Customer Reviews

American Conquest: Fight Back

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

American Conquest is a gem of a game, in my view. I never expected that it would be so good when I got the demo on the magazine CD. I played it, and it was what I had been looking for all this time! It was an RTS game which makes you think about things. Your troops don't magically appear from buildings, you have to put peasants in them to train them. The variety of micromanagement and constructions tasks are really nice. I was a AOK convert before this, but now, I simply love the way that this handles things.

It doesn't have the best graphics, true, it has some annoying quirks, true, but it is simply one of the most innovative RTS games out there.

And it is many times better than Cossacks II which was simply awful...but that is another story.

This is a stand-alone add-on to the American Conquest (so you don't need actual AC - it's included), sequel to Russian-built Cossacks.
New features (copied but edited from developers site):
- new "Battlefield" mode: 20 battles for single - and multi-player
- 40 new buildings and over 50 new units
- 8 campaigns consisting of 25 new missions in total Global rating system
- 10 new single missions
- 17 different nations and tribes, including 5 new ones: Russia, the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal Haida
- Game events covering the period of 1517 to 1804
- Map 4X zooming in-out.
The rest I think is the same as AC.
Game didn't have any "hype" in the US, so it's almost unknown (except among those who played Cossacks).
Good solid war-strategy game. History is as accurate as it could be in the game (probably the most accurate out there). Graphics are very good with some minor glitches (like soldiers walking through the trees). Music is somewhat annoying, but other sounds are Ok.
Truth in battle - a group of soldiers is nothing (dead in 5 sec) comparing to the unit of soldiers of the same size (no Terminators); moral influences units fighting ability; height somewhat counts to the range of fire.
Multiplayer,.. oh well - if you live by European time you can find some really good players, but learn some russian :)

If you are currently playing, and having a lot of fun, with some of the following:

.- Cossacks European Wars and/or Cossacks The Art of War (I know there is another Cossacks sequel, but never played it)
.- Empire Earth and/or Empire Earth - The Art of Conquest
.- Stronghold and/or Stronghold Crusader
.- Praetorians
.- Legion
.- War & Peace
.- Seven Kingdoms I & II
.- No Man's Land
.- Age of Empires and/or AOE Rise of Rome and/or AOE II Age of Kings and/or AOE II The Conquerors

Stop playing, go shopping and get ACFB, if you liked "Cossacks" (any version) a lot, you'll fall for this game.

Let put it this way, "Cossacks" is an animated, cartoon film. ACFB is a real full fledged movie.

Is true you need some hardware strengh, but in the Cossacks' way. No that much as AOE II, which, playing against the computer, with 400-500 units both sides, you always know when your foe is going to attack you because ... when it's setting its army the computer doesn't let you play !!

My Athlon 1 GHZ, 512 MB of RAM and NVIDIA GForce 2 PCI 32 MB video card, plays Cossacks, Empire Earth, Stronghold, Praetorians and War & Peace fast, very responsive to the mouse at 1024 x 768 x 16. The new ACFB is just playable, I just won my first single map, fighting (going North from Florida) with Spaniards against Brittons, with more than 3,000 units both sides.

For the first moment you get impressed by this game. When you see in the screen the first bunch of peasants, waiting for your orders, they are wandering and fooling around just like any real workers squad without a supervisor !!

The design, accuracy and realism of the buildings is amazing. The same for landscape: trees, terrain, rocks.

At $30.00, it's a steal.

I was very pleased with this game. It offered a very satisfying pop cap and playable features, like massed firing by ranks(not availble in any RTS game, not even Cossacks) and Bayonet charges(which only Cossacks had also.) The game is more realistic with flagbearers and drummers. Officers are very powerful units in hand-to-hand fighting, and Cavalry are the only units that can defeat Unit formations of 196. All buildings are capable of shooting enemy units, except mines. The only thing that botheredd me in the game that there is no diplomacy, you rule every nation as a Communist Dictator with totalatarian power, unintended mistake, but when you look at it, thats how you rule your civilians.

Did receive it quickly..thank you...but I had also spoke with a live person to explain we needed it in English and to go online with it we needed a login I.D. she told me the game was unopened so it would be intact.. When we received the game...it wasn't in English and it didn't have a code to go online with...so we are very disappointed..I would like to return the game and if there is one that is in English and has an I.D. login to play online I would like that instead..How do I go about getting the correct one? Can't rate it properly because couldn't play it

S.P.

I got this game used. Great game, but sometimes the CD doesn't work. then i run system restore to the nearest date and it works again. The online gameplay experience is exellent. There is a very large following of this game on the server, so there is usually no shortage of people to play against. Only drawback is that the game is in Russian. LOL :)

The most realistic historical feature I find in this game is that the graphic quality looks like past centuries'.

Reading the other contributors reviews I've come to the conclussion that I must have missed something. I have to say I bought directly the Fight Back expansion for it's playable without the original title, which I'm not sure if restricts the game or not.
[...]I bought this game because it was only 10, assuming it was a few years old, but still could be strategically interesting and enjoyable,and guess what? it's not.
In terms of tactics, it looks poor to me. Notihng compared to total war, of course, but let's say starcraft is more tactical. You move a whole battalion against another, which means that if only 3 men of the enemy's stay alive, they will block your whole battalion. You cannot divide battalions, and pick some men away (you can pick them individually). The game options, compared to those of for example age of empires (I!!) are poor: predefined battle or campaing. No chance for example to choose your troops on a battle. The orders you can give to a single battalion are very few: attack, stay peaceful, fire guns or contact fight only, and a couple of square formations you will never use unless you are surrounded by the enemy from all sides and they're superior in number at every side, in which case you don't have to worry about the formation because you will loose anyway.
Another messy fact is that when you move a battalion they will keep the formation (of course) but they will allign as they want. You will find your soldiers making a perpendicular - 90 degree line against the enemy.

[...]
The most dissapointing part of this game is that despite the poor graphics and options, it could've been as a matter of fact enjoyable if there were more tactic options and control over your troops.

I'm going to give it another try, though...

PS: I've rated it with 2 stars: I reserve the one star just to games you would only play when the only alternative is work. This game is interesting and funny until you discover it's not (10 minutes), therefore the 2 stars.

This is the sequel to american conquest, and it is just as good. I heard that this game was developed, by a German Company, well let me say, I take my hat off to you. Graphically wise, this game is amazing. Play a random map with water, and build you a few ships,send them to the enemy, and watch them blast away. it is an awsome sight.I am picky about the games I buy, and I'm telling you, if you pass this one up, you have got to have a problem. Read my review, on american conquest Please! Note, This one and the original, could very well be two of the best developed games on the market to date, especially from a realistic point of view. Units behave more realistic, than they do on other rts games.

Loving history and enjoying my weekends playing wargames and strategy based games, I saw this game used at my local computer gaming store and bought it. For $9.99 I thought..."How could I go wrong?" Well there was a reason why the previous owner sold this game back.

The positive points:
- Interesting concept and time period
- Great renderings, colors, textures and graphics
- Fairly good sound effects
- Great menu artwork
- Great fun in building towns and armies
- For the non-historian, this game opens up a page out of the history books (and those history haters might learn something).

The bad:
- VERY slow game (even on my high-end computer)
- Indian teepees and other indigenous populous dwellings are laughable
- Micro-management is king. (there should be a way to not micro-manage you people/armies/town and EVERY ASPECT of the game)
- Controlling troops are incredibly difficult (something that is not realistic)
- Winning of the "Battle" mode only involves capturing your opponents fort (and the computer cheats).
- As my friends and brother calls "computer cheating" (computer doesn't play by the same rules)
- Seemingly limitless number of troops (for the computer) (CHEATER!)
- Winning is practically impossible (overly difficult even on "easy" mode)
- Bad "Fog-of-War" (even after exploring unknown territory, it stays unknown, and you have to memorize the map and it's details after you've passed through it.)
- Morale???? What Morale? Rarely battles of this time period fought very long (one side would become demoralized or scared and run/"route") This never happens in this game
- 10-12 bears attacking in a coordinated group?? Is this supposed to be a joke?
- Aligators taking out your troops when nearing the shores of a river? Who thought that up?????!!
- No weather in this game (like rain, snow, wind, etc)
- No disease or sicknesses to injure or kill Europeans or natives (which was a MAJOR factor of this time period)
- No nighttime (it's daytime all the time in this game.... "is that realistic?")


As you can see, the negatives FAR outweigh the positives. Usually I try and look for the good in a game and try and enjoy it (especially since I spent my hard earned money on it, even if it is only $10)

Having no manual, no instructions or any kind of paperwork.... made my gaming experience more difficult, but who really holds on to that stuff after a couple of months of playing the particular game?

In short, this software has serious problems. Whomever created the game, had no solid historical basis or backing. Game play is seriously lacking.

Games that are TOO challenging, kills the average PC gamers will to continue.

Maybe they the producers of this game don't care for they have their money now.

I am just thanking my lucky stars (no pun intended), that i didn't pay full price for this incredibly frustrating piece of software.

Bulid the best army you can and attack hard. This game is very real watch your get picked off one by one, then send in the marines to help beat down your emeny. Oh yea dont forget to defend your base. This game is based in the American 1790's era muskets that dont have very strond power. No michine guns no lazer weapons and no cheats . This game is a real War game. Build your best amry and win.