Midwinter - SpeedyLook encyclopedia

Scenario

The history of Midwinter starts in 2036, when a meteorite strikes the Earth and that raised dust hides the sun during several years, creating one permanent winter. A handle of survivors finds refuge on an unknown island, probably formed by the archipelago of the the Azores after the rise of the sea level. The increasingly many colonists start to organize survival there, in particular by building geothermal power station to be used as energy source. However, a group of new arrivals fits with difficulty on the island, and starts to be militarized. The play starts when the captain John Stark, chief of the force of peace of the free villages (a kind of police force), intercepts a radio message which prevents it imminent invasion of the militarists directed by the autocratic Masters general starting from Shining Hollow.

John Stark begins the play in a covered with snow valley, with ski, with an enemy patrol of buggys of snows which attacks it.

System of play

The play has two principal environments: displacements and combat are played in scenes in real-time and 3D, and the other actions (sabotage of enemy buildings, recruitment of new characters, consultation of the chart…) are managed in menus with icons where time passes according to the played actions (for example, to take a meal takes half an hour, to restock themselves with ammunition five minutes).

Displacements

Displacements are done with the first anybody, in various means of transport. Piloting is done by defect with the mouse, but it can also be done with the keyboard or the joystick. Displacements tire the character, who must rest from time to time under penalty of falling, to be wounded and lose his vehicle. It can be also wounded while being made attack by enemies or while moving too quickly in rough ground.

The means of transport per defect is the Ski, that any nonwounded person can practice. The ski is slow means of transport, and tiring, especially in rise and flat ground, but it is also the least dangerous. In Midwinter, a skier is armed with grenades, a weapon with very short range, but it is also possible to stop to fight with the Rifle with telescopic sight, with a different interface. It is also possible to draw since a tree, a church or a Casemate for a better protection or a better visual angle.

The buggy of snows is a fast vehicle but which is likely to be crushed in rough grounds. It is armed with Missile S with homing device, at the same time ground-to-air and ground-to-ground. To lead one of them, it is necessary to find one in a garage of them. The player can lead three types of buggies: the Fox is fastest, but the least roomy and transports missiles little, the Wolf is heaviest, and the Cat is intermediate.

The Téléphérique is simple means of transport, which make it possible to assemble or descend directly a mountain. The stations of cable car go per pair, one in top and one in bottom. The player does not direct the cable car but can look at around during the crossing, or jump the voyage directly.

The Deltaplane is the only air means of transport. Its piloting requires dexterity and is tributary of the ascending and downward currents. It is armed only with air-to-air missiles and cannot thus attack the armies of Masters. One finds it in the stations of cable car in top of the mountains.

Adversaries

At the beginning of part, the player can choose the type of opposition which it will meet in the play. Three options are available: whether the buggies of snows enemies are armed or not, that it uses bombers or not, and that it has mortars or not.

The troops on the ground of the Masters general are made up of buggies. In addition to the Foxes, Cats and Wolves which the player can also lead, these troops employ Bears (not armed fuel cisterns), Oxen (of transport of ammunition not armed) and of the Witches, who are the command vehicles whose destruction causes the dissolution of a whole group of buggies. The enemy buggies are organized in divisions, which attack the player with blows of missiles when they meet it, and which seize the free villages that they cross.

The bombers and mortars are optional. They attack the player in his displacements, even if there are no troops in the surroundings. The attacks of mortars are preceded by the appearance of a reconnaissance aircraft, whose destruction prevents the bombardment by the mortars.

Characters

At the beginning of the play, the player controls only the captain John Stark. But a score of other characters are disseminated in villages on the chart; by visiting them, the player can convince of new characters to join him. Each character can act independently, and has his own clock; when the player spends time to make act a character, time does not pass for the others. The clocks are synchronized every two hours of time of play, which makes it possible to avoid a too great shift between two characters.

Each character has a list of competences which determines its strong points and its weak points. He has also more or less good relations with each other character, who imports for the chances of recruitment: for example, the captain John Stark is noted excel in control of buggy, good in ski, but only poor in sabotage; he thus needs much dynamite and time to destroy an enemy building. Its history specifies that he is the friend of the Rudinski pilot, therefore he will be able to recruit it automatically when he meets it.

The characters can be wounded with the head, the arms, the legs and the chest when they undergo an accident. These wounds obstruct them in their displacements, and of the serious wounds with certain members prevent from employing certain means of transport. Each character however has a rocket of distress which enables him to be found at the village nearest, but there is a chance so that the weather is found thus been captive by the enemy.

Buildings

Many types of buildings are isolated, or gathered in villages on the island. Each one has its own utility. When the enemy crosses a village, it captures certain buildings and is unaware of the others: the capture of centers of police force makes it possible to imprison characters whom the player did not recruit yet, the capture of factories, warehouses and units of fuel synthesis improves the performances of the enemy troops, and captures it geothermal power stations by the enemy brings the player closer to the defeat. The characters of the player can, them, to use these buildings to arm themselves in dynamite and ammunition, to find means of transport, or to rest. It is also possible to dynamite the buildings taken by the enemy. There exist also several radio stations on the island, which are used by the Masters general to scramble the communications of the resistant ones. The player, if it destroys all the enemy radio stations, can communicate again and thus to recruit of only one blow all the remaining characters. He can also bring one of the characters, professor Kristiansen, in a free radio station so that he passes above jamming and recruits three characters by chance.

Conditions of victory

Several ends are possible in Midwinter. The player can lose if the troops of Masters seize all the geothermal power stations of the island (or if the player dynamite, moreover). He can gain if, without losing the power stations, he succeeds in resisting 40 days, if he destroys all enemy divisions, or if he dynamites the enemy general headquarter with Shining Hollow. Some critical stress that it is easy to sink from the beginning towards the enemy HQ and to dynamite it, without worrying about the recruitment of other characters or the destruction of the enemy troops.

Reception

Generally, the play was very appreciated by the specialized press. The play obtained the note of 18/20 in Tilt (n°76) and 96% in Génération 4 (n°20)

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