Review: Crimson Fields
Score:
53%
Take to the field of battle and (if you can hit the right keys) command your troops to victory. Is Ewan going to come out as General Patton or Captain Mainwaring in the S60 port of Crimson Fields?
AnotherGuest is famous for his various ports to the Symbian platform of classic games from older computer platforms and open source projects, and his latest release continues that trend. Crimson Fields is a turn based war game on a traditional hexagonal grid where you can fight to overcome an opponent who's trying to do exactly the same to you.
Based on the open source linux project of the same name (which itself is based on the classic “Battle Isle” game), turn based warriors will be instantly at home. We have a hexagonal grid (that takes some time to navigate with a four way cursor); units of differing strengths and capabilities (infantry, small tanks, artillery, helicopters, etc); varied terrain that can slow you down, offer you cover, or create bottlenecks for enemies attacking you (though trees, streams, bridges, roads, etc); and a competent AI opponent to challenge you over multiple scenarios.
There's no doubt that Crimson Fields has a great underlying mechanic, but the graphics are stuck in a 1992 Commodre Amiga game. This is no bad thing on a small screen as the hand drawn graphics stay clear and let you differentiate between the different units easily, and decide what terrain you are following. It's just that the look does not appeal on first impression.
But this is a game of hidden depths, and once you get past the look, you have something that is going to require a lot of thinking ahead. Just as a strategy game should be, this is not going to be easy, and you'll be playing missions over and over again at the start to get to know your troops. Once you have that knowledge, you can progress through the harder levels, launching multiple actions, the occasional feint and generally doing your best to harass the enemy forces and drive towards your goal.
But Crimson Field is hard to get into. Not because of the game – everything is on a nice learning curve, those familiar with the genre will be able to dive in relatively quickly and everything is where you expect it. The problem with Crimson Field is that it is a direct port.
And by direct that means there's been no attempt to optimise the interface and key inputs to the S60 standard. The menus are their wan grey box style that reminds me of Windows 3.1 using a dark grey theme, the keys don't follow the consistency of left soft-key for menus, right soft-key for going back or cancelling, and allowing the cursor and fire to access the menu options. You need to mix and match between the soft keys, the cursor keys and the other keys. For example, why does menu that comes up during the game need you to press the “C” key?
So before you can play the game Crimson Fields, you need to play the game What Are The Keys To Crimson Fields.
This problem with the interface is going to really pull down the score of Crimson Fields. With an S60 'standard' feel to the controls this would be high 70s, maybe even a recommended low 80's score. As it is, it has serious problems, while still remaining playable. And it is freeware. If you're a big fan of the genre you can probably put up with the maze and memory required to drive the game, otherwise it's probably better to wait and see if an optimised version will appear in the future.
-- Ewan Spence, May 2009.
Reviewed by Ewan Spence at