The Ancient Art of War at Sea

The Ancient Art of War at Sea

Developer(s) Evryware
Publisher(s) Brøderbund
Series The Ancient Art of War
Platform(s) Macintosh, MS-DOS
Release date(s) 1987
Genre(s) Real-time strategy
Mode(s) Single-player

The Ancient Art of War at Sea is a computer game developed by Brøderbund and released for the Apple Macintosh and MS-DOS IBM in 1987 as a sequel to The Ancient Art of War.

Plot

The player commands a fleet of ships in this naval-combat simulation which takes place in the mid-19th century. The player faces one of five historic opponents, each of which employs a different strategy against the player: the Duke of Medina Sidonia (1588); Blackbeard (1718); John Paul Jones (1779); Horatio Nelson (1805); and a fictitious opponent Thor Foote.[1]

Reception

Computer Gaming World in 1987 stated that The Ancient Art of War at Sea "offers a powerful editing system and an enjoyable, playable game"[2] that was superior to its predecessor, with excellent documentation.[3] In 1990 the magazine gave the game three out of five stars, warning that gameplay favored single ships as opposed to fleet actions when fighting enemy fleets.[4] In 1992 the magazine gave the game two stars, stating that it "plays wells as a game, but not as a serious study" and regretting that it was the only Age of Sail game for DOS.[5] Compute! in 1988 also praised the documentation and editor.[6] The game was reviewed in 1988 in Dragon by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in their "The Role of Computers" column. They agreed that War at Sea was better than its predecessor and called it a "must have", giving the game five out of five stars. They particularly enjoyed the ship-to-ship combat.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lesser, Hartley; Lesser, Patricia; Lesser, Kirk (January 1988). "The Role of Computers". Dragon (129): 36.
  2. ↑ "Christmas Buyers Guide". Computer Gaming World. November 1987. p. 20.
  3. ↑ Carey, Regan (November 1987). "The Ancient Art of War at Sea". Computer Gaming World. p. 28.
  4. ↑ Brooks, M. Evan (October 1990). "Computer Strategy and Wargames: Pre-20th Century". Computer Gaming World. p. 11. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
  5. ↑ Brooks, M. Evan (1993-06). "An Annotated Listing of Pre-20th Century Wargames". Computer Gaming World. p. 136. Retrieved 7 July 2014. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ↑ Ferrell, Keith (January 1988). "The Ancient Art Of War At Sea". Compute!. p. 32. Retrieved 10 November 2013.

External links