Warlords Battlecry III Review

In the realm of real time strategy games, the sequel is quite common. Successful and unsuccessful games often see the brand name go to at least one sequel, and many times even further, and most times, the latter games are somewhat lacking. But there are times when that is not the case, there are exceptions, and one of these in Warlords Battlecry III.

For those unfamiliar with this series, Warlords Battlecry III (I will refer to it as WB3 the rest of the way) is a real time strategy game set in a fantasy universe, where players can conduct battles, campaigns, and gain experience through battle for their character. Like many RTS games, WB3 includes the making of buildings, the recruitment of soldiers, the finding of materials, and the construction of new units, all in a fantasy setting. Players can select characters from a number of races, including many of the usual types seen in the fantasy milieu.

The game is laid out in a conventional manor, you first select a hero type, and there are quite a few to choose from, and then select a race. The selection affects the the attributes of the character, which include the standard things, fighting, agility, spell casting, that are so familiar in the fantasy gaming world. Once you have your hero named and have set the attributes, its time to begin your adventure. The hero is critical to game play, he will lead your armies, convert buildings to your side, and can be equipped with weapons, armor and can carry useful items for the game missions. The race selection is important for other reasons, as they usually lead their own races more effectively, and can complete some campaigns more effectively then can other races. There are a total of 15 different races to choose from, and each race is complete with its own units, technological research, and effectiveness.

The campaign is set up differently from WB 2, the game board is a world overview, in which you sail from place to place and carry out adventures. In these ports you often have a choice of moving on, hiring more forces for your permanent army, and weapon and armor upgrades and item purchases.A typical mission requires the hero to establish a base camp on an island or land mass, build up forces, and defeat a number of enemies lurking about, and either capture buildings or kill the enemies. Players might recall that in WB 2 the game board was set up by provinces that needed to be captured, but that isn't the case in WB3. During the missions, the characters might ask you to do side missions, such as clearing out bandits or protecting people, and if you do, you gain valuable allies in the quest, as well as good will. Some of these side missions are needed for the overall quest, others aern't. They do add a nice role playing element to the game however, and the quest is fun to play.

The combat system is fairly conventional, your hero and his party have formations, attitudes from defensive to aggressive and so on. The combat system has the standard life bars for units, and you can watch your forces fight it out in nice little animations. You can give separate target commands to units for distance and melee attacks, and use key board shortcuts to pick targets. The hero can find chests that include different kinds of weapons and armor to carry and equip, as well as health potions and magic potions to restore health and magic power. To succeed, you have to establish a base camp, begin building units, and be sure to upgrade them. The bad part is, this must be done in each part of the quest, so it does get repettative.

As far as the game interface is concerned, it is smooth and easy to use. The options are cleanly displayed, and a good tutorial is included that speeds players into learning how to play the game. The hero has a large number of options, as do the various buildings, which include for the buildings, upgrades, new unit types, and so on. The game's actual looks are a bit disappointing however. The units and terrain, while nice, are quite small, and no zoom is included, so it is hard to see good definition of them. The hero choice screen has a series of painted shields that give the game a nice flavor, but overall, the game has a somewhat old fashioned look to it, it would probably benefit it greatly if a new game engine was designed for it. The game includes multi-player options, and with the large number of factions and choices, it could be fairly popular along those lines.

This is a decent game, and if it was given a graphics facelift, probably could be top title. As a real time strategy engine, time seems to have passed this by somewhat. But fans of this genre should pick the game up, it certainly has a fine level of depth, and nice, easy game play. It will be interesting to see if there is a WB4, and if they finally get the AI to attack buildings instead of walls, a persistent problem in this series.