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Warrior Kings Review October 24, 2003 Jakub Wojnarowicz |
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Summary: Brett takes a stab at Black Cactus' RTS title set in an alternate medieval world. Does it have enough good gameplay to draw him in, or was it uninstalled faster than you can say 'Give me back my Excalibur'? Read on to find out!
 Warrior Kings: Battles | Page:: ( 1 / 5 ) |
New package, old game
While Warrior Kings: Battles appears as familiar as an old friend, the real-time strategy game often seems like a stranger, even after many hours of play. Part of this problem could be chalked up to developer Black Cactus' devotion to traditional RTS gaming, complete with lots and lots of resource gathering and the necessity of hurling massive armies against the enemy. We've all seen this sort of thing many times before, so it's hard to get excited about yet another epic battle that begins with vigorous wood chopping.
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It's equally hard to understand why developers continue to structure games like this. Strategic depth is preferable to dumb-as-dirt clicking. Nobody wants to stage one tank rush after another until the computer cries Uncle. But while it's great to find a game that isn't just frenetic map-scrolling and herding troops with a cursor, that doesn't mean action should be an afterthought. Depicting the prelude to battle as more important than the actual battle may be true to medieval life, though it certainly isn't a hell of a lot of fun to see realized on your monitor. If these guys had made Gladiator, the opening sequence would have told us about Roman farming methods.
Boring people sign up here
Still, accountants, civil servants, and others for whom the conventional and routine are staples of life will really appreciate what has been accomplished here. Okay, that may be overstating the case. But Warrior Kings: Battles does a great job of jazzing up the usual stuff while not changing things so much that wizened Age of Empires addicts will scratch their heads. Consider this the gaming equivalent of a trip back to your home town after Daddy's farm has been bulldozed for a strip mall—almost everything is still right where you left it, although nothing quite feels the way that it used to feel.
Those with such proclivities for the old stomping grounds will find themselves rewarded with some of the best enemy general AI in the business. Even the dumbest computer-controlled opponents here are more astute than the usual foe you'll find on GameSpy. They scout efficiently, feint enthusiastically, and can be counted on to launch sorties on your fortress and villages from every direction on the compass until they find a weak spot.
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In some ways, it is a great training program for all real-time strategy games, as the AI forces you to become good at defense. Along the way, it forces you to become pretty astute as offense as well, as you simply cannot rush into combat here. You have to build your forces carefully, with an attention to the big picture, because trying a tank rush is tantamount to suicide. Leave your fortresses undefended and you'll pay a high price. Just as your conquering army is heading out your front door, your enemy's conquering army will be preparing to slam a battering ram through your back door.
SIDEBAR: Despite the very Yeehaw!-sounding name, developer Black Cactus is based in the United Kingdom. To be precise, the company is in Surrey.
| Gameplay | Page:: ( 2 / 5 ) |
Patton without tanks
Another big plus is the setting. Warrior Kings: Battles takes place on the world of Orbis, a D&D-inspired realm that resembles Europe right down to the archaic place names (you begin in the island province of Angland, which is of course England in the real world). You play one of a group of generals fighting for control of the land following the death of King Artos IV (the descendant of the protagonist in the original Warrior Kings).
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This struggle takes you through some two dozen provinces, where you'll battles to vanquish a number of rivals with distinct personality traits. At times the civil war seems almost personal, due to regular threats from the enemy leaders and the strong characteristics that they display. One foe might be arrogant and display a willingness to attack, while another might be a mealy-mouthed weasel who prefers phony diplomacy. Overall, though, there's a distinct tendency for these guys to come off like medieval versions of Patton. Still, you have to alter your approach in each province, depending on the quality and constitution of these enemies.
Have some issues?
As in the first Warrior Kings, there are three main factions to align with over the course of your campaign. Imperial is something of a remnant of the old monarchy, complete with heretic-burning fanatics who make for the best defenders. Pagan is a throwback to the old ways, much like druidism, and offers outstanding attack options on par with the crazed offenses of the Celts in the Dark Ages. And Renaissance features the best of the, um, renaissance, allowing the player to crank up his or her economy with good banking acuity and pound on enemy defenses with advanced siege weaponry. There are also two combination factions, Imperial-Renaissance and Pagan-Renaissance. The former is self-explanatory, being little more than a more technologically advanced Imperial, but the latter is very interesting. Essentially, it lends a real fantasy flavor to the game, with the Pagans having discovered things like the ability to summon undead legions and rampart-demolishing DeathWyrms.
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Unfortunately, there are some issues that prevent you from fully enjoying the enemy artificial intelligence and the well-developed setting. Micromanagement is a necessity in pretty much every aspect of the game. During battle, you have to take direct control of most of your troops, as letting them go with general commands is a recipe for disaster. Fine-tune your battle plan and you can stage some fascinating examples of medieval combat; simply throw your army at foes en masse and you'll see troops running this way and that, refusing to attack or going out of their way to attack enemies in the distance. The game has a real problem determining the best adversaries on which to focus. Often, you'll see cavalry chasing a single enemy bowman across the battlefield while more numerous and dangerous enemies still man the front lines. Still, as long as you like looking after the finer details, engagements in Warrior Kings: Battles can be very fulfilling.
SIDEBAR: Also despite the fact the Black Cactus people live and work in Merry Olde England, the Warrior Kings series is more Clint Eastwood than Richard Burton. You know who these guys are rooting for in Where Eagles Dare.
| Gameplay | Page:: ( 3 / 5 ) |
Building blocks
Empire management requires the same sort of careful attention, conversely because of its slow pace. The economy is much larger and more intricate than that in most other RTS games today. Four resources must be gathered—food, wood, stone, and gold—by assigning peasants to their respective locations, and the materials must also be ferried from villages to the manor (later keep, castle, and palace) fortress where they're needed by carts. The extra step isn't that big a deal, and it does add the intriguing possibility of waging economic war on rivals by hijacking these supply carts, but some players will no doubt be frustrated by the way this features adds complexity. Also, Black Cactus has taken the intriguing step of linking food production to the military. They clearly use to old axiom that an army marches on its stomach, although they have left in the ability to overreach your food limits and crank out the troops…if you don't mind the attrition you'll suffer when the eats run out.
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Building is more straightforward, though again there is a lot to look after here in terms of the many different types of structure and the tech that needs to be researched in order to construct them all. Cost, however, is extremely high for everything beyond the basic structures. You get the feeling that even shacks are made with roofs of gold in Orbis. This really slows down each mission, as you need to devote huge amounts of time to simply getting your manor established, developing villages, making peasants, and collecting vast stocks of wood, stone, and gold. Trying to rush through the beginning processes only amounts to an early exit. Of course, if you concentrate solely on building your economy, the enemy's scouts will discover your growing riches and send for backup. Soon enough, you'll have small groups of enemy archers slaughtering your resource-gathering peasants. Maps are massive, however, limiting the ability of the enemy to harass your early efforts at putting food on the table and building a standard army.
Family values
Skirmish and multiplayer modes are similar to those offered in the first Warrior Kings. The AI generals can be customized to provide different levels of challenge when you're not online. And the new Valhalla game type forgoes the economics for a straightforward clash of armies over map locations that you conquer to score points. These options are available online as well, though it can be hard to find opponents.
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Presentation values are generally fairly high, though everything is just slightly below par in comparison to other modern strategy releases. You can see this in such things as the awful artwork illustrating enemy generals and the camera that slowly scrolls across the map, and hear it in the amateurish peasant voice acting. But unit and building design is quite detailed. Most are on the odd side, with a particular character that sets them apart from the typical medieval RTS. Many of the fantasy creatures—such as the Pagan-Renaissance Gibbering Horde and the Behemoth—have no comparisons in other games and frankly look a lot like dinosaurs. If nothing else, Warrior Kings: Battles is one of the more interesting RTS titles on the market.
SIDEBAR: Who came up with idea of adding resource management to RTS empire games? Sometimes I think that person should receive some kind of guaranteed pension for like, other times I think he should have his legs broken.
| Ballistics Report | Page:: ( 4 / 5 ) |
Pros
Cunning stunts
The artificial intelligence is at least as smart as the average human opponent you'll encounter online, with a real penchant for feints and probing your fortifications for weaknesses
Elves in Albion
Both the game world and its alt-history take on Europe are crammed with rich details that make the solo campaign seem like a medieval history lesson taught by Gary Gygax
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Cons
You are getting sleepy
Scenarios often begin at a glacial pace, with way too much wood-chopping and mining
Click crazed
This is an old-time RTS at heart, so make sure you warm up your mouse finger before playing by twisting the caps off a bunch of beer bottles or something
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SIDEBAR: Gary Gygax is currently lending his name to an MMOG project based on his pen-and-paper game Lejendary Adventure. I guess his former bosses at TSR must have taken away Gary's ability to spell along with the rights to Dungeons & Dragons.
| Final Verdict | Page:: ( 5 / 5 ) |
Those who haven't gotten enough of a good thing will be pleasantly surprised, though. Black Cactus has crafted a game that is just different enough for mainstream RTSers to appreciate, while adding things like a unique and involving storyline and intelligent adversaries for those who don't want to play the same old thing.
What did you think of this review? Did Brett get things right ( for once? –ed.) or was he too harsh with the score? Don your medieval armor, mount your horse and get your halberd and spiked mace as you head over to the user comments.
SIDEBAR: According to an informal survey that I just manufactured in my head, 1,032 games have been released in the last year with the word "empire" in the title.