Empire Simulation has brought out a sequel to Team Yankee - a mouse-driven battle sim called Pacific Islands. Martin Pond claims to have been Monty's double back in 'The Big One', so we let him try it out. One can fully understand Empire Simulation's dilemma: ever since those vodka-snorting atheists in the Evil Empire turned soft and got hip to democracy, there's been a deficit of decent villains. Obviously, there's a limit to the number of scenarios you can build around the dastardly deeds of the Welsh. But talk about unlikely scenarios: disaffected renegade Soviet communists invading an atoll in the Pacific called Yama Yama. I think I'd have less of a problem suspending disbelief if they'd plumped for maverick kick-boxing nuns laying siege to the fleshpots of Amsterdam. Still, there you have it - the game puts you in charge of four armored units as they spend an idyllic holiday island-hopping and commie-bashing around the Pacific Ocean.
First of all, you're given a mission briefing and given the opportunity to set the time and target area for an airstrike. This is useful for creating a diversion, upsetting the enemy, or waking you up if you've dropped off. When you're in the battle zone, you can control all the units at once with the four-way split screen. For each unit, you can view either the status screen, the map screen, or the 3D view screen. The latter shows a view from the turret and lets you select and fire the various weapons. It also has a smart IR imaging scope handy at night or if you've been using smoke grenades (especially since the closest the Russkies have got to equipping their tanks with night vision is extra carrot rations for the gunners). The map screen shows where your team is in relation to enemy units, buildings, rivers, and roads. The man-made structures include radar dishes, ammunition stores, factories (which churn out new tanks), and civilian buildings. They all look different on the 3D view, so there's no excuse for turning that pediatric hospital into a pile of rubble — make a mistake, and you'll be coming home to a hefty fine! That's the horror of war, I s'pose. To move a unit anywhere, you have to decide whether you want it to travel under cover or at speed over the open plains, and then program a destination point into the map. Some thought also has to go into the unit's arrangement to make sure that it presents as small a target as possible.
Martin: My big beef about this game is the movement control. You can't change direction in the 3D mode, while fine control (such as would be required to negotiate a bridge, say) is impossible with the waypoint system. Hence bridges lose the strategic value they have in real life because this last point necessitates that rivers are fordable at every point. It's a crying shame. Furthermore, the control panel has redundant buttons everywhere. A unit's tanks can be placed in more useless formations than a synchronized swimming team, and there's a button to select each of them. And why have a button for the laser rangefinder? You only touch it once, to turn it on at the start of the mission. Having got all that off my chest, the game is very absorbing when you get the hang of the controls. It's got all the best bits about Team Yankee, but it's a lot more user-friendly - you can now shoot buildings and even trees! Another good point is that the authentic specifications for equipment have been used (such as the reload speeds of the various armaments). The simulation is very atmospheric and is very successful in recreating 'the fog of war' - if you haven't lost a unit through friendly fire by the end of the first mission, I'll eat my tin hat. It's still a bad scenario, though.
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