SANDS OF FIRE 

 SANDS OF FIRE from Three-Sixty Pacific takes you to the scorching
deserts of Northern Africa, where you drive one of several Allied
tanks against the German forces of Erwin Rommel. SANDS OF FIRE lets
you drive the lead tank in a battalion of five tanks. You not only
control your own tank through the simulator, but also dictate the
formation and tactics of your teammates. (The IBM-PC version is
reviewed.) 

 Essentially, SANDS OF FIRE is a tank simulator in the same class as
TANK or M1 ABRAMS. The difference is that you aren't bothered with
the various electronic devices that dominate modern battle tanks. 
Nor is the terrain in SANDS OF FIRE as varied as that found in
Central Europe. SANDS OF FIRE also lacks the depth of either M1
ABRAMS or TANK. 

 In SANDS OF FIRE, you spend most of your time switching among three
different positions. The first position is the Driver's position. 
Here you steer the tank using two levers. Each lever drives one of
the treads. To go forward, you push both levers forward. To turn, 
you push one lever forward while leaving the other at a lower
speed. You can even "turn on a dime" by reversing one tread while
moving forward with the other. The driver's view is, unfortunately, 
a very small slit. So once your course and speed are satisfactory, 
you'll want to switch to the Commander's view. 

 In the Commander's view, you have a much wider view. You can also
load and fire the main gun or the machine gun from this view. Most
important of all, you can rotate the turret in order to scan your
surroundings or aim the gun. You will spend most of your time in
this view looking for the telltale signs of enemy tanks: a plume of
dust on the horizon. 

 The third view is the Gunner's Sight. This gives you an extremely
narrow magnified view. This is useful for long-range accuracy, 
though in practice, the movement of enemy tanks tends to be
magnified as well, making it hard to get a good shot off. 

 Of course, you don't just jump into your tank and drive off. 
Three-Sixty includes numerous scenarios for you to participate in. 
The first is a Training Ground. This will help you learn the tank
controls and hone your firing skills. 

 Once you are ready for the real thing, you may play one of six
different battles. Two of the battles feature U.S. tanks: Kasserine
Pass, and Tunis & Bizerte. The other four feature British Tanks: 
Taking of Tobruk, Operation Crusader, The Fall of Tobruk, and El
Alamein. 

 The battle you choose dictates the type of tank you drive and the
types of vehicles that oppose you. For instance, in Crusader, you
drive Crusader Cruisers. In Tunis & Bizerte, you drive M4 Shermans. 
You won't face any Tiger tanks in the early scenarios, but you
almost certainly will in later scenarios like Kasserine. 

 Finally, you may choose to play the entire campaign for either the
British or the U.S. side. This is simply the complete set of battles
linked chronologically. 

 Each battle consists of several engagements. At the beginning of an
engagement, you're shown your orders. First you're given your
overall objective for the engagement. This varies, from a delaying
action to a breakthrough. 

 You are also shown an overhead map of the battle area. Your
battalion is displayed, along with all of the enemy units. Your
assigned course and those of your opponents are shown, along with
any salient terrain features. Terrain is generally flat, but there
may be mines and escarpments. Headquarters and pillboxes may also be
present. 

 Once you are satisfied that you understand your orders, you click
on either the Commander or Driver, and the engagement begins. Your
first task is to tell your driver to head on course. For some
strange reason, your tanks _always_ start the engagement with a
northerly heading. It would've been more sensible to have your tanks
already aimed along the assigned course. 

 As you move, you can switch to an overhead map that displays the
position of all active units. This is the same map used to display
your orders. The game generally does a good job of simulating fog of
war, but this map tends to destroy that. The map is updated
throughout the engagement, so you can always find the enemy. In
terms of playability, this is very handy, as it is all too easy to
lose track of the Germans. But historically, it seems questionable. 

 As you move along, the terrain shifts and slides under your tank. 
This is difficult to discern clearly, however, as there is very
little detail to the terrain. The ground is ochre colored (in EGA), 
with occasional lines flashing and moving across the screen. It is
difficult to get oriented, and there are few cues to help you _see_ 
the terrain as you pass over it. Escarpments should be clear and
distinct, but often the only way you know you've been on one is when
you pass over and enemy tanks suddenly come into view. 

 You first spot the enemy as plumes of dust just over the horizon. 
As you draw nearer, small silhouettes come into view. As the enemy
vehicles get close, they become more detailed. Recognizing these
silhouettes is an important part of the game. Your tank carries
three types of ammo: High Explosive (HE), Armor Piercing (AP), and
White Phosphorous (WP). You must use the correct type of ammo on
each vehicle to be successful. 

 For example, only AP is effective against tanks. HE and WP will
work against infantry and lightly armored or soft targets, such as
half-track personnel carriers. You need to save your AP for hard
targets, as you have relatively little of it. Also, you are
evaluated at the end of each engagement based on choosing the
correct ammo type. 

 As you close with the enemy, your other tanks begin to fire and
maneuver on their own. This is where your choice of formation has an
impact. Each formation presents different fields of fire for your
battalion; these dictate the effectiveness of your unit in engaging
the enemy from various angles. Also, your own field of fire is
inhibited by the presence of your other tanks, so you must carefully
weigh the pros and cons of each formation. 

 For myself, the Leading Column was most effective, as it placed my
tank in front with clear fields of fire at all angles except the
rear. This maximized my own tank's effectiveness, though in many
situations it would be, historically, less than optimal. 

 Once engaged, play consists of moving your turret till you get a
good firing angle, letting fly, then quickly reloading and
re-aiming. This portion of the game requires arcade skills more than
anything else. You must lead your shots slightly, and be able to
quickly click the gun handle, shells, and fire button while also
tracking the turret in the proper direction. 

 You can attempt to shoot on the run, but as you might expect, this
is a chancy affair at best. Your tank tends to bump and wobble as it
moves, throwing your gun around and making any attempts to aim
nearly futile. Thus you usually want to get into range, stop, and
begin firing as the enemy tanks close with you. 

 After you wipe out the enemy, drive them from the field, or are
destroyed, the engagement ends. You are taken to an after-battle
report where your performance is summarized. This sequence is very
reminiscent of those used in most MicroProse games, down to the
awarding of various medals if you perform particularly well. Then
you are taken to a re-loading screen, and on to the next engagement
(or to a final screen if the battle or campaign is finished). 

 The graphics and interface of SANDS OF FIRE range from fair to very
good. The interior of the tank is sharp and uncluttered. The
exterior terrain is, however, far too drab, and presents a major
problem for those trying to orient themselves. The interface is
primarily mouse-driven, though the keyboard is supported. 
Unfortunately, the game usually exhibits some delays in reading
mouse input. In the heat of battle, this could become quite
irritating, as your click on the Fire button fails to register until
your gun is off target. With practice, this can be anticipated and
compensated for, but not completely. 

 SANDS OF FIRE supports VGA/EGA (320x200x16), CGA (320x200x4), and
Tandy graphics modes. It requires 640K RAM, and may be installed on
a hard disk. There is no copy protection of any kind. A mouse is
recommended, though it can be played from the keyboard. No
soundboards are supported. SANDS OF FIRE comes with 5-1/4" disks; 
3-1/2" disks are available for $5.00. 

 As a simulation, SANDS is fair. Your ability to control the other
tanks in your formation is limited. Your own tank is quite simple, 
and the controls do not vary from tank type to tank type. The use of
silhouettes is well done, though they tend to be blocky and
difficult to discern at some angles. In general, tactics go by the
wayside, and you'll focus mainly on rapid firing and re-loading. 

 Another oddity is that, while the notes stress the fact that the
Allies failed to use tanks properly through most of the war, the
game doesn't give you a chance to change this. You are always given
a lone tank battalion, even though you often face combined arms
forces consisting of tanks, artillery, and infantry. I would like to
see a game like this in which I had access to other unit types
besides tanks. 

 Also missing was the omnipresent Allied air power and artillery. 
Mines and pillboxes are present, along with the occasional infantry
men. But you're never given the pleasure of dealing with Italian
units. 

 Still, I found SANDS OF FIRE to be quite enjoyable as a pure game. 
Once I gave up worrying about its historicity, I enjoyed the
swirling confused tank engagements quite a bit. I did find the game
often had lulls where I wished some sort of time acceleration option
was available. I was also disappointed with the terrain algorithms
used. Finally, I would've liked the chance to play either side in
the game. 

 In summary, I recommend SANDS OF FIRE to would-be tank commanders
who are looking for a little fun without any serious brain strain. 
For those seeking a real tactical challenge, I suggest you wait to
see if MicroProse or Spectrum HoloByte releases a World War II tank
simulator with more meat to it. 

 SANDS OF FIRE is published by Three-Sixty Pacific Software and
distributed by Electronic Arts. 

*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253