DESCRIPTION

Note: W3.1 version 1.5 will run on Windows 95 as well.

Outpost is a strategy intensive, world-building game designed by a former scientist Bruce Balfour of the Space Sciences Division of NASA's Ames Research Center. As a researcher of computer artificial intelligence routines applied to galactic probes, Balfour brings realism and tons of hard science to the computer game screen in Outpost. The game features brilliant SVGA graphics and an intuitive point-and-click interface with menu based commands. On-line help is available with a simple right click of the mouse on most on-screen items.

The game is turn-based with turns not having any particular real time equivalent and most games will take between 800 to 10,000 turns to complete. Outpost has two fairly "soft" victory conditions but play doesn't necessarily end when they have been reached. Basically the game is designed to be an open-ended simulation that tests the players ability to establish a colony, discover and mine resources that can be used to advance technology and provide a life-sustaining environment in the stark and inhospitable landscape of an alien world.

Genetic and technology research, robot manipulation, environmental control, competition with an estranged and hostile renegade faction of fellow humans and development of tough survival skills are all fully designed aspects of the simulation. Earth, having been utterly destroyed in a numbing catastrophe, is no longer a safe haven and there is no turning back for the last remaining humans. This CD-ROM version 1.5 corrects some earlier problems experienced with the initial release of the game that caused a general (and sometimes specific) skewering of Sierra for releasing an incomplete game. Most complaints have been addressed in this version which now includes a 22-page tutorial (covers about 80 turns) and a plethora of helpful information regarding equipment and research requirements. Fans who were disappointed by the initial game should enjoy the fruition of Sierra's redesign and updated release. ~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide