Fighting in the Cornfield. Note the arrows between units on the right; they indicate fire (its volume and effectiveness) both coming and going
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Several years ago the suspense was high. Sid Meier had left MicroProse and, with some of his compatriots, formed a new company. What would he produce? Surprise! It wasn't a new Civ game or sequel to another of his famous titles—it was a wargame: Sid Meier's Gettysburg!. A real-time wargame, Gettysburg! was a tad more realistic than, say, Panzer General while also being more accessible. Still, as with most Meier designs, gameplay fun took precedence over realism details, and Gettysburg! had a beer 'n' pretzels feel. It was an awful lot of fun, but still did an amazingly good job at recreating the "feel" of battle—the stress, the confusion, and the sheer thrill of a successful maneuver (and the pain of a plan gone awry). The game was quite popular (for a wargame), and fans wondered what would be next. For a long time, the answer was "nothing," but then came the announcement that Sid Meier's Antietam! was in the works.
The grand experiment
A rapid shift to defend the Federal left against Confederate cavalry
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Not a sequel, per se, Antietam! is instead more of an experiment. Whereas Gettysburg! was released by Electronic Arts in a big retail splash, Firaxis is self-publishing Antietam!, and is doing so via an Internet store (which should be going live at their site, www.firaxis.com/shopfiraxis/, by the time you read this; you can also order it by phone at 1-877-347-2947). (Note: you still get a physical disc and some documentation—they aren't attempting Internet distribution.) If the product succeeds, sales-wise, Firaxis says it will be the first in a series of games (a series Firaxis is currently calling Sid Meier's Great Battles, not to be confused with the Great Battles series from now-defunct Interactive Magic).
Zoom out to get a better idea of the big picture
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Despite its full title, Antietam! was designed by Joe Balkoski and developed by Breakaway Games. It covers the American Civil War battle of the same name (also called Sharpsburg) that occurred on September 17, 1862. The game uses a slightly modified version of the Gettysburg! engine. At close to two years old, that engine looks a bit long in the tooth. The graphics are now only "okay" and scrolling the map can be a bit jerky at times (unless you tone the graphics down even further)—this is definitely a title that would benefit from some kind of hardware acceleration. It would also have been nice if Breakaway had added a "radar" map that would stay visible on the main battle map; as it is, you can sometimes get lost even with the full-screen overview map. Also, there are some differences in the overview map and the actual map. For example, the northeast of the overview map shows some branches to Antietam creek that don't appear on the main map.
While the overall graphics engine may not be improved much, there are lots of new, nice little touches in the art. Units in particular have benefited from some attention to historical detail. Instead of the two basic uniform schemes (one for each army) seen in Gettysburg!, you'll now see the variety of uniform styles the armies—especially the Confederates—sported on the battlefield.
Bloody Lane wasn't so very bloody in this battle
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The actual movement and combat activity never seems to suffer lag, but sometimes keyboard presses are delayed by quite a bit. You also need to be very deliberate in clicking your mouse on a new unit, otherwise you'll often find yourself sending a previously-selected unit off in an unintended direction (the same thing can happen when you try to scroll the map with the mouse pointer). The game uses the new DirectX 7.0, and you'll want to update your drivers after installing it. On a test system the game would crash repeatedly until the soundcard drivers were updated—after that it ran problem-free. At the time of this review the game had yet to reach customers (and Computer Games only received one copy), so trips to the Internet Gaming Zone in search of multiplayer opponents proved fruitless—the Antietam! rooms were up, but no one was there. The readme text warns you, in modem or direct-serial games, to quit and restart the game between battles; if you don't you may experience problems.
Sid Meier was right
Unlike Gettysburg!, Antietam! doesn't cover the battle in short scenarios together in a full-battle "campaign." While there are 17 smaller, unlinked scenarios (and four tutorial scenarios), you are given the chance to experience the whole battle all at once (something that was added to Gettysburg! only after its release). It's certainly possible to play this way solitaire, especially with repeated use of the—thank Meier for this!—orders-while-paused feature. However, you can see why Gettysburg! was designed the way it was—a full Antietam battle is pretty overwhelming. Still, it's in there if you want it, and it should be great for some marathon multiplayer games.
Antietam! lets you use normal terrain heights (left) or exaggerated (right)
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In addition to the scenarios and full battles (there are six versions), the game comes with a random battle generator. While the largest of these is only about the size of the intermediate-size scenarios, it's certainly a useful tool for extending gameplay. Firaxis has also thoughtfully included detail in the readme file useful for folks who like to dig into the guts of a game and make modifications. Expect new scenarios and even maps to appear on the Internet soon.
The game comes with a slender manual of some 25 pages. If you've played Gettysburg!, you'll appreciate the long "What's New in Antietam!" section, which goes into detail on the differences and additions. If you're new to the series, there is a short tutorial section, but for more you'll have to go to the CD. There you'll find very detailed documentation (accessible in the game or externally via a web browser), including the tactics guide that came with Gettysburg!. Also on the CD are excerpts from the previously unpublished history that formed the core of Balkoski's research.
Charging a Confederate regiment holed up in Mumma House
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None of the changes/additions are huge, but they do improve gameplay and give the game a flavor of its own. Antietam creek plays a major role in the battlefield's geography, and your troops will have to deal with it; ditto the Sunken Road. Artillery now comes in eight types (as compared to Gettysburg!'s two). Because the size of many infantry regiments at the battle were smaller than the game engine can portray (the manual gives an example of the 8th Virginia, which had only 34 men), some units have been combined. You now get a new level of troop, Elite, and some Legendary Commanders. Commanders can now order their attached regiments to retreat or fall back, and you can have regiments follow their brigade commander by holding down Control and Shift when moving him—a great timesaver in a game when you'll be issuing such orders dozens or hundreds of time per scenario.
The overview map showing the northern part of the full historical battle. Yes, you can issue orders from this view
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Division and corps commanders can have subordinate, non-firing artillery batteries "gather" at their current location, and artillery can now be ordered to fire canister (basically similar to ordering infantry to volley fire). Taken together and combined with the frequent use of directed targeting, this makes artillery a real killer on the battlefield. Line of sight for some units has been extended (especially for heavy artillery, letting it fire at realistic long ranges). The AI for enemy artillery has been tweaked so that it no longer instantaneously switches to the best targets.
Units firing or under fire now display a "fire arrow" that gives you a visual cue to the volume and effectiveness of fire (either that you're receiving or that you're dishing out). These arrows can make parts of the battlefield a tad busy looking, but once you've seen them in action you'll never want to part with them—they definitely help increase "battlefield awareness."
Five versions of the full battle
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While it's hard to say whether or not the AI gets hidden strength or morale bonuses at higher difficulty levels, it's easy to evaluate its maneuvering ability, and here Antietam! really shines. If you leave a hole in your lines that the AI can see, it will usually exploit it, often to devastating results (there are few things more hurtful in this game than having the AI use a powerful force as a wedge between two wings of your line). The AI is also good at seeking flanks, and in shifting weakened forces. If good defensive terrain is near, the AI will use it, and will fight to keep it.
Antietam! does the same wonderful job at recreating the "feel" of battle that Gettysburg! did so well. Yes, you get tension, stress, and frustration in a way few other wargames can replicate, but you also get thrills and a strong sense of satisfaction at a job well done, at a plan that comes together just right.
All-in-all, Antietam! may not be a major gaming leap over its predecessor… but then, given the quality of Gettysburg! it doesn't have to be.
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