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                      SOFTWARE REVIEWS NEWSFLASH 26                          
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Original supplied by : OCEAN
Reviewed by          : Peter Wijgerse


The latest game from MAXIS, published in europe by OCEAN. After Sim City,
one of the finest games I know, came Sim Earth. I've never seen an Amiga 
version, I'm not even sure there is one, but I played the PC-version.
Well, played.. it wasn't much of a game to my, it was to difficult and
involving to play it for a period shorter than 10 hours. I only hoped Sim
Ant would play like Sim City did, more things to do than only altering
statistics. And guess what, it is a very playable game. I must confess I've
played it from a harddisk 'cause loading takes some time, but it's not
unplayable from floppy. The game gives you a change to control an ant
colony. At the start there are four options, a tutorial (very handy), a
short game (your ants against the enemy ants), a full game (conquer the
whole territory) and an experimental game (you against the ants).

The game uses a couple of windows to depict the game. The main window shows
a top view of the area surrounding you are a side view of your nest. Other
views include a tactical view, a view of the yard and the house or some
statistics about how many and what kind of ants are currently populating
your colony. 

You control only one ant (of the black colony). It might be a worker or a
soldier, it doesn't matter, you can always switch. At the start of the game
there's only the queen and you, you have to dig a nest and then find some
food to nurish the queens ofspring. As the population grows you are able to
control what kind of ofspring you want (in percentages), if your colony is
expanding rapidly you'll need enough workers to nurse your eggs and to
gather food. It is your task to show them the food (which is scattered al 
over the surface). Your ant will leave a scent trail and the other ants will
follow it to the food and back to the nest. If you want to attack the enemy
(the red ants) you'll need more soldiers. This is all controlled in a small
window. Another window controls the ant activity. It allows to see and alter
the amount of ant gathering food, digging (to expand the nest) or nursing.
All this is done using a simple but effective point and click interface.
This method of control is used to pick up or drop things (food or rocks) or
to point where to go or dig. Although this works good there a re keyboard
shortcuts for thos who want to use them.

All the above might sound a bit simple, but compare it to Sim City, you just
build houses and roads and it's great fun. The same goes for Sim Ant,
without noticing you're dragged into the game. It has enormous potencial and
a lot of playabilty while deep inside there's a great strategy game. To make
the game even more complete it comes with an experimental mode. This means
you can experiment on the ants to see how the react. Place rocks around the
entrance of the nest and see how they overcome the obstacle or use toxics in
an attempt to wipe them out. Alse included is an educational menu where you
can learn everything about ants you want to know.

Graphically the game is clear to see, nothing spectacular (although some
animations are nice to look at) but it does the job, icons are clear and
you'll know what they do in a minute (even if you don't, there's always a
HELP-icon explaning al the other icons). Sonically it nothing special
either. A nice tune at the start of the game, and a lot of effects during
gameplay. But then again, it's not the type of game for flashy graphics and
earshattering soundeffects. Al that you see and hear is functional. 

The conclusion. 
If you liked Sim City, this is for you. If you didn't, give it a shot, it
has more to offer (mainly because you more in control the you are in Sim
City). 

The score :


              GRAPHICS     80 %
              SOUND        80 %
              PLAYABILITY  92 %
              LASTABILITY  95 %
              
              TOTAL MARK   91 %


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                      SOFTWARE REVIEWS NEWSFLASH 26                          
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