THE ANCIENT ART OF WAR from Br0derbund.
Review by Robert Brown.
Copyright (c) 1990 Apple Users' Group, Sydney
Republished from Applecations, a publication of the Apple Users' Group, Sydney, Australia.
Requirements:
- Apple //e with at least 128K ram, //c or //GS.
Optional:
- Mouse, Joystick, Colour Monitor.
Just sit back into your chair and let your mind go wondering back about 2500 years. Your mind wonders into China. A great man sits in front of you scribbling chinese characters onto a scroll. What is he scribbling and what is his name?
His name is Sun Tzu, a man that basically started principles of military strategies and tactics of war that still remain valid to present day. Every great military leader has been influenced by Sun's writing with every major war practicing them. Now, it is your turn to place Sun's strategies and tactics with an added spice of your own into realistic warfare. The only other tool needed is 'The Ancient Art Of War' from Br0derbund.
'Ancient Art Of War' places you into the role of a famous military leader such as Athena, Alexander The Great, Geronimo, Crazy Ivan, Julius Caesar, Genghis Kan, Napoleon Bonaparte and Sun Tzu himself. There are eleven campaigns to choose from. These range from the "Race for the flags" through battles such as the "The Contest Of the Gods", "Sherwood Forest", "Custers Last Stand" and other historic battles. The campaigns can range between one hours playing time up to ten hours playing time. You are not limited to the eight military leaders or the nine or so games. One delightful feature of the program is the Game Editor. You can make either your own battle or world, or you can make and recreate famous battles. Different military personnel can be substituted and therefore different outcomes will follow. The game that you play can be saved and recalled at any time of play.
With an 'Ancient Art Of War' campaign, you must seek out the enemy while they seek out you. Once the enemy has been spotted, the computer beeps and displays a message on the screen. If you zoom in, you now have the controls of your armies that are at war. You must either outrun or kill your enemy. If you disable a party and march up beside them, the screen switches to a display of a side on view of the two parties. There, you can fight it out between yourself and the enemy using swords. If you don't zoom in, the computer takes control of the battle. This is the easiest way when you are a beginner as while the battle is going on, you can read the manual and find out some of the commands.
The program comes in a superbly illustrated box, with a fifty page manual that is exquisitely designed. The manual is divided into three books. They are the instruction manual, planning guide including fighting strategies, and
the last which gives a brief history of fighting and the historic wars that have been fought through the thousands of years.
'Ancient Art Of War' is a program designed by Br0derbund and those that know of Br0derbund will realize their programs are something special.
'Ancient Art Of War' is a very in depth strategic game that won awards for the Best Action/Strategy program of last year. It can be easy at times for the beginner or near impossible for the professional.
'Ancient Art Of War' is truly a pleasant and interesting program to play.
Program courtesy of DataFlow
134 Barcom Ave
Rushcutters Bay NSW 2011
(02) 331-6153

THIS CONTENT COPYRIGHT © 2007, APPLE MACINTOSH USERS' GROUP, SYDNEY
Permission has been obtained to make this material available on the Internet.

Permission is hereby granted for non-profit user groups to republish this content.
PLEASE CREDIT THE AUTHOR AND THE SOURCE: Applecations, publication of the Apple Users' Group, Sydney, Australia

THIS PAGE COPYRIGHT © 2007, ANDREW ROUGHAN