Mega Lo Mania

MegaLoMania is a strategy game, no doubt is to be laid there. The functions and limitations are very simple, the graphics are not spectacular, and the music is a bit silly. More than anything, the game is an import from other systems. But this was the first time I've ever played the game, and it was fun for me. By: Maduin T. Branford

Starting off, you get a silly little screen of four demi-gods to choose from. It gives a little description of each, as if each had a personality, and each has it's own color. For you, all you get is the color. The character MAY affect the computer's AI, but if it does, it only does so minutely.

You get to the island select screen. The game is divided up into Epochs, and these epochs each have 3 islands/island chains. Each epoch, you are given an extra 100 people to use for those three islands (plus any you had remaining from the previous). By selecting an island with the A button, you'll see how many other gods will be competing with you by the other amount of heads, and the way the island is set up (top-left, kiddo). If you want to play that level, and you'll have to get around to it eventually to beat the game, click the "PLAY ISLAND" thing to the left with the A button. Depending on the level, either you or the computer will get to choose where to place it's troops first. To choose the amount of troops you'll be sending, click the little castle. Make sure not to use too many. You have to use the remaining for the other islands. Then choose what square you wanna be on. The squares of land are preset, and depending on which one you choose, you get different technology, different resources, etc. Experimentation must be done in order to find out the best.. if you really want to.

Now, you're in the game. This is the thing that takes a while. You can see your plot of land, and the menu. You can look around the different parts of the map by selecting the other squares with the A button. You can increase/decrease the speed of the game by clicking the A/B button on the little man. You'll find yourself wanting to spend a lot of time, and if you look away for a second, someone might nuke your city.. but that's not till later. The shields represent the current competitors in the game. If there are more than 2 competitors, you can forge an allegiance by clicking on a shield with the A button. Usually, they'll refuse. In a 4-way, even three people can form an allegiance. To remove yourself from an allegiance, simply click the black (empty) shield. The menu buttons, what you'll be working with primarily, have.. well.. stuff.

Before I go into the tabs, I'd like to talk about how the population works. Each city has a max of 999 persons. The city will continue to make more people as long as the amount of unemployed people is less than 500. Ordinary people walking around the field also count toward the population. The more people you have, however, the faster your population goes up. Having a large population has no drawbacks. In fact, it's all good! The more people you have, the more they can mine and invent. Wewtly.

The Information tab will show you the amount of unemployed and the total amount of villagers you have. It also lists anything you have invented. By clicking on the individual inventions, you can find out how much resources are needed to make one.

The Attack tab will allow you to take some of your people, be they regular people, people with rocks, people with cannons, or flying saucers, and send them to another area nearby. You can 'jump' over occupied allied areas. You can only have a total of 250 of your troops in one area. Putting troops into an empty area not by a country you have allegiance with will cause them to try and create a building there. Troops will automatically engage any non-allied troops, and non people (the ordinary people, that is) can destroy buildings. As you can probably figure out on your own, the object of the game is to eliminate all opposition. Some troops, like biplanes, jets, and UFOs can move anywhere on the map. If you destroy an enemy city while it still has people inside, you get those people for yourself. Whee. At the beginning of the game, you can make some of the more simple inventions at this screen by simply clicking on the tab. You need only create an attack thing once, so if you recall it, you don't need to spend the materials on it again. Later, you must use the Production tab to make things. You can retrieve troops by either clicking on where your troops are on the map, then on the square that is your colony, or by going to the map in front of you, clicking, and then clicking on the main building.

The Defense tab! Defenders are pretty important, too. You put them in the little holes you see on the tops of your buildings, and when you get all 4, you can put up to 10 defenders. Defenders are stronger and live longer than attackers, but are more limited. One defender is equal to about three and a half attackers of the same level of technology. OK, that may not be accurate. It's hard to tell, and each battle has a bit of randomness. You can get some missile defenders later in the game that I have NO IDEA how to use. In the very last levels, you also get laser turrets, practically the only way of stopping a nuke. A nuke will appear on the screen for about three seconds, going down sideways, and then explode. Any area that has been nuked is, I believe, unlivable on. Like the attack tab, some things can be made here, some under production. Defenders are brought back by clicking B on them. I believe.

The Repair tab isn't used too much.. You can create repairs, which you can use on buildings. Depending on the repair (1-4), you get that many parts of bar. You can also check on the status of buildings by clicking on the repair tab. For the main thing, you'll be using the repair tab to ENCAPSULATE your people. You can encapsulate up to 500 folks at one time. These lucky folks get to travel on to the very last level, epoch 10. A message will pop up, telling you you can make.. what was it, colonies?.. when you can do this.The Mine tab is something you may be at for oodles at a time. You need materials to both invent and create things. I'll go into the those processes later. You'll end up haggling between miners and your unemployed if you want to milk out the most of both at the same time. Resources with hands beside them are resources that replenish themselves automatically. All squares have a certain amount of resources, and certain resources. It's easy to get the short end of the stick.

The Build tab is something you'll probably be using at the beginning of each battle.. Building the mine (pickaxe icon) allows you access to all of the area's minerals. The other two allow you all the inventions, and some extra places for defenders.

The Invent tab is pretty useful. As long as you've mined enough minerals to make a single tool, you can invent it. Therefore, if spear throwers cost 1 rock, 1/2 pineapple and 1/2 bone, you need at LEAST that to invent it. Once you've invented something, you can either make it or produce it. I'm pretty sure that the inventions with the little H on them mean that they're only available through production. May be wrong.

Produce tab. Use this to make items that must be produced. Unlike making simple attackers and defenders at the ATTACK/DEFEND screen, these take time to make individually. You can set however many you want to make, and how many people are going to make them.

All this info should help you out in the beginning. I've blundered around a lot less. Make sure to encapsulate your extra people, and not to waste too many! At each victory screen, toward the bottom, is the password needed to get back here quickly. Might want to jot that down.

Overall Score: 65