Review by: Pete Hines
Published: April 3, 1998

The United States Marines. Perhaps the most elite fighting force in the entire world. If you’re in a battle, you’d better hope and pray that they’re on your side. Semper Fi from Interactive Magic is a turn-based strategy game that allows you to take control of Marine forces in a number of different campaigns and scenarios. Lead the Marines through a number of pre-created battles or create your own with the custom scenario builder. You can even customize the way your computer opponent will play using an AI editor.

You have a choice of one of three campaigns, each of which takes place over a number of days, or several stand-alone scenarios. Like most turn-based military strategy games, Semper Fi uses a combination of damage (kills vs. losses) combined with victory hexes to determine the winner in any given scenario. Campaigns link together multiple scenarios whereby you carry over units from one portion of the game to the next. You also receive reinforcements between each scenario, so that campaigns can differ from one time to the next depending on how well you use your units. Success in one scenario may mean your failure in the next because you don’t have the troop support necessary to complete subsequent scenarios (i.e., win the battle but lose the war).

In each mission you will have control of soft (infantry) and hard (mechanized) units, helicopters, anti-tank units, and off-map support (i.e., naval bombardments). The manual describes how effective each unit is in defending against and attacking enemy units depending on the type of each unit involved and the terrain of the defending unit. Other elements can also play a factor. If you or the enemy has popped smoke, that might affect either side’s ability to see their target. Morale also plays an important part in a unit’s effectiveness, and a unit can be rated as normal, disrupted, disorganized, demoralized, or panicked. The states represent a deterioration of readiness and fighting ability, which in turn determines how well the unit can attack and defend.

You can either attack units individually or as a group. All of the units under a leader’s command can coordinate their fire on a particular hex, which makes the fire that much more deadly, because several friendly units can be located, or stacked, in the same hex. When this happens, all the units of the same type in the hex being attacked will share the damage, rather than one unit taking it all. You can fire at a unit from afar, provided they are within your range and line-of sight (i.e., not obstructed by a mountain, etc.). There is also a “close” maneuver, where the attacking unit literally tries to enter another adjacent hex. If the attack is successful, then any defending unit(s) will be driven from the hex and the attacking hex will move in and occupy the hex.

Aerial support in the way of helicopter units can also be particularly effective if the enemy units you are trying to eliminate have poor anti-aircraft capabilities. As a result, bringing in a Cobra against such squads would be of limited risk while perhaps having great benefits. In addition to the direct combat that takes place between two or more units on either side, indirect fire can also be used in the form of mortar units and the aforementioned off-map units. This is like calling in an air strike or naval bombardment on a particular location before moving in with your ground troops. When properly coordinated, it can have a devastating effect on the enemy.

Semper Fi allows the player to control units at the most basic levels, commanding squads and individual units instead of much larger groups of units. For the scenarios you can choose to play as either the Marines or OPFOR, which represents whatever army is opposing the Marines in that particular scenario. The game is based around turns, with multiple phases taking place in each turn. Each side gets to move during each phase and the order is determined by which side gains the initiative. Units are moved around the map through a simple point-and-click interface. Rather than allowing the computer to decide the path between two locations on the map, you can actually determine the exact path each unit will take while moving.

One of the reasons this is important is that there are certain types of terrain where enemy units can hide. You can’t see them or uncover them until you either fire or attempt to move into that hex (i.e., guessing that an enemy unit is there). So, you might want to specifically move through some hexes to be sure no infantry units are hiding there. In addition, you might want to avoid some hexes in order to stay out of the way of opportunity fire from an opposing unit. This is much like a defensive mode, where units with extra movement points can fire at enemy units that come within view. Therefore, carefully plotting your course can allow you to keep your units out of harm’s way until you are ready to initiate combat.

Beyond that, the game is pretty simple and straightforward. Semper Fi does come with a couple extra bonuses that allow players to customize play. First, an AI setting program allows you to alter up to 20 AI variables that determine how the enemy units move. These variables determine how likely an enemy unit will be to attack you, move towards a victory hex, or other such actions. The program explains how adjusting the setting will alter the way the computer plays, and making changes is as easy as moving the slider bar. Also, the game has a scenario editor that allows you to custom design a scenario. This includes creating the terrain for the map, the location and importance of the victory hexes, and what units each side will have available. Multiplayer is supported through LAN, TCP/IP, modem, and serial connection for two players.