REVIEW

Austerlitz: Napoleon's Greatest Victory

By Richard Moore

Austerlitz Play-by-Email Austerlitz: The Rise of the Eagle - the premier play-by-email Napoleonic wargame

Whey, hey! Another Napoleonic computer game is about to hit the shops and this time it covers the classic battle of Austerlitz.

The battle - regarded as a sublime trap and victory for Napoleon Bonaparte - saw the forces of Austria and Russia take on an outnumbered French army. It should have been an easy win for them, but overconfidence in their superior numbers lulled the Allies into a false sense of security and opened the way for Bonaparte to destroy them.

Firstly he hid his initial numbers - aided by thick fog - and appeared much weaker than he was. He also knew fast-matching reinforcements were on the way and would arrive in time to bolster the French lines.

Next, Bonaparte withdrew from the strategically important Pratzen Heights - falsely signalling to the Austrians and Russians that he was in no position to either defend them or launch and attack.

Unwisely splitting their forces to crush the right flank of the French, the Allies weakened the centre and when it was dangerously thin Bonaparte struck.

The rest is history and now you can refight Austerlitz courtesy of Breakaway Games' Austerlitz Napoleon's Greatest Victory.

We've got six screenshots of the game to squizz at and from first look it is impressive - right down to the French bicornes worn at the time.

The game uses 16-bit graphics and that allows for 800x600 screen resolution or greater.

Austerlitz Napoleon's Greatest Victory features the three armies of France, Austria and Russia, each with a detailed historical order of battle, and what the developers promise is improved soldier animation.

You have more than 25 scenarios - both historical and what-ifs - and you can design your own battle.

If your mates are into Napoleonics then up to seven can join you for a LAN or Internet struggle.

Another bonus can be awarded for getting artwork from Keith Rocco, the famed military artist, to do the artwork.

To run the game you'll need:

Win 9x/2000/ME compatible Pentium II 266 or higher.

64 MB RAM (higher recommended)

200 MB of free disk space

DirectX 7.0a or higher

CD drive, mouse, and keyboard