Warlocked

"A game that goes beyond the limits of the GBC."

Warlocked is by far one of the best gameboy color games I've played. It takes full advantage of every aspect of the GBC.

Graphics 9/10:
The graphics are pretty good, especially for an 8 bit game. You can distinguish almost every unit from one another. The only problem you might have is trying identify each wizard. There seems to be only 5 or 6 different wizard sprites, but they are all colored differently. The terrain is nicely detailed especially around the little mountain areas. You can see the different colors used for the shading. There are about four or five different terrain types. Forest, Desert, Snow, Lava, and maybe a few others... can't remember.

Sound 10/10:
Now this game definitely deserves credit for this aspect. The music is decent, but the voice acting is great. The programmers took full advantage of the 8 volume positions on the GBC. It's the only game for GBC that I know, besides Pokemon yellow, which has voice acting. They have different voices for both the beasts and humans, and even voices for the only female in the game (Queen Azarel).

Story 5/10:
The story is pretty cliched, it's another Tolkien rip-off like many other games (ie: Warcraft, Dungeons and Dragons, and other D&D counterparts). It basically concerns a war between the beasts (equivalent to the orcs in Warcraft) and humans (with their elven companions).

Gameplay 10/10:
This game is highly addictive. You build and raise armies then unleash them on your foes. The game is pretty simple, as is the strategy. The bulk of the strategy lies within your wizards. In fact in multi-player it's damn near impossible to win against another player without the aid of a wizard or dragon, especially when your up against an experienced player. The wizards can even help turn the tide of the battle. Their are 27 different wizards in this game, five of them are allied with the humans, and five with the beasts. The rest are mercenaries who will give their services to either side. Each wizard has a spell that will effect the units in the game.

Control 10/10:
The game is pretty much very well designed. The controls are very well done, especially for the kind of game it is. Some people may have a hard time with the controls... it takes a few rounds to get used to them. I give extra credit to the programmers, you can tell that they worked really hard on the controls. Plus it is the only game on the GBC that even attempted to design a code for controlling multiple units in real-time.

Warlocked remains my favorite RTS of all time. Their are only three units that each side can train, but the fun and strategy lies within the use of your wizards (which by the way, you have to find/rescue). I recommend this game for any fan of the RTS genre.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/29/03