Gameplay is what we want -and it's difficult to find here. Fans of Cossacks may think this is a bit on the harsh side, but quantity over quality is not the way forward. It appears that in its haste to create a realistic experience, GSC Game World forgot to make the experience entertaining. Put it this way: if you can build a small settlement, successfully start gathering and producing all the right resources and then sit around for eight hours while building and organising an army of 16,000, and thoroughly enjoy doing so, then you deserve an award.Įveryone has their limits and for the majority of us, the process of allocating officers, standard bearers, and drummers to individual platoons is a dozen or so mouse clicks too far. If nothing else they do their best to liven up what is essentially a time consuming and unrewarding RTS experience. The eight separate campaigns and 12 civilisations are interesting from an educational perspective. Attention to detail, innovation, design and great gameplay must be there too.Īmerican Conquest is lacking many of these qualities. And yes, 16,000 soldiers is an impressive amount of units to control undoubtedly the developers must have enormous brains to create such mind-boggling figures. GSC Game World's American Conquest, like its forebearer Cossacks has pretty much one thing on its mind, and that is to dazzle you with the sheer number of units it can place on one map. So, welcome back to the sprite -or to be precise 16,000 of the little buggers.

What was fashionable once will be so once again.

Innovation began to seep into lethargic minds the Amiga stood down and the PC began flexing its muscles.Īll fads and phases are cyclical.

Gamers demanded gameplay and fun was back. Thankfully, this sprightly foray was soon found wanting. And as for the plot? Well, if people wanted stories they'd read books wouldn't they? Gameplay was lost in a throng of spindly arms and legs, but nobody cared. Developers actively competed against each other to see who could get the most animated characters on screen at once. If gaming history had distinct eras, this period would have been known as the Sprite Age. During the late 80s and early '90s the Commodore Amiga was at the height of its power.

American conquest games