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26th September 2002:
Cossacks: Back To War
One of the best strategy games of last year returns in a new add-on and stand-alone game, but will it offer enough new features over the original game?
Posted by Marc Hull - PC - UK and Europe

While the Art Of War add-on, which was released last year, gave Cossacks fans a load of new missions and features to extend their game with, the idea behind Back To War is to both extend these new features further and to attract complete newcomers to the series. Unlike previous expansions, Back To War will function as a stand-alone game, so you don't have to have the original Cossacks to play it. However, if you do have the original, this will add all of the new features and missions to it, allowing you to access everything from one game. If you thought Art Of War was good, just wait until you see the list of extras that Back To War offers. First of all, the game adds two new nations, Switzerland and Hungary, to those found in the original, making a total of 20 nations to command. Each has an individual building set and different units, with 20 buildings and 4 units to learn for each of the new nations. Tweaks have also been made to some of the existing nations, with new camel-riding units added to Turkey and Algeria.

With Back To War being able to function as a stand-alone game, it needed a lengthy single-player mode to keep newcomers interested for as long as possible. Fortunately, with 100 all-new single-player missions, it certainly doesn't disappoint. The game also offers four difficulty levels, to cater for both novices and experienced players, as well as several tutorial missions to ease newbies into the gameplay, and help them learn how to control the basic units. The game also features a multiplayer mode, which caters for games across both a LAN and the Internet, and a new VIZOR mode allows you to spectate other people's games, picking up tips as they play. The Cossacks level editor makes a welcome return, allowing you to craft all new environments and missions once the main ones have been finished. As if that wasn't enough already, the developers have also included a fan-made add-on called Mod1, which adds 30 new units to the game, including a coast defence cannon.

However, while adding new units and missions helps to vary the gameplay a bit, this is still the fundamentally the same game it was last year. While newcomers will probably find loads of enjoyment to be had from the 100 new levels, and even those who bought the original will enjoy the new title's extra features, if you've already got the Art Of War add-on then this might not offer enough new stuff to warrant a purchase. Also, having previewed the developer's new game, American Conquest, before playing the Back To War preview code, it was suprising how different the two games look. Compared to their new title, which runs on an improved Cossacks engine, some of Back To War's environments looked quite bland and scruffy in places. Since the version we're playing is still quite early, there may still be some tidying up to be done before the game's release, so these things may not be quite as noticeable then, but still there's no denying that the original Cossacks engine is beginning to show its age.

Overall, Back To War is shaping up to be a great game for those who want to get in on the series, but it remains to be seen whether it offers enough for those who have already played through Cossacks and Art Of War. Instead, for fans of the game who want a new challenge, waiting until early next year for American Conquest may be a better option.

Marc Hull

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Cossacks: Back To War
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