if you decide that for the moment you have plenty of wood you can not instruct you lumberjacks to cease cutting down trees. If you want them to immediately stop the only choice you have is to demolish their huts which sends them back to the castle to wait for reemployment. Of course, this means you have to rebuild their huts when their services are needed again. This is definitely not an efficient or easy way of dealing with wood production. This method of production management does not apply to all the trades but to enough of them to be irritating. Control of individual buildings should have been included to allow finer control of production.
In addition to keeping your serfdom running smoothly the player also needs to build his or her military. The military is used to expand your borders, either by the taking of unclaimed land or the capture of enemy buildings, and to defend your serfdom. The military consists solely of variously ranked knights (advanced rank is achieved through training). Knights can only attack enemy military buildings, castles and knights. Civilian serfs can not be attacked but if a serf's building is located in territory lost to an enemy the building is immediately burned down and the serf returns to his castle. Combat is strictly knight versus knight and all knights carry only sword and shield. The only factors affecting combat are rank and morale (which is largely based on the amount of gold the knights' serfdom possesses). WARLORDS this is not.
The military aspect of the game is where the game's Achilles Heel becomes most obvious. The game suffers from the worst AI I've ever played against. I played an entire game (with all variables set equal) against the three toughest opponents and was only attacked TWICE while I proceeded to crush them. Because the AI is so bad, the player quickly realizes (it took me about 15 hours of gameplay) that there is only one strategy to winning the game (I won't tell here). This quickly reduces the replayability of the game to nil for solo players.
The game does allow for two players either working as a team or against each other and computer opponents. Two-player mode is not accomplished by modem but by dividing the game screen into two separate screens, one for each player. I found this mode of play to be annoying and undesirable.
A series of game missions (simply preset games) is provided as well as the ability to customize your own games. It should be noted that although SVGA is supported it imparts nothing new graphically to the game. It merely reduces the size of the graphics. This is useful in that it allows you to see more of the territory but there were some ratio bars that I could not adjust in this mode. The player can switch between VGA and SVGA during play.
In conclusion, I can only express disappointment with this game. It had the potential to be a truly fun game but for solo players such as myself the AI dooms it to sit on a shelf gathering dust almost immediately. I can only recommend this game for two players, assuming they can tolerate the split screen.