''Birth of America'' is a

wargame A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to s ...

by SEP BOA, a development team at AGEOD.

Gameplay

In ''Birth of America'', the player controls one of the major contenders of the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

or the

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, trying to achieve military and political victory. The scope of the game covers all of North America, from

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

and

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, from 1755 to 1783. The game map is divided into more than 700 provinces, with a great diversity of terrain, climates and civilization levels. There are two nations fighting each other in all of the game's ten scenarios. Game turns correspond to one month of historical time. Scenarios vary from a few months to almost 9 years. Players control mostly the military action of their nation. This includes such activities as drafting forces, building forts and depots, sieges and blockades, raiding enemy settlements and battles, both on land and at sea. ''Birth of America'' has two wars,

the French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the s ...

and the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

. The object of the game is to attack and capture objectives, strategic towns, and manage strategies in order to win battles thus gaining edge. Real political events, such as the battle of Bunker Hill and the signing of the Declaration of Independence, will also influence the outcome of morale throughout the game.

Reception

The game received "average" reviews according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. Over four months before the game was released for retail in Europe, ''

PC Gamer UK ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games mag ...

'' gave it a review and commented that it "captures the unique character of American Revolutionary warfare without drowning wannabe Washingtons and Howes in detail."

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

lamented that "it doesn't do quite enough to broaden the genre's appeal to newcomers." The editors of ''

Computer Games Magazine ''Computer Games Magazine'' was a monthly computer and console gaming print magazine, founded in October 1988 as the United Kingdom publication ''Games International''. During its history, it was known variously as ''Strategy Plus'' (October 1 ...

'' presented ''Birth of America'' with their 2006 "Best Wargame" award.

References

External links

* {{AGEOD games 2006 video games AGEod games Computer wargames Grand strategy video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Strategy First games Turn-based tactics video games Video games about the American Revolution Video games developed in France Video games with historical settings War video games set in the United States Windows games Windows-only games