Beast & Bumpkins Developer: Electronic Arts Publisher: Electronic Arts Category: Real Time Strategy System Req: P133, 16Mb Ram, 20Mb HD, Win95/98 Might look like: The Settlers II Date posted: 14 april '98 Written By: Bjorn - This game was tested on P166, 32mb Ram, Voodoo Graphics, Win95 - Screenshots of this review have unfortunately been deleted. Sorry for this inconvenience. A little Introduction By your inability to follow the protocols set down many years since, culminating in your insolence at the King's Ball, you have shown yourself to be both unworthy of his most excellent majesty's affections and unreliable as a loyal subject. It is with heavy heart that I send this missive to you. We have no alternative but to place this Exile Notice upon your head and the estate of Mildew. You are banished henceforth from this Kingdom. If you dare return to our green and pleasant land, thyself and thine ill-mannered subjects will be sentenced to death! Although, initially, 't was our desire to have you horribly Tortured, sending you out into the Wilderness seemsfar more apt. Since you have the manners of an Ape you will have no trouble creating rude life for your own self amongst the many, varied and uniformly Cruel Beasts that inhabit that cursed land. You and your insignificant band of Ne'er-Do-Wells, have been exiled to the remote and savage island of Aorta. Using your skills, you may manage to eke out a subsistence standard of living but, from this point forward, you may not count upon any help. In our beneficence we have issued you a portion of your fortune; do with it what you will but never darken our sumptuous door again! God save The King. The Manual The manual of Beasts & Bumpkins is well written. However, Electronic Arts released this game here in Europe, as well in Belgium where I live and it is only written in one language namely English. Of course we all know that English is the most spoken language in the entire world and that almost everyone, and i say clearly 'almost', understand plain English. Still that doesn't mean that foreign languages should be kept in the dark. I have a much bigger problem when companies are translating the entire game in the language of the country. Especially France & Germany are the winners concerning this. No subtitles, they just dub everything ... so goodbye to the speech that features a well known actor or actrice. Anyway dubbing should be forbidden, it is all about chauvinism. I rest my case so lets proceed on the manual. In the manual, you have also an other little manual inside. It is a basic Windows 95 Reference Card because as you know Win95 is not 1 of the best stable OS-platforms. So if you should have any problems when you try to install and/or play this game, just use the advise on the reference card and hopefully the problem will be solved! The basic things that can be found in every manual and this manual ain't no exception. There is a pretty good description of your peasants and what buildings you can build. Of course there is also an in-depth description of your foes and the various mushrooms, potions and spells. So, a pretty standard manual. Beast and Bumpkings ... what? Beasts & Bumpkins is a Real-Time Strategy game. Don't get surprised thou with this strange name. I never understood where they got 'Bumpkins' from. Oh well maybe because i'm a Foreigner. Your goal in B&B is to build up your own village from scratch (from zero, from 0). You will have to use your brain for setting up a strategy in order to complete the 30 levels and to defend yourself from Evil Forces and Creatures. Zombies, Bee's, Wolves and other Evil Forces want to send you to hell as quickly as possible and perhaps you want to do something about it to prevent this. This game is a build-conquer and survive game. Build up your own town, conquer enemy land, kill Evil and the last thing that you need to keep in mind is to survive this Evil place. With your peasants you can build huts, farms, wells, a bakery and more. It reminds me a bit of Blue Byte's excellent RTS game, Settlers II which is just brilliant. Next Page Up Previous Page If you want to review your favorite game, or if you work with a computer game company and want your products reviewing, mail info@playdevil.com. All contributions are welcome. Any problems and/or suggestions are always appreciated on webmaster@playdevil.com Nothing of this entire Site, animation & logo's included, may be reproduced, stored, saved, transmitted, in any form or means, electronic, written or otherwise without the prior permission of PlayDevil. Other Logos & Names are Copyrighted Material of its respectful owners. All Rights Reserved. PlayDevil Productions © 199/8-199/9 "rip your own stuff"