Published by Empire Interactive

Having not had the opportunity to purchase Battleground Ardennes or Battleground Gettysburg, when asked to write a review on Battleground Waterloo I jumped at the chance. I believe not looking at the other two Battleground products gives me the ability to review the product without prejudice. Game requirements are for a 486DX33, 20Mb free hard disk, 8Mb RAM, Double speed CD-ROM and Windows (3.1 or 95). I have at home a 486DX66 (8Mb RAM), Quad speed CD-ROM and Windows 3.11 - the game runs without any problems, although when playing the complete battle the load times when scrolling about the battle field are a little high. At work I have access to a P90 (32Mb RAM) with Windows 95 and again the game runs without any problems.

The games is supplied on one CD and the manual that comes with it is very detailed, allowing the game player to use the game almost immediately. A top-down map is also supplied showing the initial troop deployments and the major actions during the day.

To the game itself. It is supplied with 22 different scenarios ranging from a small 9 turn action to a mammoth 54 turn complete battle. All of the historical actions and the full battle are included, as would be expected, but some very interesting 'What if' scenarios are included ranging from better weather conditions for the day of the battle to Grouchy appearing at the battle. I have not had the time to play all of the scenarios yet, but the ones I have played have been excellent. There are modem and play by e-mail options available to ensure you waste hours upon hours of free time, or work time, replaying one of the most famous battles of the 19th Century, either by yourself, or with a friend.

Playing the game

Once you have selected a scenario the game is loaded (this can take some time depending upon the scenario you have selected). As soon as the scenario has loaded you are asked to select the level of artificial intelligence (AI) the computer is to use. You can select manual control, commander control, computer control or computer control with 'Fog of War'. Once one of the AI choices has been selected the troops are displayed on the battlefield. You have five choices of display; 2D zoom-out, 2D normal, 3D extreme zoom-out, 3D zoom-out and 3D zoom-in. I enjoy using the 3D zoom-in because of the level of detail obtained but with some scenarios this just is not practical. Each turn is split into 5 phases for each side, the phase are; Friendly Movement, Enemy defensive fire, Friendly fire, Friendly Cavalry charge and Friendly Melee.

Moving a unit could not be easier (as soon as you get used to it), you left click on the battlefield the unit(s) you wish to move, at the bottom of the screen the unit type(s) appear - you left click on the unit type(s) you wish to move at the bottom of the screen - you then return to the battlefield and right click on an adjacent hex (if you can move the unit(s) will move to that hex). It is more complicated to explain like this than it really is. I personally would have preferred to operate troop movement with the left mouse button only because there were occasions that I left clicked when I should have right clicked.

Firing a unit works in the same way as movement, the only difference is the right click is used to select the enemy unit you wish to fire at. The computer selects the units that are available for firing in both the friendly and enemy actions so you do not have to worry about this.

The cavalry charge means that your horses can move twice during a turn and is useful for getting your cavalry is position for the Melee phase.

The melee phase works exactly the same way as the firing phase. The computer handles which units can perform melee and displays the odds before you choose to carry out the action. During all of the phases there are very good video images, which can be turned off, of troops, cavalry or cannon moving about the battlefield or firing. These have obviously been taken during re-enactment days and add a nice bit of realism to the scenario you are playing.

AI Quirks

I found some strange, but useful, quirks in the AI. Whilst playing the scenario entitled "Here is Grouchy", a what if scenario in which Grouchy's troops appear on the French right wing before the Prussians, I was able to deploy my cannons in front of the forming Prussian lines and destroy the best part of their cannon and cavalry before the computer started to react to it.

By this time the battle had already been won, victory is determined by holding / capturing objectives and by destroying the oppositions troops. By forcing the Prussians from the battlefield I was able to turn the British left wing and inflict heavy losses on the Allied army. My point is that the computers AI seems to be happy to just position it's troops within cannon range and leave them there for you to obliterate. It is a good job Wellington didn't do this, otherwise, Napoleon would have been Master of Europe yet again.

One suggestion that would round the game off nicely would be a victory acknowledgement. At the moment all that appears are the victory scores and what determines a major or minor victory or defeat. Some video footage of Wellington victoriously entering Paris or Napoleon's old guard making their final stand would have made my victories even better, for me.

Overall

Overall if I was asked to give a mark for the game I would have to give it 9 out of 10 (you can never give a perfect 10), it is an excellent game, a lot of thought and effort has gone into it and I only hope Empire produces more in the Battleground series (there are quite a few battles I would like to see).

[Thanks Glenn for this review it nearly ended up with me having to do it, but I am saving myself for reviewing any Samurai computer game any company comes out with. Ben and Allison please note! This is me working on the "Ask and ye shall receive" idea. Kenn]

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