Warsong

"Feel the wrath of my mermaids!"

Background:

Warsong, aka Langrisser, is considered by many to be one of the best strategy games ever created for the Genesis, rivaling that of Shining Force. There is a entire series of Langrisser games in Japan but sadly we have never seen any of them.. and the one we did get (Warsong) has a awful translation...anyway, on with the review!

Story:8

The legendary sword, Warsong, was said to give it's possessor magical power. But now, regarded as sacred, it was hidden deep within the walls of castle Baltia, your home. You are Garret, prince of Baltia.
One early morning the guards report sightings of troops marching towards the castle, quickly your generals gather their troops and prepare to defend the castle. Your father, the king, orders you to head to a nearby allied kingdom to gather reinforcements to help defend the castle while he and his trusted generals remain in a vain attempt to hold out. However due to some bandits you don't make it in time and Warsong falls in to evil hands... you must now find and retrieve the legendary sword, Warsong. During the game you will recruit generals to help lead your forces in battle.

Gameplay: 10

This is where the game really shines! You start each map by hiring mercs for each of your generals (up to 8). The troops include: Archers, Horsemen, Guardsmen, Monks, Mermaids, Soldiers and more.
Each general gains levels when they win battles, at level 10 they can change in to more powerful classes such as: Lords, Knights, Magic Knights, Warlocks, Clerics, as well as many others. With each new class comes new troops as well as boosting the power of your current troops. Each general has a command radius around him which gets bigger with stronger classes, all troops within this radius gain a bonus to their attack and defense. This will play a huge role in the game.
During battles you can cast spells such as fireballs and lighting to rain terror on the enemy troops later in the game these spells will be a strong point of your offense. When the different troop types become usable you will at times have to use the right unit to do any decent damage to some enemies. Example: guardsmen do huge damage to slime monsters, but soldiers would be killed in a instant. Oh, and there is one other small point: If a general dies, he's gone.. yup, no coming back.. and every general is important so keeping them alive as well as keeping them within the same level range of everyone else can be rather hard at times.
With over 20 maps (some are long...real long) you will be busy for awhile.

Sound: 5

The sound in this game honestly isn't that good.. but we have to remember that sound alone does not make a great game. The sound is good enough that you can tell when the enemy troops have been crushed by your horsemen. The spell sounds however are pretty decent.. Just don't expect anything grand in the sound department. The music.. well, the battle theme can get to you when your replaying that same map for the 8th time. But other then that nothing great.

Graphics: 8

The graphics are pretty good considering when this game was released. The portraits of your generals as well as enemy generals look great. While troops on the overhead view don't look very good, once a fight starts the graphics are much better. On the battle map you have water, forest, mountains, cliffs, walls, fences, as well as many other things all look great with a lot of detail.

Overall: 9

While it is one of the best games for the Genesis it could have been better... mostly because of the bad translation. However if you can find the game for sell I strongly suggest you buy it. If you liked Shining Force you will most likely like this.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/17/02, Updated 05/17/02