Everest (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 1.5 stars Poor
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 3.4 (1.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Scott Osborne
• Reviewed on: 04/16/2004
• Released on: 03/02/2004
• Originally published on GameSpot: Everest (PC) Review

Here's some brave hype: The front of the Everest game box proudly proclaims it to be "The ULTIMATE STRATEGY Game." Mount Everest may be the ultimate challenge for real-life climbers, but there's nothing ultimate about this mountain-climbing game, and there's hardly any strategy in it, for that matter. If Everest were freeware, it might be worth downloading for a pleasant little diversion, but it just doesn't hold up as a retail game. There's so little to it, and what it does offer is dull.

In Everest, you lead a group of climbers up simplified, tiny, cartoony versions of seven of the world's tallest peaks, like Mount McKinley, Kilimanjaro, and of course, Everest itself, unlocking them one by one with each successful climb. Before an ascent, you purchase the required number of climbers from a pool (the more skilled the climber, the more it will cost you). You then buy a single piece of equipment for each climber. (Apparently, carrying both an ice axe and first-aid kit would be too much of a burden on these rugged adventurers.) Along with buying equipment, you can pay for training that boosts three basic stats of individual climbers. After spending your allotted funds, you begin your ascent.

Each mountain is divided into several camps where your men replenish their stamina. Between each camp you face a few obstacles, which are just little patches of icy, rocky, or sheer mountain face where the actual climbing takes place. These are clearly marked on a mini-map, and the mountains are so small and simplified that there's no way to get lost, anyway. You control your little climbers from a third-person view and give them simple movement orders with mouse clicks. One click is all it takes to make a climber scale an obstacle. You don't control what equipment he uses, which footholds he selects, or anything like that--it's all simplified to the point of silliness, which equates to boredom.

In theory, Everest is a strategy game, but strategy implies tough choices and forward thinking. In that sense, Everest is barely a strategy game at all. The game usually gives you much more money than you need or can even spend. Time limits are equally generous: The game usually gives you about an hour for a climb, but a climb usually only takes fifteen or twenty minutes. Each obstacle has a different difficulty level for each climber, depending on its type, the climber's abilities, and so forth. In practice, though, almost any climber can scale any obstacle fairly easily. If he does get winded and start to struggle, you can just give him some oxygen or food to boost his stamina. Men can fall or get smacked by falling rocks, though that's rare and almost inconsequential; head injuries and broken arms barely slow these gutsy little guys down.

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