& LIGHT-YEARS! - TRS-80 Color Computer Archive

Balance of Power: 1990
Edition
This may be the best-designed game
ever. It's simple and beautiful, and it
uses the Windows environment better
than any application I've seen. It is
also the most detailed, carefully
extrapolated future world I've worked
with.
I should love this game. I'm the
guy who, in the 1978 short story
"Breaking the Game," described a
Risk-like: game in which hundreds of
players take part in a deep and perfect
computer simulation of recent history.
Game designer Chris Crawford has come closer than any
one to making that sort of game a reality.
But when I first played it, it infuriated me. When you
push too hard in the wrong situation, nuclear war erupts,
and Crawford slaps you with an insulting message about
how he isn't going to show you a big mushroom cloud be
cause he doesn't "reward failure." It makes you feel like
you're in a college class with a professor who thinks he's
God. The fact is, nobody knows what will cause a nuclear
war because we've never had one, and for Crawford to
taunt you because you didn't guess the same way he did is
offensive.
Nevertheless, one of the people I respect most picked
the game as one of the 20 best games in this magazine
[June 1988—Ed.]. I was baffled. So, as I reviewed science
fiction games for this article, I resolved to look again.
The game is still brilliant in the way it collects and
uses data about the real world—you can practically use it
as an almanac. Unfortunately, in simplifying geopolitics,
Crawford made some choices that result in absurdities. For
instance, if you're playing the part of the President of the
United States, you're supposed to sit back and let the Sovi
Software of the Future
Balance of Power
1990 Edition
Amiga—$49.95
Apple IIgs—S49.95
Atari ST—$49.95
IBM PC and compatibles—$49.95
Macintosh—$49.95
Captain Blood
Amiga—$49.95
Apple lias—$44.95
Atari ST—$49.95
Commodore 64/128—S34.95
IBM PC and compatibles—$39.95
Macintosh—$49.95
The Colony
IBM PC and compatibles—$49.95
Macintosh—$49.95
Mindscape
3444 Dundee Rd.
Northbrook, IL 60062
(312) 480-7667
34 COMPUTE
Firezone
Amiga—$34.95
Atari ST—S34.95
Commodore 64/128—$24.95
IBM PC and compatibles—$24.95
(available on 5V4-inch and 3'A-inch
disks)
Software Toolworks and Datasoft
Distributed by Electronic Arts
1820 Gateway Dr.
San Mateo, CA 94404
(415)571-7171
Sentinel Worlds I: Future
Magic
IBM PC and compatibles—$49.95
Star Flight
IBM PC and compatibles—$49.95
ets introduce troops into Syria without
protest. The historical fact is that when
the Soviets proposed to do exactly that
back in 1973, President Richard
Nixon put the U.S. military on alert,
and the Russians backed down. In
Crawford's world, Syria is vital to the
Soviet Union and unimportant to the
U.S. In the real world, almost the
reverse is true.
Likewise, in the real world, no
U.S. President could stay in office if
he allowed the introduction of Soviet
advisers in Mexico without taking
massive countermeasures—and it's
hard to imagine a Mexican government insane enough to
try it. But in Crawford's world, resisting such Soviet adven
turism often results in nuclear war. Hasn't he heard about
the Cuban missile crisis?
When I first reviewed Balance of Power, I assumed
these absurdities reflected Crawford's political views. Since
then, I've come to realize that they probably reflect the
limitations of the game program. There are only so many
variables that the computer can handle.
So here's my advice. Pretend that Balance of Power
takes place on an alien planet that through sheer co
incidence is divided into nations and continents astonish
ingly similar to those of Earth, with the same names. So,
you must act solely on the basis of what the game tells you
about the world. If you do that, you'll find this a deep and
powerful game. If you don't, the game will drive you crazy, a
Orson Scott Card is an award-winning science fiction writer, with
two Nebula and two Hugo awards to his credit. His novels include
Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, and Prentice Alvin. His most
recent work is a novelization of the movie Abyss. His column on
computer entertainment, "Gameplay," appears monthly in COM
PUTE! magazine.
Wasteland: Adventure in
Post-Nuclear America
Apple II—$49.95
Commodore 64/128—$39.95
IBM PC and compatibles—$49.95:
$54.95 for combo pack (both 3Vz-
and 51/4-inch disks)
Electronic Arts
1820 Gateway Dr.
San Mateo, CA 94404
(415)571-7171
Space Station Oblivion
Amiga—$19.95
Atari ST—$19.95
Commodore 64/128—$19.95
IBM PC and compatibles—$19.95
Epyx
600 Galveston Dr.
Redwood City. CA 94063
(415) 368-3200
Star Command
IBM PC and compatibles—$49.95
SSI
1046 Rengstorff Ave.
Mountain View, CA 94043
(415)964-1353
Star Saga: One—Beyond
the Boundary
Apple II—$79.95
Apple lies—$79.95
IBM PC and compatibles—$79.95
(available on 5Va-inch and 3'/2-inch
disks)
Masterplay
8417 Sun State St.
Tampa, FL 33614
(813) 888-7773
Tower Toppler
Amiga—$49.95
Apple II—$39.95
Atari ST—$49.95
Commodore 64/128—$39.95
IBM PC and compatibles—$39.95
U.S. Gold
Distributed by Epyx
600 Galveston Dr.
Redwood City. CA 94063
(415)368-3200