Build an Cyber Country while you destroy your real life (America (PS))

Member Name: Cammij

Product:	America (PS)
Date:	11/08/01 (55 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: engrossing, Fun, Epic

Disadvantages: Programmer was a control freak

If A game can be heralded as excellent merely because you ignore all of your responsibilities and obligations for it, such as not going to work, not speaking to your family for 3 days and not eating in order to play a game, if these are good things then this is an excellent game.

Basically it is just the same theme that started with the Civilization and Colonization games and has grown amid 1602 and Age of Empires. The big difference is that the whole game takes place in teh American frontier. the game is overworked with political correctness, not that the contribution of all peoples should be acknowledged, and the four "races" involved in the game are the Outlaws (not the Motorcycle club), Mexicans, Indians, and "Settlers". Each races experiences are broken down into 6 to 8 scenarios taht take from 3 to 5 hoours to play. The sscenarios increase in difficulty and complexity from a basic intro to demopnstrate basic skills to the climax which employs all the elements of the previous scenarios.

It is just like any other game, you have to build houses, get food, build factories, stores and ranches, all of it depends on what race you are playing, for instance to create soldiers, the Indians need a training tepeee, the settlers a fort, the Mexicans an barrcks or cantina and the outlaws a saloon. And like any game of the genre you need to build the things in a particular order.

You will want to find the cheats at the cheatersguild.com right away. The game is too hard to conquer without them. I think the best cheat was to push the space bar and then type "icangeteverythingnow" or "icangetanything" which gives you a ton of gold, food, and weapons.

The Indian games are sort of a drag because as you advance you have to employ medicine men to do all this hocus pocus wizardry which is just silly. I did not enjoy playing this segment as much as the others. The role of women is actually very diver
se based on the culture, for instance in the Indian one women build the houses and farm, while in the settler one men build things and either can farm, while in the mexican one only women farm, and in the outlaw one there are no women.

The Mexican game is fun. The person who made this game had a better idea of the true relationship that Mexico has suffered fromm the USA and much of the game is fending off American Aggression and dealing with wild Comanches and banditos (not the Motorcycle club). On the package the game said you could fight the Alamo. I am a big student of the Alamo ( not because I am 6'3 and 345 pounds, I mean a big big engrossed student of it). I was shocked to find out the only battle for the Alamo is in a scenario where you are the attackers and have to kill the defenders. To me it was surreal to be hunting down my heros and killing them, it was just eerie. The best scenario is the one where you have to try to defend Mexico City against huge odds for 45 minutes, it is the shortest game, but it is just relentless, smashing, non stop action and thinking, your mind and fingers will be in hyperdrive for every second of it.It was favorite segment by far. At the end you get a score which is more or less a body count.

The Settler one is pretty tame. It is fun and all but it is more or less dull. On the very first campaign part, if you buy the game, take my advice, just run for it, you will understand, but just run for it. And make lots of hunters in lieu of soldiers they are cheap and easy defenders of your realm. You need t0o make a hunting lodge to do so.

The Outlaw one is sort of bizarre. you don't create food but Whiskey and the scenarios involve various exploits (generally imagined) of famous American outlaws. It is one of teh easier ones, mostly you just overwhelm all foes by sheer numbers in the game.


I don't have much else to say. The game is great because the format is alike a self tu
torial to begin with. You will learn to play quite fast. The game has good built in help and suggestions. One downside is listening to these long boring monologues prior to each level and the fact that you can not skip levels but have to "pass" the previous level although I recall one of my cheats let me bypass this. I left this game and all my info in Russia on vacation since I didn't dare play it at home and totally screw up my homelife, so I can't remember the cg=heats...sorry. Look them up on the net just like I did.

Try it and have fun

Summary: