Computer Game Reviews

Cohort and TIE Fighter

by Jonathan Aird

There are an increasing number of Computer Wargames coming on to the market, for all computer formats. This form of gaming has obvious attractions for the solo player, and can offer a very diverting change from true miniatures or boardgames. The two games that I am going to review here are for the IBM PC (or Clone) and are quite different in format and in age. The first is COHORT Fighting for Rome (UBI SOFT) which has been around for a while, the second is TIE Fighter (LUCASARTS) - the latest in the Star Wars series of flight simulators.

COHORT

Cohort is an ancients style miniature wargame without the figures. Units of 8 men are chosen, either randomly; as a preselected army; or a self selected force. Each man in the unit represents 100 foot or 50 cavalry. Armies of 6 - 12 units are assigned to the red and blue commanders and battles are fought over a set of four fairly basic battlefields - clear, a river, hills, cliff defence (player has back to the sea). Armies are built up of light, medium, and heavy foot and cavalry and foot archers. Light cavalry also have missile weapons. The graphics are a little cartoony, but look quite good none the less.

A fairly basic set of orders are available to be issued either before the battle starts or during the engagement; these include long range moves in straight lines, short charges and formation changes (line, column or square). The computer takes care of morale and melee, but movement remains the decision of the player - this sometimes leads to units ignoring the enemy despite being at close range because the player is scrolling over a different section of the map and so does not give the order to attack. Whilst the game is certainly enjoyable it does have two main drawbacks. Firstly, the lack of objectives, other than to destroy the opposite army. Secondly, the lack of an impartial decider of victory : at the end of the battle the computer informs the player of the final positions of all units and their casualties, the player has to decide who has won, if anyone.

A plus, in a way, is that Cohort is not a very new game : it was recently re-issued in a boxed set entitled Strategy Masters, which retailed at about £ 15. This box contains four other games : Merchant Colony, a trade and warfare game; Populous, a world builder game; Spirit of Excalibur, dark ages role play and strategy combined; and Chess Player 2150, a fairly decent chess game. For someone new to computing this offers a very fair deal and is worth considering.

TIE FIGHTER

Let me state before going any further that I am not a flight simulator fan. Whenever I try to fly there is either too much scenery to hit, or too much sea to ditch in! TIE Fighter is quite different - in space there is no up ! There is, however, still a fair bit of scenery to collide with. This is a fairly advanced game and really requires a fairly high specification PC, a good sound card would be an advantage as there is no PC Bleep sound effect/music option- oh well, there isn't supposed to be any sound in space anyway. It is playable on lesser machines, but obviously not all of the nice features are there and the graphics and screen update rate will be less wonderful. This aside, the game is impressive. The graphics are stunning - especially in the now obligatory introductory sequence and linking segments. There are a variety of missions to fly - from training to full combat - and 6 different spaceship, all with similar standardized cockpit layouts. The TIE fighter is, of course, the standard small spacecraft of the Empire.

At first it seems quite odd playing the "bad guys" but the missions offered do open up a rather different view of the Rebel Alliance - they seem to do a fair bit of gun running and are not above drug smuggling and sneak attacks on repair facilities. The Empire also appears to be less ruthless than it has been formerly depicted to be - rescuing refugees and trying to end civil wars is all in a day's work for the Imperial Fleet ! Game play is fairly addictive, some of the missions seem to be impossible, but I am told that they can be completed. With a variety of tactical and cockpit views available there is a lot to keep the rookie pilot busy. This comes recommended even to flight-sim haters, it is a game with a lot of potential, especially if LucasArts do add on mission discs as they have done for the older X-Wing Star Wars flight-simulator. Cost is around £ 40, although it'll probably be considerably less than that by the time this review is read, and it is well worth shopping around for.

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