Rorke's Drift (video game)

Developer(s)	Plato
Publisher(s)	Impressions Games
Platform(s)	Atari ST, Amiga, MS-DOS
Release	1990
Genre(s)	Strategy
Mode(s)	Single-player

Rorke's Drift is a strategy video game for Atari, Amiga and MS-DOS home computers

Development and release

Rorke's Drift was designed by Edward Grabowski. It was developed by Plato, the strategy branch of Impressions Games, who also published the title. Distribution was by Pactronics. The games was released on the Atari, Amiga and MS-DOS platforms in 1990.

It retailed at £19.99 in the United Kingdom, $59.95 in the United States, 250F in France, 80DM in Germany and 299 Krone in Denmark.

Rorke's Drift was rereleased in 1994 by Tactix for the Amiga 500, Amiga 600 and Amiga 1200.

Gameplay

Layout of Rorke's Drift. The game presents an isometric 3D view of the battlefield from the south. A plan similar to this is shown in game as an overview map.

The game is a real time strategy recreation of the Battle of Rorke's Drift during the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War. The player takes command of a garrison of 137 British troops to defend the supply depot against a Zulu force numbering up to 4,000. The game allows the player the choice of facing Zulu attacks as they came historically or in a randomised fashion.

The game starts at 4.30pm on 22 January 1879, at which time the mealie bag and biscuit box defences have been erected, and the player's first action is to issue orders to deploy his men to their fighting positions. The Zulu attacks begin an hour later and the game runs, in real time, to a conclusion at 7am on 23 January when the British garrison is relieved by the arrival of reinforcements. Victory is awarded to the player if any of his forces survive until the end.

A depiction of the historic defence of Rorke's Drift

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isometric 3D

80 frames of characters, depicting each of the soldiers kneeling, running, standing and fighting in eight compass directions. Red cross icon displays number of dead, wounded and able-bodied on each side, clock icon enters the skipfast-time mode and map icon display an overview of th epost. Also includes quartermasters to refill ammunition.

Each man can adopt different firing positions, move at different rates and perform different attacks, selected from an on screen menu. Each man has individual characteristics tha affect his shooting and hand-to-hand combat ability. Orders are assigned to eahc man each turn, though a repeat function allowed the player to issue orders to groups of men. The player has the option to accelerate through turns, though the battlefield is hidden during this time and the player only sees the number of wounded and dead on either side.

As well as soldiers the player has commanders, medics. Each man can fire a shot per turn or undertyake moves or aim to increase his chance of hitting next turn.

Two phases order and combat. After orders are given to each man the player moves to combat mode and orders are enacted until the player enters orders mode again. For vicotry the player has to have part of his force survive for the duration of the game. Must also manage issuing of ammunition, tending of wounded and other operations. Only sound is a short burst of the song Men of Harlech (popularly associated with the battle by the 1964 film Zulu) at the start of the game. Graphics are a forced 3D perspective. Has a save game feature.

Orders issued by a mouse-controlled menu.

Character perfornace is affected by injury

Only soldiers told previously to aim can fire. Chance of a hit dpeends on time spent aiming and ability of trooper.

Reception

Lucinda Orr, reviewing for Amiga Computing considered the orders system gave a more personal feel. Orr noted that the only indication of a Zulu attack when using the acclerated time mode was when the casualty figures started to increase, which typically came at a point when it was too late for the player to co-ordinate British shooting. Orr noted the confined space of the battlefield made it difficult to develop any elaborate strategies and that the game was more about how the player chose to deploy their limited forces. Orr regarded the graphics and simulation as good and having the feel of table-top wargaming. Rated 80%

65% for MS-DOS version. Joystick praised the graphics, which it considered were better than usual for a wargame but criticsed the slow pace of the animation and jerkiness of the cursor.

Andy Smith in Amiga Format considered the graphics to be good and did not think the jerky animation hindered gameplay. Considered the game was an attempt to recreate miniature wargaming rather than board game wargaming. The game took a long time to play Smith criticsed that ther ewas only one scenario and onyl playable as the British, hindering replayability. Smith considered that the adherence to wargaming principles didn't always work in the game, criticising the "unwieldy and awkward" ordering system which sometimes led the characters to walk into one another until interupted, forcing the player to use unrealistic ordering sequences. He also thought it tediosu to have to manage the aiming of each man. 62%

Criticised the "almost unbelievable slow motion" and jerky movements. Noted occasional ssytem crashes and rated it 21%.

Criticesed the graphics as too cute for the genre. Thought it "incredibly playable" but would have preferred more background historical information being given to the player. 84%

Praised the graphics and presentation as "very slick". Criticised speed and responsiveness, rating of 700. the sort of game you either love or you hate"

Criticised the manual as poor with not all of the commands explained, no discussion of tactics and limited historical background. Cannot scroll the screen in the order phase, only in combat and this very slowly. Teh 3D viiewpoint sometimes restrictive in judging of distances. Praised graphivs. 34%.

Criticised the game for glorifying the British troops but praised the animations. Awarded 4%.

Criticised the isometric viuew for allowing characters to get hidden behind buildings and for lack of fire at will order. Awarded 44%

"Not much good about the game" Criticised slow pace and lack of instructions. Though praised colourful graphicvs. Rated 3/10.

Praised as a "good example of how wargames can cross over into the mainstream". By this time the graphics were dated and gameplay is slow but offered a strategic challenge. Suggested the control system was intuitive. 78%

"the soldiers and Zulus look very cute". Regarded the repeat order command as very useful. The "best possible result you can hope to achieve is survival". "an exercise in tactics to be enjoyed by those who are dedicated strategy fans, and those who are just looking for an enjoyable game". 81%

"a lot of planning" performance of characters depends on how tired they are also. Thought the cute graphics detracted from the atmosphere of a war game. Questioned the moral position of "wiping out an under-equipped army fighting for their homeland", in a war in which the British were the agressors. Lack of historical background. 84%

The map is just an image, not showing any gameplay. "manual is very poor" "some of the commands are not explained and others do not tally with the screen". No discussion of tactics. Wouldhave preferred a means of ordering groups of men at once. Cannot scroll when paused and scrolling is very slow. Restrictive viepwoint. 34%

Firing of rifles very time consuming. "dedicated stategists may find this game a little too colourful for their palates" but thought it would appeal to "arcade minded players". Thought previous strategy wargames too graphically basic or too simplistic. 80%