Oasis Review

Written by: David Laprad Published: June 23, 2005 Tell me if this is you: You admire the great strategy games for their complexity. You also hold those who excel at playing these offerings in high esteem. But for all of your appreciation for the genre, you find the thought of building a civilization or creating an empire intimidating. It's not that you're stupid; you simply don't have the patience to learn and manage all of the components of a well-made strategy game. Take heart; your time has come. Play First has released a strategy game for casual players. A cross between Civilization and Mine Sweeper, Oasis is set in Ancient Egypt. You take the role of a prince who sets out to create an empire. You'll explore the surrounding lands, bring followers under your protective wing and strike down barbarian raids, all in a few minutes using the mighty power of your mouse. The story plays out across a series of randomly generated levels, each of which contains one kingdom. At the start of a level, you and a few followers face a wilderness shrouded in fog. You have a limited number of turns in which to find cities, collect more followers, locate mines, build roads and pinpoint the sites from which the barbarians will mount their attacks. You should also try to find the Oasis, an expanse of crystalline water containing the Glyph of Power. The Glyph of Power holds an obelisk. If you win the level by warding off the barbarians, you'll add the obelisk to your collection. Gather 12, and you win the game. Oasis boils all of the elements of a good strategy offering down to their bare essence, making them easy to handle. To build an empire, you need to win over new kingdoms; to protect the cities within these kingdoms, you'll need to fortify them. This is done by gathering followers in the desert who can work in mines and build roads between the towns. As your workers labor in the mines, you automatically develop new technologies, such as helmets and crossbows, which will help you defend your cities. These technologies are added to your towns as bonus points, so there's no messy micromanagement involved. Roads allow you to build your cities faster and move your followers to a settlement close to where the barbarians will attack, thereby allowing you to overwhelm their forces and shield the other towns. Success in Oasis depends on two things: Luck and spending your turns wisely. As you search the misty wilderness, each mouse click on a new location spends a turn and reveals what's hidden beneath the fog. If you hit a patch of crops, there's a city nearby; if you discover a mountain range, you're close to a mine. Clicking on a mine puts up to ten followers to work and spends one turn; building a section of road costs five followers and one turn. There's a degree of strategy involved in shrewdly spending your turns and assigning your followers to tasks, but an element of luck exists, too. For instance, it's better to divide 20 followers between two mines rather than putting all of them to work in one because each mine contains a foreman who works extra hard. Even so, if you run out of turns before you find the barbarians, your enemies might appear near one of your weakest settlements. After you've spent your turns, you're given a few seconds to move your followers before the barbarians attack. To stave off the assault, it's a good idea to shift the bulk of your forces to the city nearest to the barbarians, although you should also consider moving them to the town with the most bonus points. You don't have to save every city to win a level, so it might be necessary to sacrifice a weaker settlement. After the countdown is finished, all you can do is sit back, watch the battle and pray you'll win. Sometimes, only one group of barbarians will attack; other times, a second or third wave will hit your forces from different locations. Occasionally, you're allowed to move additional followers after one attack; most of the time, you have to withstand multiple waves with no intervention. The random nature of Oasis gives it remarkable replay value. Even if all of your cities are destroyed, you'll survive if you can defend the Glyph of Power. At the start of the game, you're given a staff containing Scarab Power. As you search an Oasis, you gain additional Scarab Power. After the barbarians level all of your cities, they'll attack the Glyph. If you have more Scarab Power than they do warriors, you'll win the level, but lose the obelisk. Everything I've described so far can take place in a few minutes, making Oasis a great coffee break game. Also, you can learn to do all of this in a short time thanks to a comprehensive tutorial. It's never been easier to amass an empire. When you're ready to go deeper, however, Oasis is happy to accommodate. For example, some cities contain treasures that can help your troops defend that settlement. Swords give a town a +2 bonus in combat; spears bestow a +3 bonus. After you discover a city, it's advisable to spend a turn searching it for treasure. Also, some kingdoms are home to an Advisor who will join you for a short time if you win the level. One such helper is the Scout, who reveals more of the current level with each click, taking some of the guesswork out of finding things. Another useful partner is the Architect, who allows you to build a section of road with one follower instead of five. There are others, all of whom are welcome additions to your army. In the grand tradition of casual games, Oasis can be played with one hand on your mouse and the other holding a cup of your favorite brew. The user interface is also well designed, as it uses the gameplay screen to impart all of the information you need. If you hate wading through dialog boxes and submenus, you'll appreciate the simplicity of Oasis. You'll also enjoy the visuals. The artwork for the gameplay is simplistic but gets the job done. For example, when your forces and the barbarians clash, you'll be looking at a mass of red and blue dots fighting for dominance. It's all good, though, especially since Play First adorns the screen with a beautifully drawn portrait of the prince. Besides, you'll be having too much fun playing “just one more level” to gripe about the graphics, as Oasis is fiercely addictive. Play First included four difficulty modes ranging from Easy to Insane, and with the exception of Insane, I found each one to be playable and fun. The Hard mode was challenging enough to force me to play smarter, but not so difficult it was impossible to win. If you can defeat the Insane mode, my hat is off to you. Oasis has even more going for it, from online score lists to additional modes, but I've got to stop writing so you can download the demo and begin enjoying the game yourself. At the beginning of this review, I asked if you were among those who appreciate strategy games but never play them. That's me. I stand in awe of Civilization, Age of Empires and others, but don't have the patience they require. Oasis, however, has earned a permanent place on my hard drive. Give it a few minutes, and that might be your testimony, too.