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Campaigns » Rising Empires and Saracen Conquest (2 campaigns)
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Rising Empires and Saracen Conquest (2 campaigns)
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Author |
File Description |
scymaxim |
Posted on 11/01/04 @ 12:00 AM
File Details |
Version: |
The Conquerors 1.0c |
Style: |
Build and Destroy |
Number of scenarios: |
12 |
Great maps and gameplay... |
Author | Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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HeavyCamel Hater |
Posted on 12/22/04 @ 12:00 AM
I was disapointed by this campaign,I think it could be improved vastly.
Playability: You can play this campaign but it seems almost like a chore the maps get very dull after a while.
Balance: The sides were just about equal there was some challenging and some not so challenging bits but unfortunately balance does not help cure boredom.
Creativity: There were some good ideas in here but there was no support for them, the player is bewildered within 2 minutes and the urge to go on and find more is nonexistent.
Map design: The author shone here, some very clever designs which after attempting some scenario designs myself I know how hard it is to do.
Story / Instructions: Awful!! There was no instructions at the beggining of any scenario, no chat or view moves to point things out, just a feeble message in the objectives box like 'defeat three enemies'. If I wanted a game where I had to defeat enemies and there were no chat messages I would have played a random map!! |
Stephen Richards
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 01/04/05 @ 12:00 AM
(Updated review)
My, this author has been a busy bee. This download actually contains two separate campaigns, each consisting of six scenarios, putting this author in the Barbara Cartland league for prolificity. In the first campaign, Saracen Conquest, you play as the Saracens (surprise, surprise) although I could discern no other connection between each scenario. The second campaign is really six separate scenarios bundled together in which you play as six different civilisations. There is no historical authenticity - when you play as the Aztecs in the final scenario, very soon you are attacked by the Korean Navy which made me chuckle. As this is one download, I am reviewing all twelve. Most of these are B&D-style, with a few fixed force.
PLAYABILITY (4)
Although most scenarios are straightforward conquest types, I found enough variation to hold my interest, largely because your enemies do pose a challenge. In several of the scenarios you must build up quite quickly before you are attacked, so turtlers be warned. Sometimes you face quite large, coordinated attacks by several enemies at once, and often with fully-upgraded troops. Aside from conquest, there is a variety of other objectives: building wonders, helping an ally to establish a town centre, capturing a wonder, finding monks and capturing horses. Also, in the first SC scenario your ally provides you with resources and you decide how to spend them at your various military buildings. I found four scenarios below par – SC6 and RE5 involved building wonders but took too long, were too easy and thus tedious; RE2 was frustratingly difficult, involving finding all twenty horses on the map, leaving no margin for error, on top of which some are very close to enemy castles so that captured from Gaia, they’re almost immediately killed; and RE6 crashed (for no obvious reason). There were no instructions but the objectives were generally clear (except for RE6 which doesn’t have any). Apart from the crash referred to above, I found no bugs.
BALANCE (4)
This worked out pretty well. I played and won all of them on hard level but the challenge was fun and marked this campaign out from so many others. By shifting down to moderate or standard, I think all skill levels would be satisifed. In addition, in some scenarios on standard level you are given additional buildings (e.g. in RE1 you get two watch towers at the start). I think enemies are sometimes given a lot of starting resources so it can be a challenge to kill them off. Originally, I suggested that this approach somewhat negates the point of difficulty levels, but on reflection I think it partially counterbalances the AI’s weaknesses. I referred to a few balance problems above – SC6 and RE5 are too easy and RE2 is too hard.
CREATIVITY (3)
There is a degree of creativity, mainly in the variety of objectives (see Playability) and the challenges involved, but also evidenced by small things such as renamed units/buildings, limited use of sounds, and a consistent, if not particularly striking, standard of map design.
MAP DESIGN (3)
I would say all twelve maps were fairly good, around about the random map standard. I might sympathise with someone who, having designed ten maps, threw in the towel at the end and dispensed with it completely. However, the author keeps going to the end, and even if there anomalies such as jungle trees amid snow, they demonstrate an impressive level of commitment.
STORY/INSTRUCTIONS (2)
As I've remarked before, designers lose relatively easy marks in this category. None of the scenarios had any history, instructions or bitmaps. I don't think this seriously detracts, but I can hardly score any higher. As stated above, with one exception the objectives were clear, and some scenarios had hints. There were a few spelling and grammatical mistakes which should be corrected.
[Edited on 07/11/06 @ 05:38 PM]
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HGDL v0.8.2 |
Rating |
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3.1 | Breakdown |
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Playability | 3.0 | Balance | 4.0 | Creativity | 3.0 | Map Design | 4.0 | Story/Instructions | 1.5 |
Statistics |
Downloads: | 2,570 |
Favorites: [] | 0 |
Size: | 1.19 MB |
Added: | 11/01/04 |
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