Graphics:
The graphics in Spaceward Ho! IV are fairly good. The game is run almost entirely with icons and menus, all of which is pretty basic. Ship images change with the type of ship and it’s design – which look decent. Planetary graphics are based upon the specs of that planet. Planets that have high gravity, are very hot, and that usually have lots of metal, appear as rocky, barren worlds. Planets that are closer to earth normal, appear blue and hospitable. Each planet you colonize gets a cowboy hat of some kind placed on it. Nice looking hats indicate that a planet is colonized and profitable. Planets that look kind of rough but have nice looking hats are colonized and hold the potential for profit, flat hatted planets are those that are inhospitable and will never be profitable. With these kinds of planets you usually just mine them and then abandon them.




Gameplay & Interface:
The interface for Spaceward Ho! IV is quite easy. Like I mentioned above, the entire game is based upon an icon system with a few dialog windows. The entire game is also played with a point and click interface, for example, to move your ships, you select which one(s) to move and then drag them where you want to go. Now, as for gameplay, once you figure it out, it’s not that tough but the game loses major points for having a terrible manual! If you haven’t played a previous version of Spaceward Ho! then forget about the manual because the entire thing assumes you already know how to play! The vast majority of the manual just outlines changes from the last game and then touches on some gameplay elements. It took me quite some time to figure out what to do and what things were. Once you figure this stuff out though, the game is quite easy to play (like I said, it’s just point and click and drag and drop).




Sound FX: Sound fx were decent in the game. You’ll hear a good amount of digitized speech and laser blasts when combat occurs. However, the game loses points because the sound fx often popped and weren’t as clean as they should’ve been.




Musical Score: — N/A – there was no music in the game.




Intelligence & Difficulty: The enemy in Spaceward Ho! IV can be rather devious and annoying. You won’t really notice this though until you begin to play on the higher difficulty levels. Once you do though, the game gets much harder almost instantly.




Overall: Spaceward Ho! IV is a pretty good game, overall. The game seems rather basic but it does have more detailed aspects to it. I would suggest the game to those who want an easy strategy game to play or an easy network game to play with their friends. More intense strategy gamers probably won’t be too challenged or interested by Spaceward Ho! IV though.