Cossacks is a mix of good and bad. On the positive side, the large unit
engagements and variety of tech upgrades make the game challenging and separate
it from some of its predecessors in the genre. However, there is a down side to
this also.
The amount of resources required to research technology and maintain a
standing army are staggering. You will need literally hundred of peasants
engaged in resource collection and their efforts might still not be enough. You
could easily find yourself jumping to your market in the middle of a battle in a
desperate effort to get a hold of more iron since your units have run out of
animation and are now no more than targets. To properly prepare for a battle and
to obtain advanced units to fight it, you could easily spend hours tinkering
with your economy first.
The game also suffers from poor AI and pathfinding. I've seen large enemy
armies walk to the edge of my city and kill a few peasant before wandering off,
when they could have easily flattened the entire city. Ground units will also
stand around sometimes and let themselves be pulverized by ships out at sea
instead of seeking shelter out of range. Problems like these will force you to
keep a closer watch on your units in the field and serve to make your AI
opponents less of a threat.
Pathfinding is also a problem in Cossacks. Peasants often take roundabout
(and very dangerous) routes while delivering resources or get themselves stuck
behind land features without any clue as to how to walk around them. I've also
seen ships try to make it through small gaps between islands three or more
abreast, only to get themselves stuck like the Three Stooges in a doorway.
Moving large forces can sometimes be an exercise in frustration as some of your
units will will go off in all directions even though they have all been ordered
to move to the same location.
Lastly, the game's music should be mentioned - Cossacks has a very heavy
soundtrack which is interesting at first, but quickly becomes more of an
annoyance. This especially becomes the case when an annoying bug periodically
will cause the soundtrack to get stuck like a broken record, attempting to drive
you crazy before continuing on normally. Listen to each track once and then turn
the soundtrack off.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 68%.
Better AI and pathfinding and less reliance on such large quantities of
resources would make Cossacks faster playing and more enjoyable.
System Requirements: 200 MHz Pentium CPU; 32 MB RAM; 1 MB Video
RAM; 8x CD-ROM; 200 MB Hard Drive Space; Mouse.
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