Producer: PSS
Retail Price: £7.95
Author: John Bethell

This reconstruction of one of the bloodiest battles of World War II's South Pacific campaign is the latest in the Strategic Wargames series vas began with Falklands 82. It uses a system similar to that of its predecessor with full map display at all times, five levels of difficulty, phased order sequences and a game design that follows the PSS philosophy of 'playable' games - games that do not take more than a couple of sessions to complete.

As he did with Falklands, the author has willingly sacrificed some authenticity for the sake of playability. There is logic to this move. A detailed simulation of the conflict would definitely have strained the limits of a Microdrive based game, let alone one on cassette. The game still tries to cover the battle in reasonable depth, however.

The package is simple, consisting of a small cassette case and a booklet of instructions. Loading takes no more than a couple of minutes and once the program is in memory, the first of the aesthetic improvements to Bethell's game system becomes obvious. Everything is menu driven: the player only ever needs to use three keys. In a wargame, there's no reason why this cannot always be the case, as the increase in the speed of interaction between player and computer allows straightforward implementation of a strategy.

All the game functions, from setting the difficulty level to choosing a unit to order and the orders themselves (Move, Attack, Land, Pass) are simply selected from information windows and confirmed. All relevant information on the unit currently selected is also displayed in an information window using an abstract points system. Units have an aggression factor, defence factor, movement factor and a range factor, all of which affect combat ability.

The player (as there is no two player option) must always take the side of the American forces, with the objective of eliminating all the enemy units between turns 32 and 36 (depending on the difficulty level set). The enemy may fortify positions, make suicide attacks if a unit is about to be wiped out and launch air attacks against the carrier force bringing reinforcements and artillery support to your units. As long as the offshore fleet is well defended, weather permitting, you may launch air strikes against the enemy.

Initially, the player must establish a beach head with the first of his units (reinforcements arrive throughout the game) and there are six beaches which may act as landing sites. Many of them are penned in by minefields and so a careful choice must be made as to which units land where. There is no restriction on the number of beaches that may be used, so long as units are not stacked in the same area.

That really sums up the game. Getting into Iwo Jima is an extremely simple process, no doubt because it was designed with beginners in mind. And this brings up the question of why PSS include arcade sequences on their more 'serious' games and yet exclude them from these introductory efforts. Not that I am advocating their use at all - but it does seem rather strange. There is some animation in the game, however. Air strikes by either side are rather crudely depicted by a simple aircraft silhouette that passes over the target area.

There are faults with the system. Air strikes can only be called either after an attack by ground forces or by a unit that deliberately tries to attack whilst out of range. This really could have been made neater. The limited intelligence used in the game seems to be affected only by proximity and not by terrain. Because the designer has decided to make the whole island visible during play, the display size of the units is very small indeed and when several units are in close proximity, this can lead to confusion.

I can see this game appealing to those who feel daunted by some other companies' more complex offerings and would still like to venture into the area of wargaming. I must stress that its appeal for the more experienced player is likely to be very limited. Because of the way the author has changed historical details in the name of playability, anybody looking for an accurate means of simulating the battle is likely to be very disappointed with this game.

For all that, the final result is playable and PSS are not demanding that you break the bank to obtain a copy. Someone just looking for a way to pass a couple of hours at the keyboard without wanting to risk a migraine may get something from Iwo Jima. For anyone else, steer clear. It probably won't be worth it.

PSS
£7.95

Gung-ho heroics or a futile waste of life? in the abstract sense Iwo Jima, like all battles in all wars, was really the latter, but in the context of World War Two it was a major strategic move to secure victory in the Pacific.

Anybody who saw the Falkland's game will recognise the style. You have a set time, depending on level, to clear the island. Giving commands is eminently simple - it's all done with three keys - 1 and 3 scroll the options while 2 selects. There's no need to take units in the order they're presented, though this can become rather tortuous as you have to reject earlier units.

Limited information is important; you won't discover that field gun until you're right on top of it. It's a slow, methodical sweep across mainly mountain and scrub terrain with delays as you encounter heavily fortified positions.

While the small scale map means that everything is on screen all of the time, it also keeps everything fairly simple. As with its predecessor this could be a good introduction to the genre for any prospective arm-chair general though it's unlikely to provide established tacticians with a major challenge.

Label: PSS
Price: £7.95
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: Gary Rook

If you've ever wondered what it's like to leap out of a landing craft, charge up a sandy beach and hack your way through thick jungle, never knowing when you've going to blunder into some violent enemy yelling 'Banzai!', then PSS's latest wargame, Iwo Jima, probably isn't for you.

On the other hand, if you're looking for a decent strategy game which is going to test your military capabilities, then it probably won't be your cup of tea either.

It's not that Iwo Jima is a bad game as such - the implementation is really pretty good - it's just that there's nothing very inspiring about it. Just like the original battle, in which the US marine corp suffered hideous casualties invading the Pacific island heavily fortified by the Japanese, it's sheer unrelenting slog.

The playing area is about 60 characters by 25, and shows the island and surrounding waters. Water is blue (surprise!), scrubland is yellow, mountains are green and airfields are purple; also marked on the map are villages, quarries and minefields.

At the beginning of the game, you choose one of five levels: easy, moderate, hard, difficult or masochistic.

In the first turn you have to land ten units, each of which can be put ashore on any one of five invasion beaches. Your troops - the marines - are white squares with black symbols indicating type. To begin with, you have eight infantry units and two of tanks, but later you also get some artillery.

To order your troops, you either use a joystick or the 1, 2 and 3 keys. Left/right and 1 or 3 cycle through the various orders you can give your units, and fire or 2 actually commits you to doing something. Orders are Attack, Move or Pass (and at certain times, Land.) if you Move, the computer asks you in which direction, until the unit has used its movement allowance or you choose to have it stop. Tanks move further than infantry and artillery, and terrain is taken into account.

Once you've landed, some - but not all - of the Japanese forces will be revealed, either because your troops can see them or because the computer has decided to attack with them. Japanese land forces are shown in pink, and are either infantry, artillery, tanks or strongpoints. Some of them are very tough indeed.

All units on the board have an attack factor, a defence factor, a movement factor and a range as well as a unit identification. When a unit suffers damage, its attack factor is reduced: when it reaches zero, it ceases to exist.

If you order one of your units to attack, the computer will pick a Japanese unit in range and start flashing it in inverse video, at the same time asking if this is the unit you want to attack. Be careful as it's quite happy to ask you if you want to attack a unit and then, when you say yes, tell you it's out of range - which means that your unit loses its turn.

Unfortunately, the Japanese have bombers which attack your ships; although they are eventually shot down, they can damage your battleships and make them less effective. Similarly, there is a Japanese submarine which pops up and sinks your gunships. What's more, if it's stormy and the seas are rough, you can't land troops or use your gunships.

So far I've beaten the computer on the easy level, but got slaughtered on Level 3. To be quite honest, though, I wasn't really that fussed. I don't think I'll be taking my holidays on Iwo Jima.

MACHINE: Spectrum/CBM 64
SUPPLIER: PSS
PRICE: £7.95

At Iwo Jima in World War Two there was only one kind of Japanese casualty - the dead. Of the 22,000 defending the island against American invasion only 216 finally surrendered. In this PPS game the player, taking the Americans, must land and wipe out all opposition.

Designer John Bethell has employed the same game mechanism as for his Falklands 82. It is a slow, plodding system, and works better at representing the grim advance of the US Marines across the island than the British manoeuvres in the Falklands.

But it hardly makes for a challenging or exciting game.

The key to winning is controlling indirect fire from aircraft and ships off shore. But to accomplish this the computer offers the player as a target, for each of his own units, every one of the twenty or so Japanese units on the island in turn. For a game lasting 30 turns set aside a whole afternoon - there is no save mechanism.

To compensate for this awkward playing mechanism the designer has had to ignore historical realism to speed the game up a little.

The American force is cut to about a third of its true size, the Japanese defence randomised, and an improbable Japanese submarine added to the game.

The result is not much like Iwo Jima, but the slow grind to destroy all enemy units gives a fair idea of what Marine tactics in the Pacific had to be.

Iwo Jima is released as part of the Strategic Wargames Series (an odd title, the game has little to do with strategy) the idea of which is to provide beginners with an easily played wargame at a low cost.

Fair enough, but there's no reason why beginners should be taught bad habits which they will only have to un-learn later.

PSS
£7.95

Every regiment or fighting unit takes inordinate pride in battles in which they have distinguished themselves. In the case of the US Marines, one of their finest hours was undoubtedly when they captured the island of Iwo Jima. It was an extremely bloody battle with some 24,000 American casualties over the 36 days of battle. Because of their reluctance to surrender, only 216 Japanese troops survived from an original garrison of 22,000. In this beginner's level wargame from the author of Falklands 82, you play the part of the American forces as you attempt to eliminate every single Japanese unit within a certain number of game turns (this varies according to the skill level selected).

The game starts with all your forces offshore and you must land them at one of five beaches. As you land or move the position of any Japanese forces that are within range are revealed. Not all your units land at turn one Reinforcements are available from turn three providing the seas are calm. Control of your forces is done entirely through three keys, Keys 1 and 3 scroll through your options whilst key 2 selects a specific action. The three basic commands are land, move and attack.

Each unit is assigned four different values. These are an aggression factor which reflects firepower, morale and the reputation of the unit and a defence factor which indicates how well the unit can look after itself and is also dependent on the current terrain - it is easier to defend a mountain than open land. Movement determines how far a unit can travel in a particular turn, again terrain dependent whilst range indicates how far away an enemy force can be before you can attack it. When attacking an enemy unit, you can also summon up supporting naval gunfire in certain situations and it is advisable to concentrate this initially on the Japanese coastal batteries.

Iwo Jima is an excellent introduction to the noble art of wargaming. It is very simple to play and provides a reasonable challenge. Experienced wargamers will no doubt prefer something a bit meatier though.