Forward
I want to begin by...removing the elephant in the room: I did not review June's DOS Games Club game; MDK. This reason is very simple: I wasn't really a fan of the game.
This may seem odd, if I didn't like it, write about it! But I was on a time crunch, I had simply no time to really give it the deep dive it deserved. From what I understood about the game, it was quite a sophisticated game for it's time. At least, enough to warrant a sequel. But I was only able to sit with it for a few hours before getting stuck. But all to honestly I just...wasn't engaged with it as I thought I should.
There wasn't anything wrong with the game, per se. It simply didn't click with me and I didn't want to write a review based off of one half-assed session; so I've decided to just...pretend June didn't exist and move on to THIS month's game: Machiavelli the Prince
Shoutouts
Before we get in to the thick of it: a quick shout out to the DOS Games Club. I really enjoy the monthly game recommendations. I can't speak too much to their podcast, but it has it's fans and I'm generally a fan of the community. So if you're interested in monthly game recommendations and a community to discuss them; give them a read!
Further, I purchased a copy of the game from GOG.com, but since I'm running these games on real hardware, I found an archive of the original release that would work on my PC.
Also, these screenshots and a lot of background info comes from Mobygames.com, which I highly recommend you check out if you're interested in detailed Retro or even Modern game information.
Hopefully my recording rig gets situated soon so I can start recording my own gameplay and I can actually provide my own screenshots. But for now, another shoutout to MobyGames!
The Review
What's in a Name?
Machiavelli the Prince is a really hard game to spell. Originally released sometime in 1993 or 1994. It was developed by Holistic Design or HDI. HDI, originally founded as "Several Dudes Holistic Gaming" which is a word sandwich I'm not looking to eat, but I'm unable to nail down an actual release date for our version of the game we're talking about today.
Yeah, so Machiavelli the Prince isn't the original title. It was published by Quantum Quality Productions (QQP) as "Merchant Prince" in that 1993/1994 time frame.
However, in 1995, Microprose would release/publish it under a new name, Machiavelli the Prince for reasons I'm...not able to figure out. A few sources say that it's a remake of Merchant Prince and that tracks...I guess. Looking at some screenshots, you can see a few changes in the UI, maybe Machiavelli the Prince has better art? I honestly couldn't tell you objectively which is the "better" looking game here. They both look like crunchy DOS games which is an aesthetic I truly love, but I wouldn't be able to decipher which game "looks" better.
So to get everyone on the same page.
HDI, which is actually Several Dudes Holistic Gaming, developed Machiavelli the Prince, which was originally called Merchant Prince, which was Published by Quantum Quality Products in 1993. It was then remade/re-released by Microprose in 1995 and sold as Machiavelli the Prince. Got it? Good.
For the remainder of this review, we'll be talking strictly about the Microprose release of Machiavelli the Prince
But HDI, as a company worked on a handful of games. "The Prince" series being probably their most popular. But they did make a Warhammer 40k game which, in the late 90's was...not really a unique feat. Apparently anyone could get permission to make a game based on the Warhammer universe back then.
Nowadays, HDI or lives on working on their Tabletop Roleplaying games. Working with FASA, Noble armada and other companies to partner with and sell their popular Fading Suns Tabletop game which is pretty amazing to me. To go from a video game developer with a few pretty successful cult classic hits to Tabletop RPG Publisher and continue on that same path for all these years is a pretty amazing feat.
The same can't be said for QQP which had more than a couple of great DOS game and Amiga games published. But besides a few standouts, never had a breakout hit under their belt. So eventually, like so many other publishers and developers, they were bought out. Specifically by American Laser Games which made light gun type games in the mid 90's and it eventually was itself bought up by Her Interactive in 1999, sold that very next year to Digital Leisure Inc who still holds the company actively.
But QQP was spared that fate and was disbanded in 1995. I mean, I guess we can play "Mad Dog McCree" which is just Spaghetti Western DDR with a light gun or...Mouse if it's on DOS. Did DOS have a light gun? Asking Kagi, apparently not officially but there's NEW light guns being made the might work with DOS games. But whatever, let's do capitalism
Gameplay
Machiavelli the Prince, which, if you'll give me one mercy, I'll be annotating as MtP from now on. Is a Trading simulation set in the 14th century during the Golden age of Venice. You control a fancy hat wearin' pauper I'm sure, and it's your job to just generate as much cash, have as much influence and overall have the most power you possibly can. At least I think that's the goal. I didn't read the manual, nor did I look at what this game was, at all, before jumping right in. I tend to do that with games so I have a clean experience with them. But I will say that if you're interested in this game...probably have a look at the manual.
When starting a new game, you get to pick a variety of simulation settings. Number of turns, amount of other computers OR EVEN online play, which even in the original 1993 release was included and that's super dope. But once you're all set, you hop right in and depending on your difficulty, you'll have a variety of ships and land trading vessels to get you started.
To generate cash. You must partake in the oldest money-making venture of all time: Buy Low, Sell High.
Different Cities will have different goods available for sale, and what they want to buy.
mtpTrade.png
Not every city will want to sell ever/any good, and neither will they want to buy everything. I'm not sure, but I feel like the prices didn't fluctuate at all. So if they stay static over the years in the game, then committing the most profitable trade routes to memory will be key.
You roll up to the city, assuming it's "open". I wasn't able to figure out what opens or closes a city, or why...should have read the manual but whatever, you roll up to a city and see what they're Selling and Buying.
If you have inventory that they're willing to buy, you can sell it for however much they're paying. Or you can buy, adding items to either your Cargo or the Warehouse. I didn't use the warehouse much because I didn't understand it; again: manual.
Different units have different cargo capacity. The small, fast ships that can glide around the map only have a few slots for goods. While the bigger, slower cargo ships have much more. Making them more profitable on shorter runs.
So that's the gameplay loop. You buy goods from a City, go to another city and sell them. Buying goods from them, taking them back to another city and selling them. Wash, rinse repeat until time is up and final scores are tallied.
Well, there's a lot more to the game than that. But I'm a bit ashamed to say I didn't interact with many systems in the game at all by the time I was done with my first game.
The games subsystems are numerous. Religion is a key part of the game. Or at least, having the people you fund/agree with lead the Church and all of it's might in 14th Century Venice. Having control of the church will give you some sort of benefit, I'm sure...had I read the manual I would probably understand a bit more about how important it is.
There's also a political/senator system where you can bribe different politicians for a better favor. Again, I didn't interact with this system because...I didn't read the manual.
The one subsystem I DID interact with was the Mercenary system!
You can hire these hunky guys n' gals to defend against Pirates/Thieves/Bandits and all sorts of other things I'm sure! I used them effectively to deal with some Pirates hanging out in narrow waters that I needed to get to. They eventually attacked a local city, which my Mercenaries were close by and my guys were able to take care of them.
While buying different goods, the various cities have a supply/demand system baked in. If you buy a lot, they'll eventually run out of items to sell you. If you sell them too much, they'll just stop buying.
During my game play, Rome, just south of Venice, was all about Glass. They were paying quite the premium for it. But wouldn't you know it: Venice was selling glass for about a THIRD of what Rome was paying for it. So I had my Donkey guy buy up as much glass as he could carry, move it south to Rome and sell it for a massive profit. Rome was selling Grog which Venice was happy to buy at a more modest profit margin, but good none the less. This would be my most profitable trade route by far. There were others to be sure. But none quite as easy as this.
Eventually, I recruited a Camel guy to move MORE glass but eventually we tapped Venice dry of glass. We flew too close to the sun and become unsolvent.
Overall my game focused on building these lucrative routes and exploring the map as fast as possible. The map itself is massive and exploring the whole thing is quite the feat on to itself. However the world's waterways are broken up, so you can't simple use your starting ships to just explore the world. As you explore, you'll find cities that are on continents you haven't explored and have access to water you can't get to. So you buy yourself a camel guy and get to exploring that continent, finding more cities and eventually, a city on another body of water, from which you can purchase a shipping vessel to begin profiting from THAT ocean's demographics.
It's quite a lot and I would probably have fared a better change...had I read the manual...
But eventually my game came to an end. The Plague has spread around the world and I really wasn't sure what to do from there. Every city had the plague, so every time I wanted to enter a city it would ask "Are you sure you want to enter? It's got plague, you know" so I wouldn't go in. So I was just kind of...stuck.
But overall, I would say MtP has a very satisfying 4x style gameplay loop. Where you're not just sitting around, racking up points. You have to actively explore and expand your markets because you're opponents are also buying and trading right along with you. Eventually that Roman Glass trade would dry up, as all of the NPCs would buy up all of the glass and creating a market that was annoying to participate in. So you have to be pushing to new places to secure stable income.
Sound
MtP has a great soundtrack. It's not groundbreaking at all. But it's definitely enough to keep you in the mood. My expectation was a lot of classical music, but I was quite happy with the selection of tracks that "Sound" like they would fit in to the time period, but aren't tiring to listen to.
Like a lot of DOS games, they track names are...unique.
Some of my favorites are;
and of course the classic
If you're interested, give your ears something to chew on at this Youtube compilation of the OST!
Beyond that, there's not much to say. It stands out as being clean, it feels big and doesn't have much in the way of uncomfortable or piercing shrill tunes. Most of the tracks would fit right in to the background of a classic book club.
In the Media
MtP was well received on Release and has mostly positive reviews. Joystick, a French Publication, said it was good, but felt that games went on too long if you were playing with lots of real people. Which...yeah I can see that being a pain.
The PC Gamer review I want to highlight, because it claims that HDI "Then going by Holistic Dudes" had a falling out with QQP which got the original game Pulled from shelves and re-released as MtP which...threw a wrench in to my research because nowhere else can I find evidence of this happening. So I don't know what Willian Trotter was on, but if you're reading this, Will, email me and explain yourself.
Other publications gave it high marks with lots of praise. But overall the game was praised as being "Pretty great, if you like trading simulators". Notably, it was Runner Up in Computer Gaming World's Strategy Game of the Year, which went to Master of Orion...which yeah I can see. That's a game I'll have to get to soon.
Conclusions
Would I recommend MtP? Absolutely.
Something I want to highlight is that I was able to kind of sort of play sub-optimally and keep myself in the game without ever reading the manual, or really getting in to any of the sub systems. They exist and are probably balanced and I'm sure helpful. But the game itself is designed in such a way that you don't need hand holding. I had no clue what this was. Getting in to the game, figuring out what in the holy hell I was meant to be doing only lasted a few moments. The UI is well done and screams "BUY/SELL STUFF" and that's just what I did.
If you like trading simulators with LOTS of depth. A kind of game that will require you to really think about your turns and playing three steps ahead of yourself, I do highly recommend it.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this short review. If you did, please consider sending me an email to the link in my nav bar! I'd really appreciate it. I don't have any comments, nor do I do any affiliate marketing or anything like that. This is a simple website for simple people. So letting me know you enjoyed it is one way of keeping in touch!
Thanks again to the DOS Games Club for picking a great game. I'll be back...hopefully, in August for the next one! If you're interested in trying it out. Good Old Games (GOG.com) has it on sale until the July 31st, 2024 for a whopping $3.84. So for less than the price of a McDonalds Hash Brown (god help us all) you can get quite a few days/weeks of fun out of this!
If you're interested in watching some classic Retro games, I stream over on Twitch on Sundays from 7PM Eastern Time to 11PM Eastern. I've been on a FMV Medical Game kick lately and been having a lot of fun bumbling my way through a variety of operations and big words I don't know.
This is Dad, asking that you make sure you do better than you did yesterday. Because tomorrow You is counting on it.
