Players may play a Tutorial game which contains only two missions: to establish landfall and discover three major landmarks in the New World, and discover a colony. They also have the option of customizing a game. Each player takes a turn and when the player has exhausted all of their explorers, then the player must end their turn by pressing the End Turn button. Between each turn, the computer must set up the scenario which takes a few minutes. However, for entertainment between each turn, a newspaper with information concerning the status of the missions and historical facts about that particular time pop up on the screen. The king's expectations and opinions of the players are contained in messages which pop up between turns, as well. Game scores can be accessed through the main menu at any time during the game.
The graphics and sound effects are superb. Sounds are played throughout the game. During exploration, sounds of birds and running water fill the air. During colonization, sounds of people talking are heard. The battlefields are filled with gunfire sounds. These effects make players feel like they are really in the game. The graphics are filled with vivid bright colors. The land is a bright green, water is indicated by bright blue, the cabins are brown, rocks and mountainous terrain are a gray color, the humans are dressed in the appropriate attire, such as uniforms, and there are many more graphical features. These special features are very enticing and captivate the players.
IBM or 100% compatible
486DX2/66 or higher (Pentium recommended)
DOS 5.0 or higher, or Windows 95
hard drive
2X CD-ROM drive or higher
8Mb RAM (16 Mb recommended)
VESA compatible SVGA video adapter with 512K video RAM for graphics
8-bit (16 bit recommended) for sound device support
This program was installed and tested on an AST 486DX2/66MHz, IBM 100% compatible computer, DOS 5.0, 4X CD-ROM drive, 8Mb RAM, 16-bit local-bus VGA graphics with 1MB of video RAM, 16 bit sound device
The program is easy to install; however, it was not accessible through Windows 3.1 because there was not enough memory. It was only accessible through DOS. The CD-ROM had to be in the CD-ROM drive in order to experience the complete sound effects of the program. The computer was slow in setting up the scenarios, due to the slower processing speed of the 486DX2. A pentium is recommended. The software ran smoothly, no technical support was required during testing. The company does provide extensive support through the 1-900 hint line, the Interplay BBS, America Online, CompuServe, GEnie, and the Internet address at www.interplay.com. There is a 90 day limited warranty that states that the product is free of defects. There is also a lifetime warranty if the compact disc or floppy disk(s) should fail after the original 90-day warranty, you may return the software to Interplay for $5.00. This game has some very unique features and is considered one ot the top ten games to play.
...Conquest of the New World has beauty, brains and depth. If Vince DeNardo (Sr. Producer, Interplay Productions) and Quicksilver can manage to weave all these aspects together correctly, while keeping the end result soldid and playable, they will have set a new standard for all future explore the hidden world games to aspire to.
Reviewed by Michele DuBois, graduate student at GSLIS, UT Austin.
Comments to: michele@world-net.net
July 1, 1996