''Conqueror'' is a

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

released as the follow-up to ''

Zarch ''Zarch'' (also known under its ported name of ''Virus'') is a computer game developed by David Braben (better known as the co-author of '' Elite'') in 1987, for the release of the Acorn Archimedes computer. ''Zarch'' started off as a demo call ...

'' (also known as ''Virus''), using the same landscape

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

. It is a

third-person shooter Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. While 2D shoot 'em ...

with

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art ...

elements in which the player controls a fleet of

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

s. It was originally developed and released on the

Acorn Archimedes Acorn Archimedes is a family of personal computers designed by Acorn Computers of Cambridge, Cambridge, England. The systems are based on Acorn's own ARM architecture processors and the proprietary operating systems Arthur and RISC OS. The fi ...

Superior Software Superior Software Ltd (also known as Superior Interactive) is a video game publisher. It was one of the main publishers for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers in the 1980s and early 1990s. It currently releases games for Microsoft Windo ...

in 1988 and ported to other home computers in 1990 by

Rainbow Arts Rainbow Arts Software GmbH was a German video game publisher based in Gütersloh. The company was founded in 1984 by Marc Ullrich and Thomas Meiertoberens and acquired by Rushware in 1986. The company's decline began in the early 1990s: The dist ...

. The game was well received, particularly for its blend of strategy and arcade action.

Gameplay

The game is set in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

era and in a 3D

polygonal In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two tog ...

environment. The player controls a fleet of tanks from either the American, German or Russian army. There are various tanks available with different abilities from light, fast tanks that are easily damaged to heavy, slow tanks with high firepower. The player controls an individual tank from a third-person perspective with computer AI controlling the other friendly tanks as well as the enemy tanks. By switching to a map screen, the player can change which tank they control and also direct tanks to different places on the map. The game carries on in real-time while the player is looking at the map. Control can be split so that two players can

cooperate Cooperation (written as co-operation in British English) is the process of groups of organisms working or acting together for common, mutual, or some underlying benefit, as opposed to working in competition for selfish benefit. Many animal a ...

to control the tank so one player drives the tank while the other controls the gun. Single players can choose for the computer to take the role of the second player or control both together. There are three types of game; 'Arcade', 'Attrition' and 'Strategy'. In the 'arcade' version, the player controls just one tank and faces a never-ending stream of enemy tanks that becomes progressively more difficult and cannot be 'won'. The object of the game is simply to survive as long as possible. The 'attrition' game gives the player a set fleet of tanks which are pitted against a similar set of enemy tanks. The 'strategy' version is the full game. The player begins with limited funds which are used to buy a fleet of tanks. Extra funds are gained by completing missions which can then be used to add to the fleet with up to fifteen tanks being available. Other extra features in this version of the game include

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

bombardment which can be ordered to strike at a specific point on the map and

spotter plane A surveillance aircraft is an aircraft used for surveillance. They are operated by military forces and other government agencies in roles such as intelligence gathering, battlefield surveillance, airspace surveillance, reconnaissance, observat ...

s which can be used to find out where the enemy tanks are on the map. Both of these actions use up funds. Tanks are damaged when hit but if they can be driven away from the combat area, they can be repaired. Missions are generally won either by destroying all enemy tanks or by occupying a specific point on the map for a set time without coming under attack.

Development and release

''Conqueror'' was designed and coded by Jonathan Griffiths using the ''Zarch'' game engine which was created by

David Braben David John Braben (born 2 January 1964) is a British video game developer and designer, founder and CEO of Frontier Developments, co-creator of the '' Elite'' series of space trading video games, first published in 1984. He is also a co-found ...

(co-author of ''

Elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...

''). Like ''Zarch'', it was originally developed and released on the

32-bit In computer architecture, 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with a processor, memory, and other major system components that operate on data in 32-bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform large calculation ...

Acorn Archimedes. It was published in 1988 by Superior Software.''Conqueror''
at ''The Centre for Computing History'' Following the success of ''Virus'', the name given to ''Zarch'' for its multi-format release in 1988, ''Conqueror'' was also ported to the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...

and

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...

. The Amiga and ST ports were carried out by Griffiths (with graphics by Torsten Zimmerman), while the DOS version was ported by

Chris Sawyer Christopher Sawyer is a Scottish video game designer and programmer. He is best known for creating ''Transport Tycoon'', which has been considered "one of the most important simulation games ever made", and the bestseller '' RollerCoaster Tyc ...

. These versions were released by Rainbow Arts in 1990.

Reception

The game was well received by critics, generally comparable to ''Zarch''/''Virus''. The Archimedes version was given a score of 931 (out of 1000) by ''

ACE An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the c ...

'' magazine and 87% by ''

The Games Machine ''The Games Machine'' is a video game magazine that was published from 1987 until 1990 in the United Kingdom by Newsfield, which also published ''CRASH'', ''Zzap!64'', ''Amtix!'' and other magazines. History The magazine ran head to head with ...

'' who viewed it as an improvement over ''Zarch''; "With more depth than Superior's previous Archimedes game, ''Conqueror'' is a change towards the more strategic style of game and as such is a change for the better - a product that is addictive and challenging in both the arcade and strategy sense of the word". The later versions generally scored slightly lower in the multi-format magazines with ''ACE'' giving the Amiga and ST versions 925 and 920 respectively, while ''The Games Machine'' gave both the ST and DOS versions 80%. ''

Amiga Format ''Amiga Format'' was a British computer magazine for Amiga computers, published by Future plc. The magazine lasted 136 issues from 1989 to 2000. The magazine was formed when, in the wake of selling '' ACE'' to EMAP, Future split the dual-format ...

'' called the game "first-class", and said it "will appeal to everyone who likes a good blast but also likes to think they can master a situation by good tactical planning", awarding a score of 93%.

References

External links

*
''Conqueror''
at Hall of Light Amiga database {{Superior Software 1988 video games Acorn Archimedes games Amiga games Atari ST games DOS games Europe-exclusive video games Superior Software games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Rainbow Arts games Multiplayer and single-player video games Acornsoft games