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(More customer reviews)I put in a lot of hours playing Stratego as a kid. With the goal of searching through a board filled with different ranking army members to capture the enemy's flag, Stratego contained the right amount of pure strategy with just enough luck that a well placed bomb could easily turn the tide. I would have loved to have seen a reputable conversion of this classic. Unfortunately, Hasbro, in their zeal to cash in on the popularity of board games, rushed this problematic hunk of junk out the door so quickly that it's virtually unplayable.
First of all, this game was made in 1998, so the graphics are pretty chunky and clunky. Secondly, and this is a huge problem, they made it so you are unable to tell any of your pieces apart! Remember all those pieces you have on the board? Now you have to remember the ranks of all of your pieces as well as the enemy. This problem could have easily been solved by displaying the ranking as you mouse over your individual pieces, but nope! Makes too much sense.
Third, weren't the highest ranking members #1, #2, and so on respectively? I'm certain the miner was #8 in rank. Well, in this version the numbers are backwards (!) Now your miner is a #2 and your top ranked marshal is a #10. So now not only do you have to remember the numerical rank of all your pieces, you also have to remember them backwards.
Are you starting to get the feeling none of the developers have ever played this game before?
This feeling will be confirmed once you play against the computer. The A.I. is so incredibly bad that it will put its top ranking pieces on the front line, charge your line, but won't attack anyone unless they move. My first game against the computer my scout spotted the top ranked #1 (err... #10) piece on the front line. It then came straight at me and sat there until I sent my spy over to kill him. Well, that was easy. And when you charge the computer it gets even better. Just send one of your top ranked pieces over. One by one it sends lower ranked pieces at you and it's not until it gets right next to your top ranked guy that it "remembers" how tough your guy is. As soon as the computer moves away from you, chase it down and kill it. Tough game, eh?
Unlike the other reviewers, I was able to get it to work on Windows XP, but even at a bargain bin price this game is a joke. One was all it took for me to hit the uninstall button. So take it from me, your Amazon spy, drop the bomb on this game and send it to the trash can it came from. What a waste.
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Stratego, the popular board game of battlefield strategy, comes to life on the computer. You have an army of men and weapons at your disposal. Your mission: capture your opponent's flag and protect your own. Your troops range in rank from scout to marshal--but your opponent doesn't know the ranks of your players. Each is disguised as an innocent drummer boy marching across the battlefield while cautiously sidestepping hidden bombs. When engaged in battle, characters morph into toy soldiers, and their ranks determine who emerges victorious. This is the game for developing your strategic skills.
