Zzap


Joan Of Arc
By Chip
Amiga 500

 
Published in Zzap #45

Zzap Sizzler

Joan Of Arc

Raunchy palace shocker! Charles and Joan rampage through France!

Er... Joan of Arc doesn't have all that much to do with Joan Of Arc, actually. What this arcade-cum-strategy adventure really concentrates on is the two-fold ambition of Charles, heir to the throne of France (that's you).

Firstly, before he can wield any sort of power, levy taxes, raise armies, bribe people and generally throw his weight around, Charlie has to get crowned - and he can only get crowned at Reims. Reims, however, is in the middle of a large chunk of occupied country held by the English and needs to be recaptured first - which is where Joan of Arc comes in.

Joan Of Arc

A map of France, divided into provinces, shows French and British territories plus the position of both countries' armies: it also gives access to the main game menu. Before you become king there's only one choice of action: plan a campaign. The only general mad enough to find for you as yet is Joan, and it's your job to move her arms directly on course for Reims.

Combat takes place in various arcade forms. Armies clash on a battlefield which gives you control over groups of titchy archers, cavalry and foot soldiers. You can direct their movement forwards and back, the angle of their cannon fire and the position at which arrows are launched. Fortified towns are raided and defended by individuals who battle it out on the city drawbridge as well as with boulders and boiling oil on the castle walls. Ouch!

OK, you've been crowned, you're kind and official sovereign of France. Now what? Well, your objective is to liberate every occupied province by gaining control over each of its towns in turn. Kingship has plenty of advantages - you can collect taxes for a start. Very useful that, because when you've got your hands on a bit of dosh you can start (among other things) paying for larger armies, negotiating treaties, alliances and ransoms, financing a bit of underhand poisoning, indulging in a touch of espionage and dispensing royal pardons.

Joan Of Arc

The success of diplomacy, espionage and assassination plots depends on your ability to choose the right characters for each task. Both statesmen and spies have different strategic, political and leadership qualities so it's useless to send a diplomatic dumbo on a peace mission. There's also no point in demanding a mega-huge ransom for a nobleman who doesn't sound as if he's all that important to the other side.

To survive, you've got to have enough money to pay off your armies every month, keep the morale of the provinces high (otherwise they revolt) *and* be able to cope with the surprise kidnaps, attacks and sieges that make your life difficult every now and then.

Well, at least you haven't got sticky out ears...

KH

Joan Of Arc

Well, knock me down with a ten ton rhinocerous if this isn't the most gripping power game I've come across since... ooh... since... Defender Of The Crown.

The sound is incredibly atmospheric (though it could do with another tune) and the combination of digitised and non-digitised graphics is spectacular. Even the large-scale battle scenes with their tiny sprites give the sense of a writing mass of soldiers on the move.

Not only that - there are so many options that you can spend ages just experimenting and planning your strategy in all sorts of different ways.

You might go for a softly softly diplomatic approach for a few months and then risk everything (including that nice pair of tiger-print underpants) for all-out military domination.

Personally, I enjoyed employing underhand poisoning, killing and kidnapping most...

GH

I enjoy a bit of madcap medieval mayhem, when I can get my hands on it so when Joan Of Arc arrived at the office I jumped at the chance.

Pity about that enormous hole in the floorboards though. Er... anyway, once you've waded through the lengthy instructions and actually start playing the game, you realise that it's a lot simpler and even more absorbing than it looks!

The graphics are a really melt-in-the-mouth digitized affair and the sound definitely conjures up the atmosphere of a smoke-filled battle scene - but what really makes this so interesting is the menu system and all its different diplomatic and non-diplomatic options.

Unlike in Defender Of The Crown, you can't just carry on doing similar things over and over again to win - unexpected events and setbacks mean that you have to alter your strategy to suit the progress of each game. It's brill.

ME

"Urgh," I thought when I first say this. "Looks like some dead boring military sort of game", but after I'd watched someone else play it for a while, I had to admit I was wrong... because it's great!

Everyone who thinks Defender Of The Crown is good, watch out - Joan Of Arc has everything Defender Of The Crown has got *and more*.

The combination of arcade and strategy really works well and, once you're managed to get yourself crowned, there are loads of different courses to take. Every now and again the program decides to throw a spanner in the words (clunk!) - unless you rehash your strategy pretty pronto, you'll never get control of France.

The graphics are really impressive and the digitised sounds of horses' hooves and cheering armies are just icing on the cake. If you want to do yourself a favour, go out and get this now.

Verdict

Presentation 90%
Loads of really accessible and easy-to-use menus.

Graphics 94%
Triff and brill combination of digitised and non-digitised action graphics plus excellently designed maps and menus.

Sound 85%
Sampled battle noises plus atmospheric spot effects but the medieval tune gets a tad-ette aggravating after a bit.

Hookability 96%
It's so easy to get into that you can't help but get hooked.

Lastability 92%
Well, you've got the whole of France to liberate so that should keep you busy for a while.

Overall 93%
The most compelling arcade-strategy game so far on the Amiga.