.FLYINGHEAD PRODUCT REVIEW
.TITLE Take out your Aggression on your Palm
.AUTHOR James Booth
.OTHER
.SUMMARY Are you the leader of an evil organization with aspirations of world domination? Do inept henchmen and allegedly British super spies continually thwart your plans? BLiT Games is here to help, with Aggression for the Palm.
Are you the leader of an evil organization with aspirations of world domination? [Yes. Oh, so yes. –Ed.] Do inept henchmen and allegedly British super spies continually thwart your plans? BLiT Games is here to help, with Aggression for the Palm.
Aggression, from BLiT Games (see http://www.blitgames.com/), is a Palm clone of Risk, the popular board game of strategy and world conquest. Choose your countries, mass your armies, and conquer your neighbors until you rule the world or are yourself defeated.
.H1 Pre-war jitters
Your purpose in Aggression is, of course, to conquer the world. The world is divided into six continents comprised of 42 territories. With each player having their own color, the map of the world game screen strongly resembles the original Risk board.
When you start a new game, you’ll enter the game setup that will allow you to choose the player colors and decide which will be human and which will be computer opponents. The computer opponents can be Neutral participants, who are merely defensive players, or enemy foes with Beginner, Medium, or Advanced AI.
The Setup screen also allows you to choose a Random Start and Quick Populate that make the start faster and more random, which will make for a more challenging game. You can also set limits on some game aspects, such as the number of Undos allowed and the maximum number of men in a territory. Figure A shows the game’s Setup screen.
.FIGPAIR A The Setup screen allows you to choose enemies and set options.
.BREAK_EMAIL If you want to take over the world, tap here first and read the rest of James’ review.
.H1 Battle is joined
Once the territories are divvied up and the combatants spread around, it’s time for world domination. To make war, you select which of your territories will be doing the attacking by Tapping on it, then select any adjacent enemy or Neutral territory to initiate the attack.
Obviously, it is wisest to select a territory with fewer men. You can continue tapping the target territory to attack unit it is defeated and your men take possession, or until you no longer have enough men to continue the assault. An alternative is to use the Juggernaut mode of attack, which will continue attacking your target until it’s beaten or you don’t have enough men to keep up the fight.
After you’ve finished making all your attacks and seizing those territories that were ripe for the picking, you’ll have the opportunity to shift men from one territory to another in order to bolster your defenses. Figure B shows the game screen in action.
.FIGPAIR B Early in the game, the territories are evenly distributed.
.H1 Hold that line
Now it’s the computer player’s turn. There really isn’t anything you can do at this point other than wait for the computer to finish and pray the enemy doesn’t pick your bones clean.
You don’t have anything to fear from the Neutral territories; they won’t attack you. They also act as a good buffer between you and your enemies, at least until someone gobbles them up.
After everyone has had a turn, the sequence begins anew. At the beginning of each turn, you will be given combatants to distribute throughout your empire based on how many territories you hold. Bonus combatants are given for holding an entire continent.
.H1 Intelligence report
Strategy, of which I am sadly lacking, is really the key with Aggression. I swear, the computer enemies pull combatants out of thin air sometimes. There is a way to get extra combatants during a turn based on your aggressive actions during the turn. To be honest though, I still haven’t quite figured out the point system that allows this, or how it works exactly.
Each of you has to plan your own strategy for yourself, but I’ll give you a little tip. The first few times you play Aggression, set up the game with only one computer enemy with Beginner AI and limit the number of combatants in a territory to 12. Make all of the other computer players Neutral. A setup like this will give you a better chance of winning while you learn the finer points of the game.
You won’t enjoy the game if you always lose. As you become better, you can increase the number of computer enemies and their AI.
Aggression has many advanced features to make play easier when dealing with larger numbers of combatants, such as the Juggernaut battle modes, and shortcuts for rapid troop movement. There is an Information Grid too, so you can keep abreast of the other player’s tactical situation.
.H1 Debriefing
Aggression requires a color Palm device, but has versions that support 160 x 160 low resolution, 320 x 320 hi-res, and 480 x 320 Cinema/Landscape screens. If you have a device with a Cinema/Landscape display, check the BliT Web site to see if there are any particular issues for your model.
I was never that much of a fan of the Risk board game. I did enjoy playing Supremacy though, and I guess that’s what prompted me to try Aggression. I have to admit that I’m hooked. Aggression’s game play is very addictive and worth the $14.95.
I give Aggression from BliT Games 3 out of 5. What would I like to see in a future release? I think the manual needs to be cleared up a bit to clarify the point system and points for combatants feature. I’m still not real clear on that aspect of the game. Also, a wireless multiplayer option, whether IR, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or all three would be nice and even worth a higher price.
.RATING 3
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.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information about Aggression, visit http://www.blitgames.com.
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.BIO James Booth is a self-taught PC and Palm device user that dabbles in graphics and photography. He can be reached at lizardworks@mchsi.com.
