America: Westward Ho! Company: Data Becker Data Becker is soon to release a real-time strategy game entitled America. In it, you can play one of four sides -- the Native Americans, settlers, Mexicans, and outlaws. Each one has a different dynamic of play, but in the demo version, I could only play as either the Native Americans or the settlers. The Native Americans had Women who tended the fields and built the structures, and Warriors who chopped the wood and fought. There are also Arrowmen who can attack from afar. The settlers have a slightly different structure with the women tending fields and chopping wood and the men building the buildings. The core mechanics are very similar to most real-time strategy games -- movement, grouping, attacking, and whatnot. And while the setting is intriguing -- the Old West -- it takes more than an interesting setting to stand out in the current realm of real-time strategies. The demo was only a small sampling of the full game, and it remains to be seen whether America will be a unique game in the bevy of RTSs or one that we?ll forget about soon after release. -Sunfall to-Ennien, GameVortex Communications AKA Phil Bordelon