''Broadsides'' is a 1983 videogame that simulated naval combat in the

Age of Sail The Age of Sail is a period that lasted at the latest from the mid-16th (or mid- 15th) to the mid- 19th centuries, in which the dominance of sailing ships in global trade and warfare culminated, particularly marked by the introduction of naval ...

for the

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...

, and

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

. Giant warships circled each other, waiting for the best time to unleash a

broadside Broadside or broadsides may refer to: Naval * Broadside (naval), terminology for the side of a ship, the battery of cannon on one side of a warship, or their near simultaneous fire on naval warfare Printing and literature * Broadside (comic ...

upon the enemy. Cannons could be loaded with various types of

ordnance Ordnance may refer to: Military and defense *Materiel in military logistics, including weapons, ammunition, vehicles, and maintenance tools and equipment. **The military branch responsible for supplying and developing these items, e.g., the Unite ...

; cannonballs to destroy the hull, chain shot to destroy the

sail A sail is a tensile structure—which is made from fabric or other membrane materials—that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may ...

s, and grapeshot to kill the enemy crew. One could also close with the enemy ship and attempt to board their ship. This aspect of the game played a lot like rock-paper-scissors, where the player controlled one crew member and which sort of attack he made with his sword. This was compared against the enemy attack, and the results were used to decrease the crew count on one side. Once one side's crew was all dead, the other side was the victor. The game also offers a simplified, arcade-combat mode in which the player fights an endless number of enemy ships.

Reception

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...

'' in 1983 stated that ''Broadsides'' "is an excellent depiction of ship-to-ship combat". It cited the "superb" combat display, good graphics, user-designed scenarios, and the choice of tactical or arcade combat as highlights. In 1990 the magazine gave the game five out of five stars, stating that it had "vast entertainment value" and "remains the standard". In 1993 the magazine gave it three-plus stars, stating that "it remains the standard ... this writer still plays it on an Atari 800".

References

External links

Atari manual for the game
(HTML) 1983 video games Apple II games Atari 8-bit family games Commodore 64 games Naval video games Strategy video games Strategic Simulations games Video games developed in the United States {{strategy-videogame-stub