Bad Habits - Geeked - July 14 2005
The Napoleonic era seems to be getting a lot of attention these days, and perhaps that’s not so odd considering that 2005 marks the 200th anniversary of Adm. Nelson’s historic victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. Odd or not, though, it is nice to see. The 19th century was an amazingly interesting period in military history, and war gaming geeks should celebrate any new title set in this period. The problem is that, as exciting as a new war game in the Napoleonic era is, it would be much more exciting if it were better than just mediocre.
One area where Cossacks II succeeds is in real-time strategy. The scenery of the battle maps is greatly improved from the original Cossacks, a title that was released in 2002. The overall color palette is much richer, leading to a more distinct look between terrain types. In addition, little details, like trees that can be seen swaying in the wind, add a lot to the overall feel. Unfortunately, troop models are still only 2-D, and while individual sprites can act independently from each other (for instance, some soldiers in a unit might be reloading while others are preparing to fire), fully 3-D games like Rome: Total War have definitely raised my expectations beyond the 2-D threshold.
The independent sprites do more than just make the game look good, however. One of the most impressive elements of the game is how the various units fight, particularly the way they reload their muskets. In the early 19th century, reloading your musket could take up to a minute. You had to clean the barrel, pour in an individual charge of powder, load the shot and pack it all together with the ramrod. Obviously, some soldiers would manage to do this more quickly than others, and Cossacks II accurately represents that fact. For instance, when a 120-man unit of, say, British Highlanders discharges their first volley, they all begin to reload. But rather than all of them finishing at the same time, you’ll notice that some soldiers finish before others. For convenience, the exact number that are ready to fire at any given time is displayed by a counter attached to each unit’s info box. This becomes particularly useful when part, but not all, of a unit is engaged in hand-to-hand combat. While some of the units are going at the enemy with their bayonets, you can have the other members of the unit keep firing and reloading.
Where Cossacks II falls short is in its two forms of campaign play. In one, you play a series of tactical battles linked together by a strange, non-historical plot line; in the other, you try to conquer all of Europe, moving your general’s army on a strategic map, a la the Total War series. Battles are fought on the tactical screen. The problem is that the first mode suffers from a distressingly weak plot and is often much more difficult than it should be; the second mode’s strategic level is far too simple and almost comes off as something thrown in as an afterthought. Still, the tactical battles are fun, and the game’s online component shows promise. It’s just disappointing to think about how much better this game could have been.
WHAT’S COOL: Improved graphics, the variety of troop types and individual soldiers’ variable reload speeds.
WHAT’S UNCOOL: A few technical glitches that cause crashes to the desktop; campaign modes that are decidedly underwhelming.??