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- REVIEW
- THE 5TH FLEET from AVALON HILL
- FORMAT: PC
- DATE: DECEMBER
- PRICE: US $42
-
- For many gamers, "Avalon Hill" means strategy, and when a new game is
- released by the company, strategy fans are always delighted.
-
- "The 5th Fleet" is a modern naval warfare game where you are in command of
- a U.S. Navy task in the Indian Ocean. You will have at your command a wide
- range of ships and aircrafts, with over 160 different units like Nimitz
- class carriers, Ticonderoga class cruisers and F-117A Stealth Fighter.
-
- Only ten scenarios are included in the game, but each one will probably
- require you several tries before you can complete it. There are indications
- in the manual for the time necessary to finish a scenario, given in number
- of turns and also expressed in hours, and sometimes even in days, knowing
- that a turn is equal to eight hours of real time. The game can be played by
- two players on the same computer or through electronic mail, or one against
- the computer.
-
- The first scenarios will involve two countries, for example, the "Battle of
- Maldives" features the U.S.A. against India. Harder scenarios will include
- up to 17 countries like "The Indian Ocean War". Most of the scenarios
- are built around battles between Russia and allies versus the U.S.A. alone or
- with the allies.
-
- Each turn is divided into six phases: three for the Green and three for the
- Red, representing Russia and its allies. The same three phases for both
- sides are the surface phase, the submarine phase and the air phase.
- You can decide when it is your turn to play and which phase you want to start
- with. You can even skip a phase if you do not want to move or attack with
- this phase.
-
- After having initiated a phase, the player begins action on the Ops Display
- Map with the units of the selected type. When all the units have been moved,
- then the player will be able to attack possible enemies. This is not
- possible during the air phase, because both actions (move and attack) are
- executed together.
-
- During the combat, you will have to choose the weapons you will use for
- each unit involved in the attack. There are six types of weapons featured:
- SSM (Surface-to-Surface Missiles), Torpedoes, Cruise Missiles, ASW (Anti-
- Submarine Warfare), Air Strike and Guns. Each weapon can only be used by
- a specific unit type. Units usually have several types of weapons on board,
- but only one type will be used for each combat. For example, this means that
- a submarine will not be able to launch torpedoes and SSM at the same time
- against an enemy unit.
-
- For aircrafts, you will have to select the air bases from where they will
- depart and choose between three kinds of air missions: CAP mission (Combat
- Air Patrol), Intercept mission and Recon mission (reconnaissance).
-
- During the game, if you require details about units present in a conflict,
- the Tactical Reference Display will show you pictures and provide information
- about these units.
-
- ──────────┐
- Conclusion│
- ──────────┘
-
- "The 5th Fleet" will challenge you with scenarios of various difficulty
- for many hours and you will need some practice before you can claim victory.
- ─────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
- SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: │
- ─────────────────────┘
- 386 DX-33 MHz or better,
- Min 4 MB memory,
- MS-DOS 5.0 or later,
- Hard drive required with 11MB free,
- VGA 256 color graphic card and monitor,
- Microsoft Mouse or 100% compatible,
- Sound Blaster and compatibles.
- ───────────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────
- ┌────────┐ ┌─────┐ │Avalon Hill,
- │GRAPHICS├─────────────────┤ 88% │ │4517 Harford Road,
- │SOUND ├─────────────────┤ 85% │ │Baltimore, MD 21214-3192.
- │MUSIC ├─────────────────┤ 85% │ │Tel: 410-254-9200
- │GAMEPLAY├─────────────────┤ 88% │ │
- │INTEREST├─────────────────┤ 94% │ │
- └────────┘ └─────┘ │
- ┌────────┐ ┌─────┐ │
- │OVERALL ├─────────────────┤ 89% │ │
- └────────┘ └─────┘ │
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- ───────────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────
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