Addictive, but can get amazingly hard if not played right.
Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 8/10
Value: 10/10
Tilt: 10/10
The review:
This was one of my favorite PC games and I love it on the SNES. Basically, you control an ant colony that is trying to prosper in a man's backyard and house, all while fighting off the evil red ants. You need to collect food, dig a nest, spread, and avoid the human. All the while you are a yellow ant, and can be one of the three classes: worker, soldier, or breeder. The worker is your basic ant, the soldier is stronger but eats up energy more quickly and cannot "nurse," which is a very small part of the player's game, and the breeder doesn't do much. The scenario game also adds some variety; you try to accomplish certain goals for an ant colony within a year, split up into eight sections.
In the full game, you start in one square of the yard with just the queen and you. You collect food and dig your nest until more ants are born, when they do it for you. The game features an auto-control system that tells your colony how much time to spend on each task and which types of ants to breed, based on its needs, or you can set the tasks yourself. All the time the red ants are growing and spreading, too, so you must watch out for that. Once you have enough ants, you can call some to attack the red ant base with you, wiping them out from the area. Also, once you have a certain number of ants in your colony, you can spread. This continues until you eventually rule the yard and house.
The ant colony controls are simple, and the gameplay can be learned between 15 and 30 minutes. This game was also one of the few to use the *SNES Mouse,* which I thought added some extra control.
The graphics are basically what is to be expected of the SNES and the era this game came out it; I think it is stupid to rate graphics based on what the standards are now. The music is odd, but somehow fits, and the beats are strangely addictive.
Now for the game's problems. The very biggest problem is the red ants. The are constantly growing and spreading just as you are, and usually grow slightly to moderately faster. Growth for them is also exponential, because once they get a new colony in a new square, it simultaneously grows and spreads, and will accomplish YOUR goal very quickly. You must pay careful attention to their population to prevent them from spreading. Your colonies, on the other hand, need to be started by you in order for them to run by themselves. Since you may spend hours just clearing your first square, you amy make it to the second square with the yard infested by red ants, making the game virtually impossible to complete without starting over. Also, sometimes so many ants are in one square that the game slows down. Saving times for the game are EXTREMELY long (sometimes over 5 minutes!), probably because of the huge size of the game. Load times are quick, though.
This has probably just been long and boring, and you may not even understand much about the game. This is one game you MUST experience for yourself so you can form yor own opinion, not just because I can't describe it very well, it is unique and interesting. Whether on SNES, PC, or even an... emulator, it is a must-play.