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Fictional Scenario Reviews

COMMENTS: Nice try for a first scenario. With some work, it could be an exceptional scenario; the author shows promise.

[1] Medium sized map
[2] Length - 80 turns (May 1958 - Dec 1964
[3] A few new graphics and suchforth
[4] No new concepts as such

Playability Rating

5 / 10

COMMENTS: Although this scenario had some nice ideas, it was flawed by being too hard.

The recommended civ, the Red Brigade, started out with little more than a few Partisan units, several new Guerilla units, and a unique Che Guevara unit. From this they have to conquer the entire island nation of San Lorenzo.

The other main power in the game, the Military Government, are extremely powerful at the beginning in the major cities on the island, but in the smaller cities near the Red Brigade`s starting point they have very few military units; infact, almost all of the island`s interior is undefended, meaning that the Red Brigade has excellent potential for expansion at first. However, the Government soon gains strength, and especially as the Red Brigade initially has few resources, they will start to get pushed back (the notable difference in military power comes mainly from the Government`s air power).

There are several other civs in the game (there are 7 civs in total). Unfortunately, most of them seem to have little purpose whatsoever. There are two drug cartels, the Zedillos and the Vancinnis, who do little but get in the way of your expansion. There are also two extremely pointless civs; the Catholic Church and the Refugees. The Catholic Church has one city and gets wiped out very early on, usually by one of the cartels, and the Refugees do absolutely nothing.

The final civ, the American Interests, play little part early on, but do come into the fray later on. They represent the companies that own most of the industries on the island, and are allied with the corrupt military regime that rules it. At some points in the game, America sends reinforcements to the Government, and if the island`s capital falls, then they declare open war on the rebels, and send their advanced military hardware into action.

As I mentioned earlier, I found this scenario too hard to hold my attention for long. I`m not the best player, but there comes a point when your are overstretched and underpowered. If you achieve your main objective and capture the island`s capital, then the overwhelmingly powerful Americans send their forcesa against you, and the temptation to turn off kicks in.

Level of General Care

4 / 10

COMMENTS: This scenario scored poorly in this area for a number of reasons:

1. The map. Although good enough for the job, it was all revealed at the start of the game. It would have been nicer, IMHO, to have to tread into the unknown at some point, not knowing if the enemy was waiting for you.

2. The readme file was a bit sparse. The text at the beginning set the scene well enough though, and gave instructions on what civ to play as, and soforth.

3. There didn`t appear to be a pedia.txt file. Although this didn`t matter to me, being and MGE user, it does to other people.

4. There were numerous spelling and grammar mistakes, trivial things like "Artilery" and capital letters on almost every word on some of the popup events.

Concluding Comments: I don`t want to put the author off making scenarios, because it appears to be a first attempt and therefore maybe I`m being a little harsh. It did have some good points; the idea was original, and the atmosphere was quite good. I really felt that it was me against the world (the plotline has obvious comparisons to Cuba`s situation at about the same time that this scenario is set, and indeed Cuba is mentioned several times).

With some work, this scenario could be so much better. Some new units, perhaps new terrain (like drug fields that the cartels control that gives them huge amounts of wealth), and some new events (military backing from the USSR, perhaps?) I encourage the author to keep at it, and I hope to see more of his work soon.