by Jody - January 14, 2004

With the introduction to yet another RTS game in the world, we have yet to see a game based in the same time to be fully original. This time around, Warrior Kings: Battles brings you rock throwing, sword slashing, enemy nuking fun � just like any other RTS! There is a lot more to this game than that, but if you want to check it out, you had better read this review first.

Look out AoM, Warrior Kings is coming!

As we enter the Campaign of this game, you will notice that the Lord Proctor, Duke Ignis Hagens is the throne of the Empire. Because of his unruly nature, the Empire will collapse into anarchy. Your overall objective is to reunite the Empire by destroying the Lord Proctor and conquering the province in which he dwells � Liguriensis. To start off with, the early battles are easy to take on. Later on though, it becomes a lot harder � and it becomes a lot tenser when you try to take down the Lord.

Upon your first time coming to the Campaign, you�ll notice that the Province of Angland will be selected by default. This will be the first province that you will have to conquer. It�s also the start of the game entirely. Since there are a lot of provinces that you will need to conquer, you�re going to have to learn certain strategic maneuvers to do this � one of which is the act of total control. Each province you conquer and takeover will be different and way more difficult than the others. Each province will have a number of Generals assigned to it. Every time you start a new battle, the Generals assigned to each province will very � less for the weaker ones and more for the more powerful ones. This becomes a pain later on, and really defines the game�s sense of difficulty, but if you�re good at strategy games you should have no problem handling it. And of course, you will need to defeat all opposing Generals in a certain province to conquer them completely. To do this, you�re going to have to launch a full-out assault on their Manors.

Not the best, not the worst.

When this game was officially launched, Strategy First made an announcement about a lot of graphical glitches added into the game, and that the mistake would be fixed by a set of patches over the following weeks. Thankfully none of this affects the total graphics of the game though. Even though this game doesn�t even begin to compare to the likes of WarCraft III or Lords of EverQuest, it holds it�s own for awhile. There is just something about all RTSs trying to look like this nowadays that just turns me off, graphically speaking of course.

RTS sounds.. gotta love 'em!

The thing about games like this is that the sounds are always the worst part about it. Every time you click somewhere, you hear the same old rants and suggestions made from your units. The music, however, is quite excellent � I wouldn�t mind hearing it outside the game. It truly defines the gameplay.. but the sound effects and voices of your units ruins it.

The return of the bad camera controls!

It seems that the majority of the games I review, if not RPGs, are RTSs. Not that I have a problem with them, it�s just that I�m tired of seeing the same old thing over and over. With the reintroduction to another game that�s main objective is to left click a lot, we have Warrior Kings: Battles.

Eh, no.

I don�t really know if this game deserves a straight-forward recommendation, simply because there is nothing new and original to it. If you like to just collect these and have enough cash to shell out ($50) to get it, then by all means, go right ahead. As for anyone else, if you just need a new strategy game to play, try looking into Lords of EverQuest or maybe even WarCraft 3 and its expansion, The Frozen Throne.