Introduction, Presentation, and Plot

Historically, the results of blending different things together in the hopes of coming up with a better product have been mixed. For example, the combination of chocolate and peanut butter was a hit for Reese's, but no one seems to appreciate the industrialist's combining of acid and rain. It was thus with some trepidation that I approached the preview of Battle Isle - The Andosia War. Described by publisher Blue Byte as a conflict simulation, the game combines turn-based tactical movement and combat with the requirement to maintain a real-time strategy economy. It is an intriguing concept that seems to work rather well. As an old turn-based geezer who has shied away from the frenetic pace of RTS, I found the pressure of the real-time element to be suitably stimulating without being overwhelming. On the flip side, RTS twitch types may enjoy the ability to have solid control over their units in the heat of battle without the excessive thumb twiddling that sometimes occurs in completely turn-based games.

Battle Isle - The Andosia War takes place in Blue Byte's Battle Isle universe, which has heretofore consisted of futuristic turn-based tactical combat games on the planet of Chromos, Chromos' moon, and a colony on the planet Scayra. Battle Isle - The Andosia War returns the player to Chromos in the midst of a civil war. The protagonists are two of the heroes from the battles on the planet Scayra featured in the tactical combat game Incubation, though now on different sides. The story, such as it is, is presented in comic book cut-scenes and features a beat up old one-armed general on the one hand and a curvaceous fifty-five-year-old woman who could put Vicki LaMotta to shame on the other. Pandering to a certain demographic group are we, eh? The end result of the background story has the two opposing sides fighting it out on a group of otherwise uninhabited islands. Each player has a home island from which his economy is operated. Though the economy island can be attacked, most combat takes place on separate battle islands, with the destruction of the enemy's tactical headquarters usually being the mission goal.


Night battle in progress.	On target.

Technical and Interface

The preview copy of Battle Isle - The Andosia War contains a tutorial and two single scenarios. The production copy features two campaigns with over twenty missions. Documentation consists of a game manual and a units and buildings manual. The game manual is fairly detailed, but the units and buildings manual is sparse, missing details such as unit hit points, attack factors and armor ratings. From a technical standpoint the game runs smoothly, with only occasional frame freezes of very short duration. Most of the obvious bugs were known and being addressed by Blue Byte.

The majority of the interface is straightforward point-and-click with the mouse. Economic building and research queues are tied to specific buildings, limiting excessive scrolling to find a particular item. The majority of economic chores can be accessed through a "quick production list," which is available at any time, even while the player is watching his opponent move. One of the exceptions is building placement, which requires terrain-matching. One annoying bug I did find was the frequent inability to properly align waterfront buildings such as harbors, shipyards, and water pumps. Selecting a unit brings up visual aids, which make movement and combat a snap. Units can also be moved and fired in groups, though the movement versus rate of fire visual aid is then no longer available. Some parts of the interface in my preview copy were on the clunky side. For instance, setting up paths for the flow of reinforcements from the economy island to the battle island had some elements which simply didn't work, though this is one of the issues that Blue Byte is working on.

The camera is one of the most important elements in a 3D game. Battle Isle - The Andosia War has a free-floating camera which gives the player the ability to go from close-up ground level to the 40,000-foot level with the flick of a mouse wheel. Selecting and moving units results in automatic shifts to default positions. This can be a little disorienting, but for the most part the camera movement learning curve is not too steep.

Graphics and sound are fairly impressive. Minimum requirements for this 3D game are a 300 MHz Pentium II, 64 MB RAM, and a second-generation video card. Terrain and weather effects maintain a realistic look from ground level to a birds-eye view. Buildings and units are crisp and fully detailed, with authentic-looking moving parts. Weapons effects are nicely modeled; machinegun fire kicks up dust and bright fireballs bloom as missiles explode. Sound effects complement the visual feast as factories clunk, weapons crackle and vehicles growl convincingly. Background music is suitably ominous and helps increase the immersion effect.

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