Cossacks: European Wars: Strategy First Strikes Again! Company: Strategy First I got a chance to play a demo version of the upcoming game, Cossacks: European Wars, developed by CDV and being released by Strategy First here in the States. The game takes place in 16th-18th century Europe, and you get to control various countries and engage in combat with the dastardly enemies. In the demo version, all you can do is play something of a ?skirmish? mission. There?s enough to get a nice sampling of the game, though. For one, the maps are huge and feel a lot less cramped than your typical real-time strategy game. The core building mechanic is also quite cool. You have a bunch of peasants, and they do your dirty work. They can build buildings, collect resources, and do repairs. It?s reminiscent of some of the oldest games in the genre -- Warcraft comes to mind -- but it?s much more refined. You can have lots of peasants work on a job or going into a mine or doing whatever you need them to do at that moment. The controls for finding the idle peasants are a little silly -- you have to click on the Town Hall first, unless there?s a shortcut key I don?t know about -- but it?s very handy to use. And there are plenty of different structures that you can build, such as blacksmiths, mills, and barracks. Almost every structure has some sort of improvements that can be done with them, although it costs resources -- in this game, Gold, Stone, Coal, and Food. Combat seems pretty standard for the genre, with a few different units at the beginning growing into more unique types as the game progresses. They?re promising massive, Kessen-style battles in the final product, which will be very nice. It takes a lot to stand out in the current crowded RTS market, but with enough solid gameplay to back up the good mechanics, Cossacks: European Wars has a chance. -Sunfall to-Ennien, GameVortex Communications AKA Phil Bordelon