Warrior Kings – PC – Review

Beset by enemies on different fronts, you
may actually question your own competence as a commander, as your troops
valiantly try to hold off the attack, seek ground advantage or match up
against opposing forces.

However, having a member of your company
ask you, quite loudly, “are you sure you know what you are doing?” can
be downright annoying.

Warrior Kings, a PC release from Microids
and Black Cactus, is a real-time strategy game that traverses many fronts.
It combines a bit of the medieval with fantasy, and technology with history.
The combination works quite well, and the game ­ with a few setbacks
­ is not only challenging but also enjoyable.

The protagonist of the game is Artos, of
the House of Cravant. He is just starting to come into his own, and has
been given the task of guarding supply shipments from the outlying villages
to manor house. But as he is fending off barbarians and clansmen, another
army emerges from the woods. And this is an army Artos is not equipped
to deal with.  Led by the powerful Bishop Lothar, this army is not
only huge, but it represents the corrupt religious sect that rules the
empire.

Lothar accuses Artos’ father of heresy,
has him killed and the House of Cravant razed. Artos, with but a few retainers,
flees to the docks and leaves the homeland. He lands at Jarlsford in Angland,
when he must make a fresh start, gather power and followers before returning
to seek his vengeance.

The going won’t be easy because Angland
is controlled by another corrupt leader, Baron Ragnar. Artos’ first order
of business will be to free the villages from Ragnar’s iron fist, then
defeat Ragnar himself either through military might or diplomatic means.
Once Artos is in charge of Angland, he can begin mustering the forces he
will need back home.

That is the premise behind Warrior Kings.

While employing a variety of elements of
strategic warfare, this game has its share of resource management. One
of the first things that you will have to do in Jarlsford is free a village
and begin planting and harvesting food supplies. You will encounter a village
that has been devastated by barbarian raiders. The leader of that village
promises that if you can supply them with 500 units of food, his village
will join your cause. This is important.

Aside from a few Javelineers (mounted soldiers
with range weapons, which falls into the category of light cavalry), Artos
only has a few spearmen. One village will build him a barracks. The village
needing the food will give him the technology to develop archers.

Range weapons can be invaluable in this
game. Not only does the combat rely on Combined Arms theory (a rock-paper-scissors
principle where it has been determined what units are most effective against
others), but environments are also in play. A group of archers set up on
a hilltop that cannot be assaulted from the front has a tremendous advantage.

However that also brings up one of the
drawbacks to the game. If you explore and land and don’t emerge victorious
over the enemy (and if you have saved the game prior to the encounter),
you will know what you are facing, and what the terrain is like to better
plan your attack.

Another small drawback is that seemingly
you have to micromanage your units. Having them attack freely means they
will move easily from one target to another; but they may also retreat
freely. But if you have the ‘hold ground’ icon selected, you may have trouble
convincing them, in the short time span you have as you see their health
bars turn red (which means they are nearly dead), to click all the buttons
and get them out of the line of fire. This is particularly true of Artos,
who seems bent on disobeying player commands to retreat a safe distance
and heal. Artos also has the power to heal units under his command, which
is the beginning edge of the magical part of this game.

And forget the tutorial. It is not a hands-on
application. It will tell you the basics of the program, but it won’t actually
allow you to try any of it out. The only way to test what you’ve learned
in either reading the tutorial or the manual is to jump into the game and
go.

Warrior Kings presents players with five
different paths to winning. They are the Imperial (religious fanatics,
which is the best defense), Renaissance (banking and science ­ best
for resource gathering and siege weapons), Pagan (druids ­ best attack),
Imperial-Renaissance (the game calls this “Bishops with Gunpowder”), and
Pagan-Renaissance (“Demons and War Machines”). The choices you make as
you progress through the game will determine which path you are following.

For those who have played an RTS before,
the interface and controls for Warrior Kings will be comfortable. Many
of the same elements are in use here, such as grouping and the point and
click commands.

The sound for this game is somewhat average.
There are the typical cries of death, the clash of weapons and a nice musical
background. There are sarcastic replies from those in your service, as
well. Much of the dialogue between village leaders and Artos is in the
form of type. This is a grab bag of modern colloquial phrases and a medieval
fantasy dialogue. While a village leader may ‘talk’ in a higher form of
English, you may also seen (as when Cravant was being razed) a phrase pop
up that declares “the city is toast.”

Graphically, this game is quite good. Unless
you zoom in too close to the terrain, wherein you will be treated to a
close-up of pixel color blocks, there is texture and a great use of lighting.
Clouds passing overhead do leave shadow tracks across the ground. The animation
is also very well done.

Because the game features a mixture of
more modern technology (in the form of range weapons) and mythological
magic, a variety of monsters, the designers have done a very good job at
making it all fit together within the reality of this program.

The camera can be a little jerky at times,
but this game also uses a map which players can click on to zip around
the world. The special effects in the game, such as billowing flames and
smoke, or explosions, are only average.

It would be easy to say that Warrior Kings
didn’t know what it wanted to be when it grew up, so it decided to be many
different styles encompassed in the RTS genre. But that’s not quite true.
It does appear as though the designers had a clear vision of what this
game would embrace, and then did a good job of combining the various elements.
The storyline is quite good, the multiple paths for Artos and his army
is also very nice. This is an enjoyable game that would be suitable for
newcomers to the genre, while providing some variations for the veteran
gamers.

 

Install: Easy

This game only requires 650 megs for a
full install. The game goes on smoothly and easily.

Gameplay: 7.5

This game can be a little jerky at times,
which may be because of minor stability problems. The game boards are quite
large though.

Graphics: 8

The graphical elements look very good
from a distance. The animation is also quite good. The moveable camera
allows you to zoom into the action and enjoy what the developers have labored
to create.

Sound: 7

This is an average element, completely
on par with other RTS games.

Difficulty: 7.5

There is only one difficulty level. The
player interface should not present a problem to those who have ventured
into the genre before.

Concept: 8

A good storyline and a nice blend of time
frames is realized very well in this program.

Multiplayer: 7

Up to eight players can participate in
a king-of-the-hill type game. Connection types include LAN and Internet-based
games.

Overall: 7.6

Warrior Kings features many typical RTS
features, and some new elements that are quite welcomed. This game may
be a touch linear in the way the combat is carried out (as in you face
the same opposition presented in the same general manner if you fail to
defeat it the first go-round) in the single-player campaign mode. However,
the graphics of the game are well done, and the game is enjoyable.