Hannibal

Hannibal is one of those classic wargames that start out with an accurate historical scenario, but let you rewrite history—if you can. While most games tend to see Roman history from the Roman side, Hannibal casts you as the eponymous Carthaginian general. The only other game I know where you get to play Carthaginians is the Age of Empires expansion Rise of Rome.

On a more technical note, Hannibal is interesting because of its use of hi-res mode (especially uncommon on the Amiga), and a because it was originally a PC game, then ported to the Amiga; at least in Europe, it was at the time usually the other way round.

Reviews

• Sebastianos recommends it:

  The gameplay can be overwhelming at first, but once you get used to it, you'll be quite drawn into the game. It's a good strategic game that will require careful thinking and certain leadership skills. You're playing the side that has lost and was pushed out of the history, so you're the underdog in this game. That's always a challenge. Are you ready to except it? Are you ready and able to rewrite history in this real-time strategy game? Here's your chance to prove it!

• Mr Creosote recommends it with caution:

  Hannibal starts out very motivating, but it suffers from its limitations. The endless scouting of markets for mercenaries quickly becomes routine. The economy part is mostly facade, because you might as well not touch it at all and you'll still be equipped with more money than you'll ever be able to spend. The limitation of 10 armies at the same time reduces your strategic freedom. And last but not least: There is indeed only this one scenario! You can neither jump into the game on different historical dates, nor can you take over Rome's perspective. You're even restricted to always play against the relatively weak AI. Like so often, diversity is missing, and after one successful game, there is no reason left to play it anymore.

• Atebash remained neutral:

  This game is for tactical players only. It is slow paced, takes ages to see your army move from one place to another, while sieges take forever! The player also needs to take care of the state economy in order to raise funds for the army. Can you deal with all of that? Hannibal couldn't. He failed…

• Amiga Joker liked it:

  Schnelle Flucht ist auch bei vielen anderen Strategicals angeraten, wenn es um die Präsentation geht – hier gilt das genaue Gegenteil: Die feine Optik der hochauflösenden PC-Version wurde samt den zahlreichen Zwischenscreens beinahe 1:1 und flimmerfrei umgesetzt. Auch der Sound im Stile alter Hollywood-Schinken klingt genauso hübsch wie auf der DOSe. Nicht ganz so gute Noten verdient die manchmal etwas umständliche Maus, und ohne Festplatte stehen allerlei Wartezeiten ins Haus. Und dennoch, Hanni offeriert Bildschirm-Strategen wortwörtlich farbige Geschichte!