Game Publisher: Kemco, sub-license from Infogrames

Year: 1989

Type of game: 1-2 player strategy

Players: 1-2 players simultaneous

Story: The bugle is calling you to arms in the great Civil War that has torn apart these once United States. Both sides are in dire need of leadership. Your troops await your orders, sir! You must build a rich and powerful railway to advance your armies. Increase your troop strength and cannon power. Amass cavalry. Your combat prowess and brilliant strategy could rewrite history on the final battlegrounds of....North and South.

From the back of the box, typed up by myself.

North and South is a very good, if small strategy game based originally on a computer game. In this game you get to control the North Union or South Confederate army in their fights in selected time periods. the beginning options include what year you pick, which determine how large your forces are when you start out. How many players there are and what handicap you wish to have set up. As a added bonus they give some more options to add some variables to the game. If you wish, you can have thunder storms, indians, or even help from the French for more troops. How the options basically works are as follows.

Thunderstorm

This option when activated has a small storm cloud roam the map, when it hovers above a set of troops it stops their progress for one turn

Indians

Indians are pretty rare, but if you are on one state when a certain amount of turns is up,[I won't reveal the state nor how many turns so the player can experience it on their own], this indian that is normally sleeping on the map attacks and will take out a whole group of troops.

Troop

Troops are pretty odd, they only appear at one state only after a certain amount of time goes by. The troops just sail in on a boat and join up with whoever forces are present, if no forces are present the troops just give their loyalties to whoever has possession of that state. [Which is also not revealed here].

One basic army group has one cannoneer, three mounted [cavalry] officers, and six ground troops that are armed with long guns, all have strengths and weaknesses. Like the guy that fires the cannon can shoot long ranges, but can only move up and down and is easy target in close quarters combat. The mounted cavalry soldier are only armed with swords but can go fairly fast and at angles that can upset ground troops. Ground troops are six in number and are fairly slow, and very susceptible to the cannon but can shoot a large volley of fire. All are handy in one form or another but you can only control one group at a time. Another neat option is you can combine armies together. Up to three in all, which will give you up to three cannoneers you can control all at once. Nine cavalry soldier that you control in three waves, and eighteen ground troops, which will also go into battle in three waves as they are wiped out. You can only put the maximum of three armies together.

The game has a map of the United States in that time period. How it starts off depends on what year you have set on it. Depending on the year is how many armies you control and move around on the map, which works with a point and push button cursor.

On the game there two ways to fight. One of them is just a all out battlefield method. It is a somewhat overhead/side view of the battlefield. And a platformer side view when you are attacking or defending a fort installation or railroad. For the man battle you just have one army go against a opposing army. For the side view you just go by a rail line and wait for a train or go directly to the fort that controls the rail line.

Play Control: B+

Play control has a bit of a learning curve. Like when you start playing you can toggle between the cannon, the cavalry, and the ground troops. But you can't control them all at once and if you play against the computer it can. So it outnumbers and can very well overwhelm you when it comes to starting out in the first few engagements. Luckily the Artificial Intelligence is somewhat lacking and makes up for your limited controlling abilities.

Graphics: B+

Very good for the time period, no slow downs or distortions of any kind. Even though on the main battlefield the men are small, and on the assault missions lack detail. The graphics still look good. And even though it is limited, what little scenery they added is well done.

Sound: A

Sound was done very well. Most of it is limited to blips and bloops but the railroad cart sounds real. The cannon, the ground troops with the crack of their long guns, and the cavalry with their funny charge music all have a somewhat unrealistic yet comedic appeal on the sound area.

Music: A+

The music is rather excellent. From the rendition of Dixie to that of the National Anthem,[which ironically wasn't our anthem in the 1800s] was done rather well. The don't have too many tunes in the game, about seven in all. But what is in the game is very well done.

Theme and Fun: A+

One of the best two player games made that I've played in a long while. It's one player mode was done very well too. It is fairly easy to play all the areas and variations of the game in less than a week but it was done so well it will probably keep the player busy for weeks at a time. It did me.

Frustration: C

They could have made it more difficult, the one frustration with the game is how easy it is to beat the computer. Even on the hardest levels a win is pretty easy to do.

Repetition: B-

Well they added a lot of options to keep a player busy. But the options are rather limited and small. After a while you will wish they added more variety to the game, just to make the fun last longer.

Challenge:C+

Game seems pretty easy to beat over and over without a human opponent. But still fun to play and does require a little bit of strategy.

Replay Value: B

A little more variety wouldn't have hurt. But the game turned out pretty well the way it is. The two player option sure helps its rank in this area.

Final Pluses:

One and two player option, a game based on a major war with good story line. A good computer port even with the limitations of the NES. Well done game set up overall.

Final Minuses: Not large enough for full-time strategy buffs. They could have crammed more armies in all of the scenarios.

Changes:

A little more A.I. and a few more options would have been nice. It would rock with 4 Score compatibility.

Overall: A+

A sleeper hit is a understatement for this game. Much better than expected. I strongly recommend.

Final Note:

Somewhat rare and in strong demand is why both game players and collectors alike should seek out this game.

Value: I paid only $5 for my loose copy, but $12 for a complete copy is reasonable in my opinion.

Related Games: None I can think of, it's pretty unique.