Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars (PC)

With this year marking the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, it seems a bit fitting that the Napoleonic Wars seem to be getting a little more attention than normal. Case in point is Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars, the follow-up to 2000's Cossacks and the latest game in the real-time strategy series. In a way, Cossacks II marks the first major upgrade for the franchise, as it sports a much updated graphical look, as well as some significant new features. The gameplay, however, remains unmistakably Cossacks, which is good news for fans of the franchise. Newcomers, on the other hand, will discover a somewhat quirky but enjoyable real-time strategy game that focuses on formations and tactics rather than base-building and tank rushes.

Cossacks II lets you wage the Napoleonic Wars in all their stately carnage. Warfare was never quite so civilized.

In Cossacks II, you take control of one of six great powers of the era and attempt to settle your differences on the open field of battle, like civilized gentlemen. The game features a single-player campaign that's a bit loose with the facts for dramatic purposes, a battle for Europe campaign with both turn-based and real-time elements, and a variety of skirmish and historical engagements. At the heart of Cossacks II, though, are the real-time strategy battles that remain relatively unchanged from the earlier games.

When you get down to it, Cossacks II is a real-time strategy game for history fans. This is a big game with battles that take place on huge maps dotted with villages and towns connected by roads. You'll have hundreds of peasants gathering resources and building a variety of structures, while formations of 120 men march to and fro across the map. As in real life, roads play a strategically critical role in warfare, since they're the only efficient means to march men across the map. Thus, you can create blocking positions at key crossroads, and you get to feel like a real field marshal as you attempt to maneuver your army around the map.

The combat in Cossacks II is very faithful to the era, so you have the fun of marching your formations on to the battlefield, lining them up, and firing at the enemy. This was the era, after all, when armies stood in open field and exchanged fire until one side shattered and fled. Despite the apparent simplicity, there was actually quite a bit of strategy involved, especially since it took upward of a full minute to reload muskets. Fire too early and the enemy would make you pay while your men were busy trying to reload. Thankfully, the new color-coded range system lets you hold your fire until your men can see the white's of the enemies' eyes, or, in this case, until they enter the red zone, which is helpful in gauging the effectiveness of your volleys. The artificial intelligence of your opponents varies, but generally it's pretty good about finding your flank and trying to lure you into wasting a volley. If you fire prematurely, the computer will waste little time in exploiting the fact.

The new range system gives a whole new meaning to the term 'entering the red zone.'

You can also select from three different formations, depending on your tactical position, and you also have to worry about your men's morale, as well as their fatigue level. Furthermore, you have cavalry and artillery at your disposal. However, the infantry represents the core of your army, so it'll do the majority of the fighting, as well as the majority of the bleeding. Thankfully, you can pull depleted formations out of battle to send them to the nearest friendly village, where they will replace their losses. However, if a formation takes too many losses or loses too much morale, it will break and shatter, meaning it's out of the fight for good. It's also critical to capture villages, which are the source of the various resources in the game, including iron, food, coal, and gold. Food and coal are particularly important, because your army's logistical needs mean you must secure these sources, or else your army will starve to death or run out of bullets. Unfortunately, we wish the same could be said for the enemy, because during the single-player campaign, we noticed that even after choking the enemy off from all sources of supply, it still managed to keep fighting for a pretty long time.

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