GameSpy: Utopia - Page 1

By William Cassidy | Aug 3, 2004

Eight years before SimCity, this remarkable Intellivision simulation gave players the chance to build a perfect society.

The term "Utopia" was coined in 1516 by Sir Thomas More, who gave the name to his fictional society that seemed perfect but really wasn't. The word has come to refer to any perfect society or social arrangement, but its literal meaning is closer to "no place" or "nowhere." Social commentators like Sir More will tell you that man is imperfect and incapable of creating a perfect society, so a real Utopia can never exist. But that didn't stop Mattel Electronics from building one in 1981.

Paradise Island

Utopia allowed Intellivision owners to take charge of a realistic island nation, allowing them to manage resources, control populations and administer all aspects of government from military to agriculture, using a turn-based but timed interface. The object of Utopia is to … well, build a Utopia, as measured by the collective well-being of the populace under your rule. This well-being is indicated by a point score and is influenced by such factors as security, housing, and food production. You can either play real-time against an opponent (who controls a second island), or try to beat your best score in a one-player game by achieving a greater degree of satisfaction among your populace. Despotism is not recommended.

Much like in real life, the key to success in Utopia is to use your money wisely. Gold bars finance your island empire. You use them to fund construction or agriculture projects, buy fishing boats, or to finance your military endeavors. You earn a certain amount of money with each turn, but can increase your income with wise investments in infrastructure. But you must also use your bankroll to supply the needs of your population and provide protection against rebels, pirates, and enemy attacks. There are even natural disasters to contend with.

Factories will be your major moneymakers as they provide a fairly large boost to your income each round they are in operation. However, factories require workers, and that requires a bigger population -- which brings its own needs. To be happy and productive, people require food, shelter, education, and health care. Therefore, expect to be planting crops, paying for fishing boats, and building schools, housing developments, and hospitals. Things can grow expensive quickly, but as the old saying goes, you have to spend money to make money.

Of course, your little Utopia faces more obstacles than simple financial matters, and many of them are found at sea. Your fishing boats are one of your best investments. Not only do they provide food and income, but they are one of the few resources under your direct control. You simply command that crops be planted or a factory built, but you can actually go fishing, searching out schools of fish to land a rich catch. Unfortunately, the seas surrounding your island are dangerous waters that sometimes contain pirate vessels, tropical storms, hurricanes, or enemy PT boats. Any of these hazards can sink your fishing boats, forcing you to plunk down 25 gold bars to commission a new one. Building PT boats of your own can protect your fishermen from enemy vessels; avoiding dangerous storms is more a matter of luck.

The other big danger facing your glorious vision of the future comes in the form of rebellious factions within your own population (Dissidents? In Utopia? Who'd have thought?) Rebels arise when you fail to provide adequate food and welfare for your growing populace. Rebel uprisings may also be funded by your opponent. They'll destroy your hard-built factories and hospitals unless you invest in a defensive fort. Uprisings can only be quashed through wise defensive and infrastructure investments that increase the well-being of your people, quieting their rebellious tendencies. Of course, you can always seek revenge later by funding rebels on your opponent's island.

A Pre-Sim Simulation

Considering the state of home video-game technology in 1981, Utopia is an astonishingly detailed simulation. After all, this was the era of simple shooters and arcade action contests with limited gameplay and graphical detail. Utopia's graphics are sparse but very clear, and its sound effects are amazing for its time, sprinkled as they are with realistic explosions and weather noises. It's the sheer number of variables and strategy options, however, that make Utopia such a remarkably deep and involved game. While it's quite simple compared to monster games like SimCity 4 and Civ 3, it's still rich in strategy and gameplay options. Not bad for a game that came out eight years before SimCity! And, even when compared to those huge titles, Utopia has a certain charm because of its comparative simplicity. It's complex, but not too complex.

Intellivision never dominated the home console market because it wasn't so strong when it came to those shooters and arcade action games, but in '81, it was the only console that could have handled a game like Utopia. Aside from having the processing power necessary for handling Utopia's many variables, the Intellivision hand controller's multi-button keypad put resource management literally at players' fingertips. Want to build a factory? Press the factory button. To deploy rebels, press the key labeled with a rebel soldier on the Utopia keypad overlay. It's hard to imagine a single-button controller like the Atari 2600's being used for a game like this.

Mankind may never build a flawless society, but as long as we have games like this distracting us, maybe it doesn't matter. Who needs a perfect social order? Utopia lets me decide who lives and who dies! Four-hundred and sixty-five years after Sir Thomas More coined the term, Mattel finally built a Utopian civilization that works.