HALLS OF MONTEZUMA

 HALLS OF MONTEZUMA is a wargame simulation that traces the battle history of
the United States Marine Corps from Mexico City to Vietnam. The game comes from
the design/programming team of Roger Keating and Ian Trout of Strategic Studies
Group (with assistance from Andrew Taubman, Gregor Whiley, and Malcolm Power,
all of whom worked on BATTLES IN NORMANDY), and is distributed by Electronic
Arts. Tony Green and Ken Zaris, retired Marines, helped with historical
research. (The Commodore 64 version is the basis of this review; Apple II,
IBM-PC, and Macintosh version notes follow.)

 MONTEZUMA uses SSG's BATTLEFRONT gameplay menu system; the scenario design
option has been renamed Warplan; and this latest version offers enhanced play
features and a graphics editor called Warpaint.

 MONTEZUMA features eight scenarios: Mexico City, Belleau Wood, Iwo Jima,
Okinawa (the Shuri Line) and Okinawa (the Final Redoubt), Pusan, Inchon, and
Hue. Each scenario recreates the conditions of a battle from USMC history and
has a set number of turns, up to 99. Each (game) day is divided into four turns
(a.m., noon, p.m., and night). The maximum length of a scenario is 25 (game)
days, and two humans can play or a single player can control either side.

 The onscreen battlefield consists of hexagons, up to 39 across by 28 down,
depending on the scenario. Terrain features, such as roads, forts, mountains,
plateaus, and beaches are indicated by icons, which can be reconstructed with
the Warpaint graphics editor. Infantry, artillery, HQs, amphibious vehicles, all
military artifacts, in fact, are indicated by icons, and they can also be
reconstructed with Warpaint.

 Gameplay is controlled by single keystrokes (cursor and Return keys) which
cycle through a series of inter-connected menus. Some menus are simple branches
to others in the system, but most give some information -- status of the units
under your control, examination of a battle site, enemy units, and the
objectives and current conditions.

 Action menus are used to control HQ movements, the allocation of divisional
assets and support points, and to accept combat orders. RUN 5 (from the Main
Menu) puts all orders into action, activates movement routines, sets combat in
motion, and determines the outcome of each turn.

 The Warplan design system allows you to alter an existing scenario, or
construct an entirely new scenario, including map and terrain features and a
variety of miscellaneous factors. Despite the enhancements to the original play
system, older scenarios from BATTLEFRONT and BATTLES IN NORMANDY can be loaded
into MONTEZUMA. The opposite is also true. The respective system works
everything out. (Certain older scenarios, although they will work with
MONTEZUMA, do require some adjustment. The authors plan to take care of these
adjustments, and the necessary information will appear in Issue 9 of SSG's
wargaming magazine, RUN 5.)

 The Warpaint graphics editor, one of the enhancements to the BATTLEFRONT
system, is similar to a character set editor. There are 56 different terrain and
military icons, any of which can be loaded into the Warpaint design box, a 16x16
pixel grid. The icon can then be changed to appear as you want, colors can be
altered, and the end result can be saved to disk and later used in a scenario.

 The C64 version of HALLS OF MONTEZUMA game package comes with a 64K disk,
save-game labels, a pair of menu cards, a large full-color map of the scenarios,
and an excellent instruction manual. The manual features a short tutorial based
on the Mexico City scenario, and it explains all the menus of both game and
design systems, tells of the history of the Marine Corps, and looks closely at
the factors that influenced each battle.

 Graphically, MONTEZUMA looks fine. The screen maps, formed with hexagons, serve
to keep the display clear and large. The BATTLEFRONT menu system, in addition to
being one of the best gameplay systems around, is also one of the easiest to
learn. Any menu selection, and thus any order, can be escaped from by way of the
C64's "F1" key. (The exception is RUN 5, which runs the simulation.)

 The computer controls all unit movements, which are based on the orders you
give, so that all you need to be concerned about is achieving tactical victory.
Despite the extensive menus, gameplay does not suffer from program intrusion.
Mr. Keating, Mr. Trout, and SSG know what they're doing and they've done it
again with HALLS OF MONTEZUMA.

 APPLE VERSION NOTES

 HALLS OF MONTEZUMA is introduced as a "Battle History of the United States
Marine Corps." While the manual does provide an abbreviated description of the
evolution of the Corps, and someone playing the scenarios in order might get
some sense of the evolution of war over the time period covered (1844-1968), it
is much better to think of the game as an improved version of the (already
excellent) BATTLEFRONT game system, plus eight new scenarios.

 The Apple II version of the game lives up to this revised decription very
nicely. The changes in the gaming system (versus BATTLEFRONT and NORMANDY, the
two earlier products in this group) are extensive, but for most people probably
minor -- unless you do a lot of scenario designs yourself, in which case the
changes are quite significant.

 All the changes are definitely positive, however. The game maintains the look
and essential feel of Apple II BATTLEFRONT, while adding more variables in
combat and movement, and an improved computer opponent. You can use this new
system not only for the new scenarios, but also to play, modify, and improve
older BATTLEFRONT and NORMANDY scenarios.

 What you're mostly buying, however, are eight new, very good scenarios. They
are all quite difficult, and together they provide a wide range of interesting
combat situations.

 The BATTLEFRONT system is one of the best around for simulating division level
combat, and if this attracts you (especially if you enjoyed BATTLEFRONT and/or
NORMANDY), I would highly recommend the Apple II version of HALLS OF MONTEZUMA.

 IBM-PC VERSION NOTES

 HALLS OF MONTEZUMA for the IBM runs on the following systems: IBM PC/XT/AT,
PS/2, Tandy, and 100% IBM-Compatible computers. The program requires MS-DOS 2.1
or higher, 256K, and supports the following graphics modes: CGA, EGA, MCGA, VGA,
and Tandy 16-color CGA. The program disk is not copy-protected, so you shouldn't
have any trouble installing it on your hard drive. MONTEZUMA is supplied on two
disks, with both 3-1/2" and 5-1/4" formats.

 To start the game, just type HOM. You can use a suffix such as HOM C to choose
the CGA graphics mode, HOM E for EGA, etc. The program selects a graphics mode
at startup from a setup file that you can modify in the game itself. A letter
after HOM will override the current setting. I ran the program using every
graphics mode except Tandy 16-color. A summary of each graphics mode follows:

 CGA: Limited color, but the game is very playable. As in most strategy/war
games the graphics are not overwhelming, and you have to use your imagination
quite a bit. Most of the terrain features are the same color, but it isn't
difficult to distinguish between them.

 EGA: If there is any difference in resolution between the CGA mode and the EGA
mode, I cannot tell. More colors are seen in the EGA mode, of course. Each type
of terrain has its own color, which keeps one terrain type from blending into
the others. Needless to say, EGA enhances the game's appearance notably.

 MCGA: If you have MCGA, don't expect any more color than with CGA; the game
looks exactly the same. (Note: My graphics card can only run MCGA programs; it
cannot give me a true assessment of what MCGA can really do. There might
actually be more color using MCGA than my graphics card allows me to see.)

 VGA: VGA offers no improvements over EGA. The resolution is the same as CGA and
the colors are the same as EGA.

 Overall, the graphics are acceptable; with a bit of imagination, you can make
the scenes come alive. If you have EGA, you'll get the most out of MONTEZUMA.

 The setup program can be modified from within the game. By editing the setup
file you can change the user options (including video, sound, auto-save, and
path). The sound is nothing special.

 Gameplay is essentially the same as in the previous versions reviewed. The game
runs very smoothly, and there don't seem to be any bugs in this version. If
you're an avid wargamer, you may find MONTEZUMA to be quite addictive.

 MACINTOSH VERSION NOTES

 The Macintosh version of HALLS OF MONTEZUMA comes with two 800K diskettes, a
large map of the eight pre-built scenarios, and manuals explaining both the
BATTLEFRONT game system and the scenarios themselves. The game requires one
megabyte of RAM and runs on everything from a Mac Plus to a IIcx. HALLS supports
both 16- and 256-color graphics. Two versions of each scenario are included:
standard monochrome and 4-bit (16-color) color.

 The color graphics are simply superb. Battalions and terrain are easily
identifiable by their icons. Furthermore, while the premise of the BATTLEFRO
game system is the control of imaginary hexagonal divisions of the battlefield,
these hexagons are invisible to the player of the Mac version. The resulting
graphical clarity makes it easier to comprehend the complexities of battle, and
results in more intuitive gameplay. The monochrome scenarios are also very clear
and comprehensible. Both give the impression that the gamer is viewing an actual
map of a battlefield.

 Obviously, SSG has worked to make their game system compatible with the
standard Macintosh interface. Orders are issued either by clicking on various
options in the command window, or by choosing them from the menu bar. The
process of issuing orders is easily learned (thanks to the tutorial), and soon
becomes intuitive (thanks to the exceptional interface). The Warplan and
Warpaint design kits also reflect SSG's commitment to the Macintosh interface;
both are relatively easy to use, and permit players to create highly detailed
and realistic maps.

 HALLS OF MONTEZUMA is an appealing game on the Macintosh. Its beautiful
graphics, digitized sounds, easy-to-use interface, and the BATTLEFRONT game
system combine to form a package that should please anyone interested in
strategy games or military history.

 HALLS OF MONTEZUMA is published by Strategic Studies Group and distributed by
Electronic Arts.

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