QUEST FOR THE ENGLISH CROWN
A Review of Conqueror A.D. 1086
by Craig Majaski
Conqueror A.D. 1086 is set in medieval England. You are a young knight with difficult decisions lying ahead of you. You have many goals to achieve in your long and daring quest, with two main objectives in mind.
You may form an army, begin overtaking
neighboring fiefs, and, once your empire grows strong enough, the royal throne of
England might be within your grasp. Or instead of fighting your way to the
top, you can train and attend tournaments. As you win, you're experience,
wealth, and power will all begin to increase. Once strong enough you have
the duty of killing the dreaded dragon that lurks over England. If you
succeed, the title of "Kings Champion" will be yours. Whichever path you
choose, it will be a difficult journey.
The first thing you must do when you begin Conqueror is choose your
character. You may select from a number of existing knights or form your
own by answering a set of moral questions. This is similar to other RPGs.
When the game starts, you find yourself with a small fief, some shillings
(money), and weapons. The first order of business is to build your castle,
your village, and to plant your crops. In order to accomplish this, a list of buildings and crops are given. Simply choose what you want to build and
where. This is similar to other strategy games like Sim City. After getting
your internal affairs dealt with there are many things that can be done.
Conqueror is divided up into several different sections. There are: villages, tournaments, castle management, and warfare. Depending on where you are,
the viewpoint changes. The village is a good place to start out, with each one being different.
Most of the important information and gossip is found in the many
village inns. Here you can talk to some of the local patrons. When you click
on them, a dialog screen appears. You can ask them any question that's on
the list. Some of them will talk freely while others require some kind of
payment for their inside information. Also in the village, you can visit the
blacksmith's store. Here you can buy or sell weapons and armor. Different
villages have different kinds of weapons. Usually the higher the cost of the
weapon, the more effective it is in battle. If you're running short on
shillings,
you can often take out a loan from the Moneylender. The interest is a steep
50%, so only take out a loan if you're really in a bind.
The tournaments are great places to practice your skills and earn some money. You may attend a tournament once a month. If you have decided to take the quest to slay the dragon, then attending every tournament is very important since your strength and money will increase. Two different events take place, jousting and melee.
To joust, simply pick your opponent and make your bet. When the jousting begins the view switches to first person. Your lance can be moved with the arrow keys. The object is to strike your opponent's shield. If you succeed, you win the money.
In melee, your objective is to disable all the opposing knights by attacking them. This is easily the more fun of the two tournaments since it's designed a bit like Doom. Running around and slicing people up is always fun!
During your quest, you'll need to check back with your castle. By making sure everyone's happy and being fed, the population of the villages will increase. If your villages are prosperous, the money coming into your pockets will increase as well. Options like sending out spies and war planning are at your disposal as well.
As you try and take over neighboring fiefs, wars are bound to break out. If
they occur outdoors, you need to assemble your army and take tactical
command. This is where a lot of strategy and luck will come into play. As
your men are fighting to the death you can issue new orders constantly to
ensure success. The other type of fighting takes place within the enemy's
castle walls. Again the fighting is similar to Doom except that you can give
your men orders. By killing the opposing knights you can collect treasures
that are hidden away in the rooms. Kill all the knights within the castle and you obtain the villages around it. This is the best way for your empire to
expand and a great way to increase your wealth.
The graphics in Conqueror range from fairly average in the overworld maps, to cutting edge rendered images in the cinemas. With so many different views and game engines they are above average. The music has some cool battle tunes. The best music in the game has to be the options screen as this comes directly off the CD. The voice acting is above average as well, although I wish there were more of it in the game. It would have been great if I could have heard my enemies yelling at me as I stormed their castle. Conqueror is a huge game that will take any seasoned player a long time to master. With many different paths to choose and different knights to become, the game has a great replay value. Some gamers may be put off by the game since it combines strategy, action, and RPG elements. Although they are all executed nicely, if you're not good at, say, action games you may not be able to accomplish much.
With all the different maps and screens, Conqueror does seem a bit confusing at first. Once you play it for awhile it really becomes much easier. If you're a fan of strategy games and don't mind a little 3D action to spice things up, then Conqueror just might be the game for you.
Gamer's Zone Scorecard
| Product: |
Conqueror A.D. 1086 |
| Company: |
Sierra On-Line
|
| Cost: |
$54.95 |
System Requirements:
486 DX33 or faster, 2X CD-ROM, 8MB RAM, Sound
Blaster or compatibles
Breakdown:
Fun Factor 3
Interface 3
Replayability 5
Graphics 4
Sound 4
Overall Score:
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