Warlords Battlecry II

"A Perfect RTS/RPG Hybrid"

I first played this game at a friend’s house, expecting it to be just another crappy RTS. Boy was I surprised. The thing that had me hooked instantly was the hero factor, me being a huge fan of RPG's. So, I decided to look deeper.

This game isn't just another Warcraft ripoff, it is a standalone masterpiece by SSG. You start by creating a hero, choosing from no less then 12 races, each having their own strengths and weaknesses. They will have no profession or specialty at first, but will gain them as the hero levels up.

After each battle, your hero gains XP, and levels up. The hero can be up to level 50, so there is plenty of playing time involved, and can be used online and in skirmishes as an added incentive. Each level, he gets his share of ability points to spend on skills, attributes and magic. He also finds his fair share of items scattered around the place, each boosting his power and his ability, whether it be to enhance troop’s morale, be deadly in combat, or pass his own training on to other troops. There are also special item sets that, when worn together, give special bonuses such as hit point vampirism and immunity to magic damage.

Not only this, but every battle, the highest level produced units alive at the end can be recruited into your retinue. This is basically a suit of bodyguards, and the number of units you can have in your retinue increases with your command skill.

Each hero has four main attributes, Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence and Charisma. These determine how good your hero will be at combat, or at leading an army, or at casting spells etc.

The strategy itself is excellent. At the start of the battle, the player has access to several ''points'' worth of units (The points vary from level to level, and units cost different amounts each) To advance further into the tech tree, the player has to upgrade his keep, from level 1 (simplest tech) to level 5 (tech such as titans, dragons and generals), each one more costly than the last. At the top of the tech tree are the Titans, huge powerful units that take about 15 minutes to build but are well worth the wait, with the only units able to beat them an extremely high leveled hero or a huge mob of units.

The resource collection is another strong point. To capture mines in this game, you have to convert them. You can do this by standing close to them using the convert command. After the mine has been converted, it needs no extra workers to produce resources, but extra workers can be added to increase output dramatically.

Each race has its own strong and weak points, and a player will have to use these to its full extent to win against the harder levels of the excellently done AI. Examples of this is when an enemies hero is close to dying, he will automatically run away, giving the would-be attacker a long chase if he wants to catch his prey. Another would be the improved artillery system. In this game, the catapults and the like will calculate the speed of the target, which direction he/she is running to and ultimately where he is going to be when the catapult missile lands.

The campaign in this game is excellently done, especially considering there is no storyline to it. Each race has its own citadel that allows the player to command the side and generate income. Income in the campaign mode is called crowns, and it can be used for many things such as buying your hero items, buying new units into your retinue, and the ability to take more units into battle. There are 67 areas of Etheria, each offering a bonus after conquering it (Ability to lead a new race, new units available at start of a battle, improved hit point regeneration etc.), and after conquering every region, the player will receive an orb of Etheria, a very powerful and unique item tat varies with difficulty and player difficulty (Normal, Tinman, Bronzeman, and Ironman, each offering different bonuses on XP and having conditions upon losing a battle or upon death).

Final Scores:
Graphics: (8) They get the job done, but really nothing flashy
Sound: (9) Full CD Quality music and excellent sound effects, what more could you ask for?
Gameplay: (10) Pure genius, a very successful mix of RPG and RTS
Replay Value: (10) 20 different specialties, and 12 different races, what more could you ask out of replay value
Stability: (7) This, admittedly, is an issue of the game. It tends to crash to the desktop alot, and sometimes won't load savefiles correctly. Overall still very stable after patching and downloading newest files for your hardware
Overall: (10) A brilliantly done game, looking forward to the next WBC very much

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/18/03