The project to move Avalon Hill’s complicated Squad Leader board game to the PC walked a path of many trials and changed development teams. It looks like it will finally happen, though you may have seen it before. It looks like Soldiers at War, a WWII title Random did for SSI.
Random is enhancing the Chaos Gate engine for Squad Leader. This heritage in the Squad Leader demo was obvious and the interface is similar, but we liked the little things done to make play easier. For example, portraits of your men on the main screen will be embellished with icons to let you know who is good at hand-to-hand combat or sniping. Random is bolstering the engine to give soldiers personalities that reveal strengths and weaknesses in combat, and will also include events that affect soldier emotions, such as Dear John letters or a notice that a soldier’s wife gave birth. Thus, some of the board game’s morale factors will appear, though the game appears more manageable than the board game’s volumes of convoluted data. The graphics aren’t cutting edge, but if Random can get the gameplay right, this will be a fun one.
Developed By: Random Games
Published By: Hasbro/Microprose
Genre: Strategy
Web Site: Hasbro Interactive
E.T.A: Fall 2000
By
Bernard Dy
