From: P A Dale Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Jason L. Tibbitts III Subject: REVIEW: Utopia Keywords: game, strategy, commercial Path: menudo.uh.edu Distribution: world Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.games Reply-To: P A Dale --text follows this line-- [Utopia is a strategy game roughly in the genre of SimCity set on various planets in space. Overall gameplay is enjoyable and the user interface is occasionally confusing but workable. The graphics are varied and colorful. - JLT3] Utopia Written by Celestial Software Distributor Gremlin Graphics Here is a review based on about 20 hours of play of the first 4 scenarios. System A500 + 512K expansion, A590 + 2MB, external floppy. WB 1.3 I can't guarantee compatibility with other models or the A500+. There have been reports of frequent crashes but I have had none. (Sources for the latter comments are Amiga Format and a Strategy Plus review). Copy protection Manual and disk protection. The manual protection requires the page number of an image which appears on screen in colour. The B&W images in the manual are very poor making for a frustrating procedure. The good news is you only need to do this once. Expanded memory is detected and utilised (for music mainly, I believe). Disk accesses are few and can be cut down by using function key accesses to data from advisors (you miss out on a pretty but redundant graphic). The Manual You get a couple of manuals, the usual story and a comprehensive guide to the game. The manual is well layed out, clear to read and sufficiently detailed. I honestly don't have many gripes at all; it is definitely one of the better efforts. The Scenario You have been given control of a new colony which has only just started. There are a the bare necessities (power, food, air) and that's about it. Your job is to make the colony flourish and bring the quality of life (QOL) to 90%. You'll get a medal for a QOL of 80%. The problems Initially you have few colonists with a lot to do. You need to build, build, build and build. However certain buildings require personnel (hospitals, labs, mines, factories, shipyards ...) and therefore you have to engage in man management. Of course there is the budget to worry about as well. Financially you get tax income and a grant. The latter expires after a number of years. So, you build and manage, the population increases and hopefully the population is happy. More problems On each world there is a competing alien race which is trying to colonise your planet. Forget any alliances, it's you or them. Ultimately you will come into conflict. Whether they attack you first or vice versa is a moot point. Each race has different characteristics, tech ability, tactics etc. The battles get very much harder. So while you're trying to create Eden you need to invest in a military grant, armaments, tank yards, ship yards and spying (the latter is invaluable). All being well you will defeat the green, bugeyed critters and you can get down to the QOL again. It's a tough time though as the QOL reflects your military prowess. Lose too many battles and you'll be sacked. Too many colonists die and they might assassinate you :-) I get the feeling the game is headed towards a situation where you'll be very lucky to beat the aliens and so you'll being trying to reach 80% QOL and fight a war. Early on you can forget QOL and just trash aliens. As things progress everything gets trickier. You also need to locate the basic resources of ore and fuel and develope them. Sometimes you find them easily, sometimes you are very short. Your military depends on these so they rate very high on the agenda. Even more problems If aliens trashing a much needed life support wasn't bad enough then a meteor storm just makes things worse. Throw in the odd eclipse, a rising crime rate that depletes funds and you suddenly have a skinful. So what makes it easier. Prudent management. You can invest in a military and civil research program which brings you increases in general tech level. This makes your fighting machines more impressive. You also discover new things like improved methods for fuel storage, food production, hover tanks and a host more goodies. You can manipulate birth control and tax levels. To do so, especially at the beginning of a scenario, is vital. Game effects. The music is good with a choice of four tunes to play merrily in the background (you may need expanded memory to enjoy the music). The graphics are good and colourful. Each alien race is very different and has different vehicles etc. They do, however, come into the two basic categories of ground (tanks) and air. They do have cute things though like fire and forget cruise type missiles and massive marauding critters that look like ants and take some beating. Your colony appears in a isometric square. There are so many building types that it never looks dull. Each planet is very distinct. Some look like the garden of Eden and some look like Canadian tundra without the beautiful bits. The control system is mouse driven with a few function key shortcuts. The interface is smoothish but some things could have been improved. For example, you are frequently required to close windows with a gadget which doesn't appear on the window title or even within it but on a separate part of the screen. Functions are not always well grouped on screen. To send tanks to markers you select a tank. A window opens and then you must select an action from a selection which appear on the right of the screen. You then go to the opened window to type in how many tanks you want to perform this action. It isn't bad, just improvable. The 3d isometric view can cause problems when trying to get behind buildings but is generally good. Military forces work in a very simple manner by placing markers and directing units to them. You can put together some sophisticated defenses with a little thought. Units will automatically attack the enemy within range. The only exception is missiles which need to be fired individually. If a target is in range they will lock and destroy it (if they can catch it :-) The battles are immense fun. The units engage in frantic melees. The enemy get progressively more sophisticated and will attack from different directions, through holes in radar cover etc. They also target vital components like the command centre, fuel, life support etc. Summary Utopia is a strategy game with a strong fun element. The challenge is well graded to allow instant access and lasting challenge. The quibbles I have are that once the aliens are trashed it's too easy. There are no overheads like in Sim City and so money quickly becomes bountiful. The financial model is the weakest element. However, if you want city management then play Sim City. If you want to nurture a fledgling colony of maybe 100 strong into a thriving settlement of thousands and fight against natural disasters and alien rivals then Utopia fits the bill. Paul Dale Systems admin./applications support/programmer. BUCS, Bath University, Claverton Down, Bath, Avon. UK BA2 7AY tel: 0225 826215 e-mail: P.A.Dale@uk.ac.bath fax: 0225 826176