Battle Realms: Winter of the Wolf

"Great Game But Mediocre Expansion"

Introduction:
Battle Realms was a great game that was a real time strategy with a touch of originality. I wouldn't say it revolutionized the genre but it definitely spiced things up and took things into a new direction. However, this expansion was just more missions and new characters. In the original you could play as the Serpent or Dragon in the campaign but this is a Wolf campaign. Despite of this being an expansion.. there was very little changes to the game other than added levels.

Gameplay:
As I said before, this game is a real time strategy game. There are four resources: rice, water, people and Yin and Yang. Each of which is important to building buildings, training units, and research. First off, peasants are created in little huts. Then you can put them to work. You can have them either gather water, gather rice or water rice. You can also have them build new buildings such as a place to train melee units or ranged units. One of the biggest features of the game and it also happens to be my favorite is how units come to be. In order to get a unit, you must train a peasant. You send the peasant into the building and it becomes a different unit after its training. Taking this feature to the next level, by sending that new unit into another military training facility, you get a more powerful, different unit. Use different combinations in order to get different units. Yin and Yang are gained through battle. You can use these to research new technologies or create special units (such as summon heroes). There are also buildings for special abilities or additions to characters (armor, flaming arrows, etc). As for the rest of the game, its pretty much the same as every real time strategy game. Group an army, click mouse, explore land, find enemy, fight, etc.

Story:
The story isn't great, but its still good nonetheless. The game is alittle short and it only took me a few days of casual playing to beat it. I found the first few missions to be tedious but after a while it gave me what I wanted.. build a base, find the enemy and destroy. I also found the game's ending to be slightly.. anti-climatic. However, it was still good in my opinion, just not up to my standards of a ''great story.'' The movie sequences are still in-game and aren't very visually appetizing. Hopefully a sequel (there probably will be) will bring us movie sequences in divx form!

Sound:
I believe (I'm not sure) they added more sounds to the game. I noticed more groans of battle, death, and victory. The sounds are great and the voices are done very well. The lotus sound evil and deathly, the wolf clan sounds strong and barbaric, the serpent sounds.. well.. you get the idea. The sounds of battle are also well done, I love the sound of clashing swords and warcries. The music is ambient yet moody, picking up when the action gets intense.

Graphics:
Hmm.. how to describe the graphics in one word... bearable. I personally don't think the graphics are all that great. The animations are good, but overall it doesn't match up with the competition. Its using an old engine from its orginal and by the time this expansion was released games such as Warcraft III and Age of Mythology are already on the market. Don't get me wrong though, the graphics aren't that bad. They just aren't superior.

Flaws:
This game is awesome, but as an expansion pack, it doesn't really wow me. It has some minor problems.. same as before and didn't really add a whole lot. So the biggest flaw of this expansion is lack of features. If you loved playing the original and want a new campaign featuring the wolf, this game is a great idea but if you thought the original lacked substance, stay away from this one.

Replayability:
If you played the original to death then you will only find the new campaign entertaining. Other than that there is nothing left to play other than skirmish mode which hasn't changed much. However, if you enjoyed the original and didn't play it to the point where you never want to see it again, then this might last a while.

Conclusion:
Battle Realms is a great game and this is an addition to a great game.. making it still a great game. I gave it a 7/10 because it was fun to play, but lacked a whole lot of extra stuff. It felt more like an addition to the original rather than a feeling like a new game.. and that doesn't really impress me much. I needed more substance for a higher score. However, it definitely did not score low due to the fact I had a really fun time playing it and will continue to play it. Same as I did with the original.. this just revived my interst.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/16/04