Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games
Subject: Review of Gemfire from Koei
From: carlson@ucunix.san.uc.edu (David Carlson)
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 22:13:23 GMT
Organization: University of Cincinnati

Hi all.

First off, let me say that I've only been playing Gemfire for 3 days
now, so this "review" is really more of a first-impression/overview.

Gemfire is Koei's latest offering for the PC.  It is a wargame/political
simulation (heavier on the war) in the tradition of past Koei games.
Gemfire, however, is in Koei's "Imagination Series"--It is not a
historical simulation.  It's set in a fantasy world.

The basic storyline is that there is a crown called Gemfire, which
consisted of 7 Gems.  These Gems imprison the 6 most powerful
wizards of the land and the Fire Dragon.  The tyrant king's daughter
scattered the 6 wizard gems across the land, where they fell into the
hands of 6 noble families.  The evil king retains the Fire Dragon.  The
goal of the game is, as the head of one of the noble families, to gather
all of the gems and defeat the evil king.

Technical info:

*Graphics:  EGA  -- "What!?" you exclaim, "only EGA?"  Yes, the graphics
are EGA, but, IMHO, quite good.  They do not detract from gameplay in
the least.  (However, if you buy games solely to see their incredible
graphics--don't buy Gemfire--unless you want to see what programmers
should have been doing with EGA when it was the standard :) )

*Sound:  Adlib & Soundblaster are both supported.  The sound effects are
rather annoying, IMHO, but can be shut off seperately from the music
which is enjoyable.

*System requirements:  Gemfire is only 1 meg of HD space, and will run
in 640K of RAM--To me, this is a refreshing change from games that are
20+ megs, require several megs of RAM, and are pokey on a 386...
Also, Gemfire appears to work fine on my system under DRDOS6 using a
disk cache and drive compression.

Gameplay info:

*Players:  0 to 4 players can play.
*Scenarios:  There are 4 starting scenarios to choose from.
*Interface:  All icon-driven/point-n-click.  The only typing necessary
	     is to type a name for your saved game.
*Difficulty:  This game is much simpler to control than past Koei games
	      I've played, i.e. there are less factors to consider for 
	      each province you control.  I have enjoyed this, so far, 
	      however, in that I've found myself able to concentrate on
	      the big picture/overall strategy more.
*Game summary:	The game basically consists of two parts:
		Planning/Development and Combat.  The P/D phase is
		similar to past Koei games, but with less factors to
		keep track of.  The Combat phase is different from past
		Koei games I've played.  Rather than a hex-based combat
		screen, the screen is more of a top/side view of little
		animated soldiers and monsters.  Your army consists of 5
		units, each of which is represented by an animated
		figure.  Each province has it's own battlefield. When
		two units engage each other, the screen changes to a
		(basically useless) combat display, where the attacking
		unit pounds on the defending unit.  Various monsters can
		be hired to fight with your army and each have their own
		strengths.  

Overall, I've enjoyed playing Gemfire so far, and forsee many hours of
play (especially against other human players--that's where Koei's games
shine, IMHO).  Whether you're looking for a Koei game to start with, or
you're a Koei veteran looking for something a little different--I'd
recommend Gemfire.

		If you have any questions/comments about
		the game, feel free to E-mail me!

				David
			(carlson@ucunix.san.uc.edu)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games