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PocketConquest
.: By:
Shaun Beane :: Device
used: iPAQ
H3650
:: July 27, 2001 ::
Buy this game :.
Gotta love a game you just can’t put down. There’s nothing like a good action game when I have a couple of minutes during my lunch hour but when I have a little extra time it’s nice to slow down and take my time with a good strategy game. Up until now I’ve spent my “extra” time playing
PocketSlay. A very challenging, yet simple to play, Risk-style game.
PocketConquest is also a Risk style game – even more so than PocketSlay, because it uses a world map.
You will need a least a basic understanding of Risk to get started. I consider myself an intermediate player of Risk. As with the first few releases of PocketSlay,
PocketConquest doesn’t really have a help file. During this review I will assume a basic knowledge of Risk. If you need some help getting started, the
rules page is a pretty good place to start.
Installation is the same as PocketSlay. After you have downloaded the zip file, unzip its contents, and copy the files onto your Pocket PC using the
ActiveSync explorer. You can even put the files on a compact flash card if you want.
It does take a few seconds to load up, even on my
iPAQ
with nothing else running. When you start a new game, you have the option to choose a map (the game only comes with the world map, you can
download more from the
website), the number of players (2-8), and configure the number of armies you’ll get by trading in your cards. The following is an excerpt from the
PocketConquest rules page
explaining how the card configuration works.
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Depends
You get 4 armies for handing in three infantry cards, 6 for three cavalry cards, 8 for three cannon cards and 12 for three different cards.
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Increases
The first player to hand in their cards gets 4, the next 6, then 8, 10, 12, 15, 20, 25 and 5 more each time.
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Limit
The first player gets 4 for handing the their cards, the second 5, then 6 and this increases by 1 each time up to a limit of 16.
The computer will randomly select computer controlled "personalities" to play against you.
Each player begins with the same number of territories and armies. Before game
play starts, you deploy your armies to territories you already own. From this
point on, it’s basically conquer the world! At the beginning of each turn,
you’ll be given a certain number of armies to distribute to your territories.
The number of armies you get is based on the number of territories you own. One
army for every three territories (drop all remainders). At the bottom of the
screen, you’ll see the number of armies you have to distribute. You can
distribute your armies by ones, twos, fives, tens or all at once. Drag and drop
a number to one of your territories and those armies will be added to the number
of armies already (if any) on that territory.
Once you have distributed all your armies, you get to attack! To attack a territory, you must own a territory bordering the one you wish to attack. White lines show countries that can be attacked across water. Drag and drop your armies onto the territory you want to attack and then you’ll have to decide how many dice to attack with. You can attack with all, three, two or one. You can only attack with the number of dice equal to or less than the number of armies you are attacking with. The higher roll wins. If you win, and you didn’t attack with all your armies, you’ll get to distribute your armies between your new territory and the territory you attacked from. Once you are finished attacking, press the “Finished Attacks” button.
Now you have the opportunity to move your armies around. You can only move armies between bordering territories, so be careful. Make sure you leave enough armies behind to protect your investments!! As with Risk, this is where the real strategy comes in. You need to make sure you can retain ownership of the territories you have conquered.
Conquer as many countries as possible. If you conquer a whole country you’ll be awarded bonus armies. This is obviously a priority, since the person with the most armies is bound to win. Once you have conquered a country, it is also a priority to protect it. Each country can only be attacked from certain territories. So place your armies strategically. For example, South America can only be attacked from Mexico or North-Western Africa. Place your armies in Brazil and Columbia/Venezuela. Don’t waste them in the other two territories.
Be careful not to play too aggressively. The computerized opponents are definitely NOT stupid! You can adjust the level of difficulty by editing the
players.txt file, especially if you are new to Risk. Again, the rules
page will help you with that. I found the basic settings to be pretty challenging.
The graphics are pretty boring, but, then again, how exciting can a map really be? There isn’t any sound with this game, and it doesn’t really need any – maybe some dice rolling or something, but I’d rather save the space.
Overall it’s a great game. I think a lot of people will find this pretty addictive. I did. If you liked PocketSlay, you’ll love
PocketConquest. With more and
more maps showing up on the website, the replayability is also going to keep growing. It’s a pretty basic game and I feel it accomplishes the goal of simulating Risk very well. With that in mind I can’t get real picky as far as bugs or wishes. One thing that would help make it a little more exciting would be to do something with the graphics. Armies are depicted by simple numbers, maybe use a soldier like in PocketSlay. One other thing would be to allow moving armies after you have attacked using “all.” Otherwise all your armies get moved and you can only make one “move” at the end of your turn.
Good job, Sean O'Connor – keep up the good work!
Pros:
Cons:
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Boring graphics.
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No interface for opponent difficulty customization.
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Missing finishing touches (automatic installation process, no help file,
etc).
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slow load time.
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