Johnny +2GF Commodore 64 game

STRATEGY
A REAL BLADE OF GRASS
t's been all quiet on the strategy software front for some months now. Hence an absence from these pages. Ah, but I'm back. It seems strategy games are in sea- son again. Makes me feel like Barry Norman. Well, anyway with SSI, PSS, Microprose, and Lothlo- rien getting their act together (amongst others), there should be a good enough supply to last everyone until Christmas. Perhaps in the new year, the games flow will not disappear.
There are probably two reasons for the re-appearance of this type of game. At this time of the year, shelf domination by a software company is very important for profits. However, there are only so many shoot em ups you can mar- ket at once. The variety has to be found in other types of games. The second reason reflects the con- stantly increasing tendency to include strategic elements in more commercial games.
The latter reason is itself the
result of two developments in the market. First of all, the capabilities and limitations of the machines are now better understood by prog- rammers and game designers. And there are few few cases nowa- days where you can get away with just left, right and fire. It's inevitable that as games become more realistic, they incorporate more strategyic elements.
If you can have a puzzle and a feast for the eyes all in one game, then why not put them both in? There will always be pure strategy but increasingly, it will become har- der to differentiate between categories with games.
new
Already there are well known cases such as Lords of Midnight, The Forth Protocol and others where the line between adventure and strategy is very thin indeed.
However, the evolution of the perfect hybrid game is not going to occur on the Commodore in anything other than the most artifi- cial form. This is simply due to the
limitations of the hardware. Even- tually, new hardware will make the goal increasingly plausible. It's only a matter of time before it becomes impossible to distin- guish between computer gener- ated fantasy and reality.
To give you an idea of how we're getting closer: a friend of mine is a programmer for various business computers. He's in the big busi- ness side, working on very power- ful 16 and 32 bit micros. We had an idea. 'Write the plot for an adven- ture/strategy game where you can play a wargame on one level, and then 'zoom in' to play an RPG- only every character has got to be interactive. You've got to be able to examine everything, explain any- thing, and give very detailed orders to your men.' Then what? We would have had about ten megabytes worth of game on our hands!
'We could put it on a hard disk and sell the whole thing, hardware included, as the ultimate game for
the really rich!' Specialised mar- ket, eh? Would there be enough people with the money and the desire to buy a game costing into four figures? Interesting challenge though...
It wouldn't work but I'm a slow learner. I'd still like to do it. One day, such games will be com- monplace. I'll be out of a job. Good thing memory is still so expensive.
Before I go, I'd like to point out that this issue sees the first part of a regular section, Strategically Speaking. With the aid of a few pages from GP and a little allitera- tion, the new feature will allow you to have a go at me or software houses or to express your views on strategy games and this col- umn. Only by writing in can you ensure its regular appearance. Of course, there will be £20 worth of Isoftware to the most inpsired or useful letter received. Over to you
JOHNNY REB II
Lothlorien, £9.95 cass, £12.95 disk, joystick and keys
T
his is the first offering from Lothlorien for some time and is a follow up to one of their oldest and most successful Spec- trum titles. Based on the American Civil War, Johnny Reb II is a one or two player strategy presenting the player(s) with a 'typical' action rather than a recreation of one of the many historic battles such as Bull Run or Gettysburg.
For those in need of a quick his- tory lesson, the ACW was the result of differences between the Northern and Southern states of the USA mainly (but not entirely) over legalised slavery. Neither side actually wanted the confrontation which lasted from 1861-65, but both were caught up in unavoida- ble conflict in a war so bitter and complex, it literally set brother against brother. It holds interest from the strategists' point of view because it has been called the first modern war.
This terminology is used more in the context of new weaponry than anything else. Repeating rifles were rare during the war, but gained in numbers towards the end. Gattling guns, the forerun- ners of the modern machine gun were also used occasionally, and cavalry, whilst still maintaining an effective role in combat, was armed more with slug throwing weapons than swords. The war was further complicated by the fact that whilst the North posses- sed the industrial might and num- erical superiority, the South was better organised and trained, and had fewer commitments. All this explained Lothlorien's first foray
into this era on the old Spectrum. Their excuse this time was increased sophistication and bet- ter gameplay. So, how have they fared?
Well, the most obviously notable feature of the new game is that it is apparently 100% machine code
balance of forces, the terrain fea- tures of the battlefield, where and when the various reinforcements arrive, game strength (on the one player version) and screen colours.
I was most impressed with the choices available to the player. When playing solitaire, the player may choose either side thanks to a flexible
computer opponent (though I later discovered that the opponent is not actually that hard to beat on the first two levels). Safety features ensure that you cannot alter the force played by
FIRE
M.E.
UNIT: 1 MORALE AMMUNITION
INFANTRY
STRENGTH
(something unheard of in the pre- Cambrian days of the earlier ver- sion's release) and it loads very quickly indeed. A passable title screen is then succeeded by a menu that allows limited modifica- tion of the game's parameters. Just about everything is user defin- able, from the control keys to the
MUSKET
the computer to make things easier on yourself. It's possible to have hidden movement on the single player game but all units are always visible in two player mode.
Once the game begins, play is very straightforward. Again this is due to attention to detail in presen- tation. Under joystick control, a
cursor is simply placed over the unit to be ordered before pressing the fire button. Information about the unit is then presented on the screen in a colour code to show levels of ammunition, morale, strength and efficiency. This dis- play appears below the 'action' screen. To the right of the screen, a series of icons appear, each indi- cating a possible action such as dig in, advance, charge or fire (not all these options are available to all uriits, as you will see). Joystick movement allows selection of the required order with confirmation coming from a second press of the fire button. Some orders may be elaborated upon. For instance, when advancing, you are asked whether the unit is to advance firing or not. As units carry out their orders on the main screen at the end of a turn, the unit symbols themselves change to show the current status of that unit.
Limited sound effects are employed during combat. This is normally ranged combat, thougn melee is possible between adja- cent units. Units may retreat, become routed or be destroyed depending on their performance in combat. The unit types are infan- try, cavalry, artillery and supply (these units cannot fight). The exact scale of the units is never really explained throughout the game or manual, but by the nature of movement I would suspect it lies somewhere between platoon or company level.
There is a standard scenario. A Confederate force is approaching a vastly outnumbered Union outfit which must defend its side of the map while reinforcements arrive during the course of the game. It's a basic but flexible arrangement which should present plenty of challenge in a two player game. The one player version only really ZZAP! 64 November 1986 43