dwl10@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com (Dave Lowrey) (07/07/88)
Posted for a firend.........................................................
Subject: Not so lengthy game review: Strike Fleet
Sorry I don't have time to crank out one of my thorough (long-winded, boring)
reviews on this one...
I was inspired to rush out and buy Strike Fleet (Electronic Arts) by the
Vincennes incident over the weekend. I had been hesitant because it was
obviously written by the same people who did PHM Pegasus -- a game which I
didn't quite consider to be worthy of the label "simulation". I wasn't
really interested in spending $20 on a simple adaptation of Pegasus. But
both the review and the reader's survey in /Computer Gaming World/ were
quite positive, so I took a chance.
Strike Fleet is everything that PHM Pegasus should have been but wasn't.
This is no mere "warming over" of the Pegasus software. Virtually every
aspect of the game has been reworked, enhanced, and extended in a big way.
They addressed all but one of my dislikes about Pegasus, and then went far
beyond merely "fixing" the problem.
The one thing they didn't fix is in the "out-the-window" graphics. They
still tilt just the top of the window to indicate a leaning or rocking of
the ship, resulting in a trapezoidal window. It's not realistic, but it's
not really objectionable either. And they *did* add dusk and night-time,
and (surprisingly) visible shoreline.
The only real annoyance in Strike Fleet is the difficulty in selecting
between the various vehicles under your control, and in selecting the various
targets. Both are done by moving through a linear list, and that's a pain
when you've got up to 16 ships plus as many as 32 helicopters under your
control. Wading through the targets is even worse; each of your vehicles
shows up on the target list, plus each neutral vessel, plus each enemy
vessel, plus each enemy missile, plus each of your missiles, plus each enemy
torpedo, plus each of your torpedos. Trying to target the missile that was
just launched at you, in time to counter it, can be extremely trying.
Since it's supposed to be a *surface* naval warfare simulation, I wasn't
surprised that Strike Fleet does not simulate aircraft carriers at all, nor
that the only submarines it simulates are enemy ones. I *was* surprised that
it doesn't simulate battleships; the largest ships available under your
command are the AEGIS cruisers (such as the Vincennes).
In all other ways, Strike Fleet is excellent. If you're interested in a
surface-navy simulation, forget Pegasus and get Strike Fleet.
--
Doug Pardee {ames,hplabs,sun,amdahl,allegra}!oliveb!edge!doug
Edge Computer Corp., Scottsdale, AZ uunet!ism780c!edge!doug