We have a special guest reviewer with us today. A man who's no
stranger to epic battles himself. He's a Hollywood actor and
director. Let's have a warm welcome for the one and only, Mel
Gibson!
(applause)
Jimmy Clydesdale: Thank you for joining us Mr. Gibson.
Mel Gibson: My pleasure Jimmy and please, call me Mel.
Jimmy: Today we're covering Data Becker's America: No Peace
Beyond the Line. Why don't you start us off Mel?
Mel: I have long feared that my sins would come back to visit me,
and the cost is more than I can bear.
Jimmy: Umm. No Mr. Gibson, this game isn't based on the
American Revolution.
Mel: They may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!
Jimmy: No, that's William Wallace. You haven't played this game
have you Mel?
Mel: I know what women want Jimmy.
Jimmy: (Sigh) I'm sure you do Mel. I'll take it from here. Mel
Gibson everybody!
(applause)
America: No Peace Beyond the Line is a real-time strategy game
from Data Becker. The last time we crossed paths with Data
Becker, we experienced KO Boxing. Amazingly enough, KO
Boxing has now survived three Super Bowls in my collection? of
coasters. Their latest release is certainly a step-up, introducing an
Old West motif to the real-time strategy genre, a refreshing sight
considering all the medieval and fantasy-based themes that flood
the market these days. While perhaps a little odd that a German
developer is assigned to tell the tales of the Wild West, Data
Becker does a credible job bringing the Battle of Little Big Horn
and the fight for the Alamo to life, among other campaigns.
America follows a time frame from 1820 to 1890, an era that
witnessed the Gold Rush and the War with Mexico, among other
historical events. The game can be played from a number of
perspectives including that of the Indians, Mexicans, Americans, or
a gang of desperados. The game features over 30 missions divided
into four campaigns. The campaigns recount historical story lines
for each of the nations. While relatively accurate, the story lines
lack a sense of flow to them. The missions feel broken up, a
problem compounded by the fact you can't carry over units from
one mission to another. Each mission begins with a lengthy
monologue, but these spiels often have little relevance to the
mission objectives, let alone the fact they often go on far too long.
The end result is a campaign that features a few intriguing
missions, but lacks a sense of purpose overall.
The heart of America is a generic real-time strategy game. There
are three basic resources to manage. Wood and gold are
gathered, interestingly enough, from the same source, while food
is produced by building and working farms. There are a few
unique twists to this formula however. The desperados are
different in the fact they require whiskey instead of food (who
doesn't though?), which is produced by building distilleries.
Another interesting feature is the ability to harvest the local animal
population for food. So if you're low on resources, don't hesitate to
round up some of the local livestock come chow time. As the game
progresses, you'll need to build weapon factories to supply your
troops with rifles and corrals to produce horses. Horses are very
important throughout America, serving multiple purposes. Units
can mount and dismount them at will, supplying speed and
fighting bonuses in the process. You can raise horses but you can
also capture wild ones, buy them, or steal them by raiding your
enemies or by simply shooting enemy units from their mounts.
Each of the settlers in America is different in many fashions. For
starters, they each sports unique units. The Indians, for example,
offer a medicine man. The medicine man can bring rain to the
fields and make them bear fruit, as well call upon storms in the
heat of battle. The Americans feature a Sheriff unit with increased
visibility, while the Mexican padre always manages to recruit
enemy fighters for the Mexican cause. Each of the nations also
affords various defensive and offensive strategies, such as the
Indians' ability to swim and traverse through dense forests. The
Indians also have the skill to pack up their tepees and travois and
set them up elsewhere. Each advantage brings a disadvantage
with it however, as the desperados don't have munitions factories
at their disposal, which means they have to steal all their weapons
from other settlers, while Americans have to pay a pretty penny for
their modern weapons. These extra elements really add another
dimension to America that other real-time strategy genres have
failed to do.
Graphically, America certainly isn't top of the line. The level of
detail isn't particularly high, but the structures and units are all
large and easily distinguishable. As for the sound effects, I've
noticed a few people comment about the level of racism in the
game. Perhaps I'm not as sensitive as those people, but I didn't
mind the use of accents or stereotypes in the game. The audio
department as a whole is disappointing though. The sound effects
are lacking and the music wasn't very lively either. The
presentation could have been much better in general.
America falls victim to a few fundamental real-time strategy faux
pas. For starters, the game doesn't allow queuing, so you'll have to
constantly watch over a variety of tasks. The unit AI is terrible to
say the least. For starters, the pathfinding is atrocious. I was happy
to see that friendly units were able to walk through each other, but
getting a group of infantry to obey my orders was a task in itself.
On top of that, units would often stand around getting slaughtered,
waiting for my next order. There are aggressiveness settings, but it
didn't seem to matter what those were set at.
Perhaps the biggest frustration with America is the difficulty level.
Instead of a progressive increase in difficulty, the game throws you
right in the middle of the fire. The first couple of missions took me
several tries to succeed at. I'm all for tough competition, but
America doesn't allow you to get a feel for the game before it tries
your skills. The difficulty settings did little to help the situation. It
seemed like the computer was always one step ahead of me at all
times.
Unfortunately, American doesn't offer much in the way of
multi-player. While there are 20 multi-player maps available with
the package, skirmishes are limited to LAN play only.
When the West is won, America: No Peace
Beyond the Line is a bit of a disappointment. With so many
interesting features, not to mention a refreshing motif, the game
fails to execute some of the most basic elements of a real-time
strategy game. The poor AI, the lacklustre presentation, the
incredibly high difficulty level and the lack of multi-player variety all
contribute to the downfall. America is certainly an improvement
over Data Becker's previous projects but that's like saying the Chia
Pet is an improvement over the Pet Rock, it's all relative.
Ratings:
[ 28/50 ] Gameplay
[ 05/10 ] Graphics
[ 04/10 ] Sound
[ 05/10 ] Fun Factor
[ 03/10 ] Multiplayer
[ 05/10 ] Storyline
See the Game Over Online Rating System