"We will fight in the pizza.
We will fight in the cookies.
We will fight in the coleslaw.
We will never give up."
If you like war games and like humor then you will love Battle Bugs. The latest offering from the folks at Sierra On-Line, Battle Bugs has over 56 scenarios with over 22 "unit types" to play with. As the title indicates, this is not the usual wargame. The opposing armies consist of insects -- bugs, in other words. Their battles are with each other and over food supplies.
First, let's meet the bugs: professional soldiers who are tough, adrenaline pumping, skilled and disciplined. There are 22 types:Ant, Assassin Bug, Bee, Cockroach, Commander, Diving Beetle, Flea, Grasshopper, Jumping Spider, Lightning Bug, Medic Ant, Mosquito, Moth, Pill Bug Praying Mantis Rhinoceros Beetle, Robber Fly, Spider, Stink Bug, Wasp, Water Boatmen, and Water Bug. Each has different capabilities and weaknesses. Ants can walk fast and throw bombs or rocks. Praying Mantises are savage fighters. Mosquitoes can fly fast (useful in capturing and keeping terrain objectives) but have little strength and fall to the first opponent.
Each scenario starts off with a briefing given by the Commander In Chief (CINC). The game map is displayed and your "units" are available for study. As with all wargames there are terrain effects -- but with a twist. I doubt that classical wargamers normally contends with crossing grease, honey or climbing over french fries to sieze an objective.
As you study the map, the unit types and the terrain, you must develop a strategy and a set of tactics for completing the mission. Each bug can be given an individual set of orders, including movement, attack, defense and so on. Play is then started, and the enemy forces and yours contend. Play can be interrupted and new orders given to units in order to complete the objectives. Ultimately , your first and foremost goal is to stay alive and survive. Your bugs will fight to the death, but so will the enemy bugs -- misplan a mission, and the enemy will annihilate you.
Your mission is to battle bugs and capture junk food territories such as the delectable Plop Tart or the feared Excra Mints. You have to consider terrain, mobility, formations, timing, and special weapons. Some bugs can fly, others can swim some can breathe poison while others can hurl bombs, missles, or even deadly limburger cheese (chemical warfare at the basic level!). You can use six explosive devises that can kill even the normally indestructible rhino beetle -- the main battle tank of the bug battlefield.
Victory in a secenario leads to public ovations and accolades from the army amid martial music and the blasting of trumpets. If by luck, or skill, you manage to win three scenarios then you will be called to the court and presence of Queen Elizabug. She will award you with tokens of your valor, skill and service in a pyramid of honor ranging from the "Bee Cluster" through the "Purple Cookie" to the ultimate "Reward of Valor." With continued success you will have a thorax full of medals. Lose, and be prepared for disgrace, like having the Rhino Beetle stripped of his armor, or the unforgettable death of the stink bug -- whose memory lingers on and on, long after he is gone.
As with all Sierra games the graphics are outstanding, well thought out and just plain fun to look at. My six year old brother will happily stare at the screen just to catch the bits of action that it portrays and giggle at the silly stuff. Sound quality is up to the usual Sierra standards and the entire set of orders are given verbally in clear, understandable computer generated sound.
The whole point of the game is a bit silly, of course, but don't let the humor fool you into thinking this is a "gimmicky" game. Battle Bugs may be long on humor, but it is also long on strategy, tactics and planning. It's not simple and it's not amateurish. The depth of play and complexity of a good wargame is there, but the confusion and frustration has been exterminated. This is not an arcade "shoot 'em up" but a true wargame with levels of complexity ranging from "Boot Camp 1: Dirt Simple" where you command two ants to beat up a single enemy ant (it took me an hour to do that by the way -- Ed.) to "Dessert Storm" with a complexity rating that probably matches Austin Bay's Arabian Nightmare.
Overall, Battle Bugs offers hundreds of gameplay hours with countless possibilities, strategies and combinations. It's well worth the money.
Battle Bugs
Sierra On-Line (1-800-757-7707) (Fax: 206-562-4223)
System Requirements: IBM PC or compatible 386 or higher. At least 2 MB RAM.
MS DOS 5.0 or above. Expanded memory manager. 8 MB Hard drive space. VGA
graphic card and color manager. A true Microsoft compatible mouse. A 1.44 MB 3.5
floppy drive. SVGA is recommended as well as sound card.
The game is available as a CD-ROM (double speed recommended).
Current Price: $49.95
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© Copyright 1994 by David W. Tschanz.
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com