Westward II: Heroes of the Frontier

Westward II: Heroes of the Frontier, like its predecessor, is another real-time strategy game set in the old west. As one of three characters, the player has to build and maintain a frontier city while extracting natural resources, solving problems and avoiding threats.

The three hero characters at the start are stereotypes from the genre: Marion Morrison is a farmer that was forced to leave his property behind by criminals. Selecting him gives the windmill construction plans for free. Maureen Fitzsimmons is the rich daughter of a banker that decided to set off on her own. Playing with her unlocks bank construction. Terrance Stevens is an experienced trapper and mountaineer, and using him gives the trading post at no cost.

As before, the player controls the citizens of the city by selecting and dragging a line from them to an object, animal, building, other human or a place to go. This time, the game has 3D graphics and the player can alternatively just left-click on a character, or drag a box and select group, and right-click on the way point.

Available housing makes settlers appear spontaneously to live on the city. There are four main resources: gold, wood, food and water. A few of these resources can be found scattered on the terrain, and can be collected directly using any citizen. To accumulate the necessary large quantities, the player has to build facilities to prospect, harvest or grow on logical places. Gold mines can be built over inconspicuous rocks streaked with golden veins. Wood huts have to be erected near a forest to fell trees and process logs more efficiently. Farms grow crops and produce food, and wells give access to underground water.

Buildings show hammer icons when selected, indicating the number of workers employed on them. Each construction costs a combination of basic resources. Citizens need housing and consume a certain amount of food every few seconds. If there's a shortage of these resources, the happiness level of the populace plunges, and people start to leave the town. The bottom interface has a satisfaction meter that shows their current status.

Sometimes the settlement is threatened by thieves, armed bandits and other criminals. Law can be enforced by hiring gunslingers, and later more permanently by building a sheriff's office. The main character can shoot and construct, but can't work on any building.