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Bloody Little Wars

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: August 23, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Bloody good fun. I do mean bloody. Watch a cannon knock down 12 pikemen out of a formation of sixteen at close range. This game is not as realistic as Sid Meier's Civil War or Waterloo: Napoleon's last battle. It doesn't matter. The enjoyment makes up for this.

Graphics get 6 stars. The scenery is enchanting, with rivers, woods, hills and fields. The buildings are works of art. The variety of terrain, both natural and human is a major strong point of Cossacks (and Art of War).

Same for the variety of troops and uniforms. Austria alone in addition to line infantry has grenadiers and pandurs. Austrian Cavalry includes Croats, Hussars, Chassuers, and Dragoons. Then tere are the Winged Polish Hussars, French King's Musketeers and so on. Bavarian line infantry are very well dressed.

On the realistic side, the game allows for differences in quality among troops with the many training upgrades available at the barracks.

The only drawback from my point of view is the limited ability to take advantage of terrain tactically. You can build a walled town, but you cannot place you troops on parapets in order to fire over the wall. The wall shelters the attacker as much as the defender. The intro footage shows 18C field works, but none are available in the game. Occupying buildings and villages, important during this period, is not possible. You can hide behind a building and the line of sight rules will block fire, but you cannot defend from inside the building.

Cossacks does include towers mounting cannon. Given the importantance of Vauban style fortications in 17 & 18Cs, I would like to see bastions, demi-lunes, ditches, cavaliers, gabions, etc. At least parapets!

Having said that, I confess I spend too much time playing Cossacks, and Cossacks: Art of War. If you are drawn to this period where horse, musket and cold steel ruled, so will you.

An absolutely wonderful game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: August 24, 2002
Author: Amazon User

The graphics are actually very good, and all the buildings look realistic. This game is SO much better made than and of the Age of Empires series games. You may not realize that the reason why AoE or AoK/TC has low pop limits is because the game was programmed poorly, with too many loops, slowing down the system hopelessly. Cossacks has been programmed very well, and that's why it runs very well, consuming almost no resources, compared to ANY other strategy game. I personally like how everything explodes with a boom and splash damage. I also like the fact that good soldiers need gold upkeep, which is a lot more realistic than the AoK/TC. The graphics easily rival AoK/TC, the AI could be a little better. As for other stuff, this game is the most historically accurate game i have ever seen, it's also the most resource-accurate game- 6 resources instead of 4, and all the mined resources have to be invested in a lot in order to upgrade the mines and support a higher amount of people working inside. Also, researches that give you a large advantage cost a lot of resources and are not easy to get. Diplomatic Centre is also a wonderful idea- you can hire a mercenary army in case you lack your own and need a quick source of troops (at the expense of money). In all, this is an absolutely wonderful game, and all AoK/TC fans absolutely MUST try it.

First rate game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: August 19, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is a great game, a true real-time strategy game that lets you concentrate on the battles. The economics are simple, but still strategically important.

Pros:
- Huge population limit, I've never even come close to having "too many" troops.
- Great economics, peasants are important as in AOE2 but the stuff they are working on doesn't run out. If you think about it, that's more historical, especially for the time period. AOE2 and WarCraft are both annoying in comparison. You end up worrying more about finding more gold than about defeating your enemy in the field.
- Buildings and troops look like the country they're from. The graphics aren't stellar...
- Great technologies, with limits depending on country.
- In general, great gameplay.

Cons:
- The AI isn't very smart. You really need to play a human (or play against more than one computer opponent) to get a challenge.
- Does every building have to explode with a deafening boom? The explosions are WAY louder than any other sound effect in the game.
- The interface isn't quite as "clean" as AOE2, but after a bit you don't notice.

...

ONE OF THE GREATEST STRATEGY GAMES!!!!!!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: June 29, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is the best! game if you want HUGE battles and great cities.
Cossacks Art of War lets you choose many different nations, all with many unique units. You can gather many types of rescources (wood, food, stone, gold, iron and coal) which you need a lot of if you are going to expand your city and army.
The graphics are very nice and beautiful and although the games isn't 3D the hills and slopes are very round and quite 3d none the less, not like the square-shaped hills in Age of Empires. The untis are also quite detailed (you see the musketeers reload their guns before firing ).
The greatest thing about Cossacks is the fighting. The population limit is 9000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FOR EACH PLAYER!!!!!!!!!!! There are a lot of different types of infantry and cavalry. Another good thing is that when the musketeers and grenadiers get close up to each other, they start fighting with bajonetts. Quite cool.
The best thing about this game is that if you have a 450Mhz or faster computer this game doesn't lag! EVEN WITH 15000 SOLDIERS ON THE BATTLEFIELD!!!!!!! (at least my didn't)
Buy this game if you want a good strategy game wich is especially fun in multiplayer.

THIS IS A GREAT GAME

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: August 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Cossacks: Art of War Expansion pack is a great game! The first one, Cossacks: European Wars was great, but with this new add-on, i can hardly stop playing. It has only two new Countries, Balvaria and Denmark, but that's okay. I heard that the next one, Cossacks: rage of War Expansion Pack, is supposed to be even better with more countries, new UNITS!, new campains, and new maps. I extremely recommend this game. Look below to find a cheat sheet on this game so you don't have to search the whole internet to find a few codes:

50,000 wood, food, stone, gold, iron, and coal--->money
Win current level---> VICTORY
Click on color to switch to other player--->izmena
Press P to access other players'units--->supervizor
Activate 3 previous codes--->www
Unknown--->ai

I...

Most well made game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: August 01, 2002
Author: Amazon User

When I first stumbled upon this game I didn't realize my whole gaming experience was going to change. I'm a great fan of Age of Empires and Shogun: total war, but never have I ever seen so much effort put into one game! The graphics are stunning, the units look like they just walked out of the 18th century, and the gamplay and strategy is unmatched. This game will have your history teachers shocked by your knowledge of the 17th and 18th century. The campains are difficult and involve much strategy but the multiplayer can be used for not as serious players. If your wondering about the units I'll tell you know. their are artillery, which include the cannon, that uses grape shot at short range and will topple rows and rows of men. The upgrade of this is the multi-barreled cannon which fires one shot after the other. There are howitzers, which create wide spread damege and the mortars which fire long range. Unlike Age of Empires in which all countris have the same looking unit, Cossacks, has over 200 units that are different, based on each country. There are priests who heal, peasents who build and work, and their are generals and drummers who allow you to have formations which enhance your military capabilities. The navy is incredibale! In a large navel engagment you feel like your in the middle of a real one with ships sinking and cannonballs smashing into the decks. There are many other neat things about this game which no other game has but you'll have to find out for yourself by getting this game for yourself!

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