Stratego

~ STRATEGO ~

Victor Musical Industries / Accolade / JPI

HuCard

1992

A lot of people, me included, look back on the Stratego board game quite fondly. For many of us, it served as a cool introduction to "strategic" gaming. But an introductory role and nothing more seemed, in my mind at least, to be what it was best suited for. After all, it's fairly rudimentary as far as thinking man's material goes, bearing greater resemblance to Memory than to Risk. Way back when, it was cool to command an army comprised of different kinds of soldiers, but nostalgia and the neatness of premise I perceived in my younger days were not going to make the PCE game work for me now. And when I powered it up and got a glimpse of its simplistic visuals, I was about ready to consider the effort a lost cause.

But this version of Stratego managed to rekindle my interest in the concept. There's nothing great about the graphics, but what's cool is that you can choose from a variety of very different boards and characters. Take fairy-tale beasts and send them up into outer space, or position modern armed forces atop a medieval battlefield. Or just stick with the tried-and-true dual-lake Stratego board with the good old game pieces you grew up with.

You get a handful of tunes to select from as well, and most of them are actually very good. And while there's no two-player mode (it simply could not work here considering the importance of secrecy in placing units), you can get a multi-round campaign going where the rules are changed up as you advance.

Best and most surprisingly of all, Stratego actually still stands tall as an enjoyable game. You'd think a fan of classic 16-bit titles like me would've remembered that "simplistic" oldies often contain more depth than they're given credit for, and the ones that were truly done right in the first place can offer tons of fun no matter how many years go by.