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The Conquests of Genghis Khan and the Mongol Hordes
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Author |
File Description |
cHiCkEn and TaloN |
Posted on 10/11/99 @ 12:00 AM
These scenarios track the life of Genghis as best we can in only 3 scenarios from his teenage years to his death. |
Author | Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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Angel Grex |
Posted on 10/11/99 @ 12:00 AM
Quite good. Map design is the highlight - especially realistic, with very creative use of terrain pieces to create special effects. My chief comments are: Playability: Very good. First scenario requires roundup of horses, which is always irritating, but otherwise this campaign is great fun to play. Excellent pathing in very full large maps. Nice mix of units. Interesting victory conditions and a few stragegic/tactical choices which really matter. I'll probably play the second scenario again, just for fun. Creativity: Very good. Diverse victory conditions; wonderful use of terrain editor to create special effects. Nice use of cliffs in first scenario to wall off your resource gatherers so they're safe, but limited in what they can gather and how much you can spread out. Death of Genghis Khan nicely done and sets mood well in third scenario. Balance: Above average, especially second and third scenarios. First is a little too easy - ally gives you complete protection for your combat units in a secure base area. In second, very active and durable enemy is hard to take out until you fully explore the map. In third, three different enemies (and a fourth or fifth if you're sloppy), come at you from different directions with varied units. Resource limits and confined peasants help with balance in first and second scenarios. Map Design: Superb. Some of the best streams, swamps, cliffs/mountains I've seen. Nice use of terrain obstacles to create separate theaters/phases in each of your adventures. Check out the central mountain and the swamp in the Northeast in the third scenario, the massive wooded waterfall in the first, and the wonderful river junction/holy ground in the second. Story/Instructions: Very nice. Two good bitmaps. Nice use of in-game .avi gfiles to set mood. Good storytelling/instructions, but hints could have been a bit better. Victory/loss messages spotty - some quite good/some curt. VC in second scenario didn't work for me. Historical Content: Just adequate. Writeup accurate, but short and rough. Historical research might have been quite thorough, but it doesn't show. Very limited use of historical place/character names. Overall: A worthy effort, which you'll enjoy playing. Try this one!! |
Ronin |
Posted on 10/11/99 @ 12:00 AM
A RoR campaign - pure and simple, with nothing special about it. There is a story provided but it feels as an excuse for something to do, which in turn does not get the player involved in re-acting history at all. It can be _any_ story in _any_ campaign just because campaigns have to have a story, that's all. The story line is very sparingly written. I found some messages downright shoddy. I would exclude any campaign with such a defeat message as "---Warning!--- You are a Loser! ---Warning!---" from the "Above Average" (4) category, and I find it unacceptable in a historical campaign contest. I would expect more sophistication, more work invested and more consideration given to niceties at that level. The author did not even bother to name the scenario civs in historically correct terms, instead there are "Marauders", "Local Fishermen" and other such vague folks roaming around the map. There are even units with no obvious purpose present. No appropriate consideration is given to the selection of the Human Player civ attributes and its technological limitations to fit the Mongols best. In the third scenario even Armored Eles and Ballista Towers become available, so the player can use them at will. (To make a contrast in this respect, in a different contest entry the author made a point to note that "Ballistas represent Chinese Crossbowmen, those very deadly ranged units"). The author shows certain map making skills, using most of the tricks developed by hardcore designers, but his maps do not leave an organized impression at all. There is a certain limit for example to how many Alligator Kings can be placed in the path of the player's units. The first one is a challenge all right, and even the second one can be considered as such. But stumbling into Alligator Kings again and again, as the rule not as the exception, turns the challenge into bullying in a very short time. This can be irritating. As scenario design tricks evolved over the time within the designer community, the Elephant Kings has to have a reason by now. Placing them as pure hindrances has become "Average" feature by now. There are some obvious problems with the basic idea about what any particular scenario has to accomplish. The second scenario for example demonstrates a poorly laid out plan. Here, victory conditions are set to "destroy this and that..." while defeat is linked to loosing the Hero, representing Genghis Khan. Nothing prevents the player however from leaving the Hero at its safe starting point until the game ends, and go about his destructive business with the other available units. All in all, the campaign is a good one and delivers average gameplay satisfaction, but fails short of being front runner in historical design contest. |
DeathShrimp |
Posted on 10/11/99 @ 12:00 AM
This is fun campaign with some beautiful maps and interesting victory conditions. ; All three scenarios involve fighting the enemy with the troop you are given or can find on the map; having at least one build-up scenario would have added some diversity. As such, the strategy tends towards the puzzle-solving side, which make it a bit tricky to judge difficulty level or differences among difficulty levels. ; I found myself saving and restoring quite a bit. The designer clearly had paid attention to all of the map tricks, from burning buildings to walking on water, and generally uses them to good effect. ; I loved the map from the first scenario. ; The second scenario also had a nice map, but I felt like I spent a lot of time combing the recesses for the Gaia troops that I knew must be hidden somewhere. The designer made a good use of a dramatic style of storytelling, which earns high points for creativity, but hurts the history a bit. It is a bit hard to swallow druids, killer gazelles and the city of Baghdad in a Genghis Khan campaign. ; A very credible effort, and well worth the time it takes to play. |
HGDL v0.8.2 |
Statistics |
Downloads: | 812 |
Favorites: [] | 0 |
Size: | 709.00 Bytes |
Added: | 10/11/99 |
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