Walkthroughs & Tips

Review by: Jake Delfeir

Reviewers Score: 9 / 10

Posted: January 10, 2006

Warlords Battlecry 2
System: PC
Genre: Real-Time Strategy/RPG
Difficulty: Easy - Hard
Score: 9/10

A little game that I picked up from the bargain bin at EB, Warlords Battlecry 2 is a fantasy style strategy game... with a few twists. Having been forced onto an older computer with no internet since my laptop broke, I rediscovered this treasure and have found myself spending plenty of hours on it. Here's a little about this game.

Graphics (8/10)

This game is fairly old by PC standards, so the graphics now look a bit dated. Still, they're not bad. Some of the scenery can be a bit empty and... lifeless, I think. But in most cases, that actually suits the map, so it's forgiven. At least the greener maps have plenty of trees and hills and the like. The units are all fairly individual and you can tell them apart with ease. One complaint is the very few Hero portraits that you can select, most of which aren't that good, so that suffers. But they do the job well.

Sounds (8/10)

The music in the game is quite nice, but suffers from the lack of variety in it. There are maybe two or three tunes that loop throughout the maps... and if you're in a tough one that takes an hour or so to beat, then it may become annoying. They're nice at first, though. Like in most strategy games, the units have voices, but they're pretty plain. At least they went to the effort of getting different voice clips for different races, which is a nice touch. But some of the Hero voices are... not very nice. Bad choices for the voice actors I think. Nonetheless, it's all there, and it's not too bad. You'll just get sick of it after a while, is all.

Storyline (4/10)

Not much here, really. This isn't a game you're going to play for the storyline. The gist is that you're in a fantasy land called Etheria. There are 12 dominant groups or races in that land, and they're all at conflict. The idea is to take one of them and conquer all the rest, becoming the Warlord of Etheria. Simple and basic. There's no real background to it all, or if there is, it's not easily accessible within the game and barely referenced. Again though, this isn't a game that you're going to play for the storyline, so it doesn't detract from anything much.

Gameplay (10/10)

The gameplay here is pretty fun, since it combines both Real-Time Strategy with lots of RPG elements. Campaign mode takes you to a big map of the world - 63 territories, 12 Citadels. You pick a race and customise a Hero, and then you're given control of your Race's citadel. From here, you can invade the surrounding lands. This takes you to the meat of the game - the actual battles. From here, you're playing a strategy game. You start off with your Hero and a few units, who you select before the battle begins. If you have any money, which can be gained as Tribute or Income from territories you control, you can use it to purchase extra units from the get go. From here, you build up a base. There are four resources - Stone, Gold, Ore, and Crystals - which are provided by neutral buildings. Your Hero has a feature called Convert - using it will convert other buildings to your side, so you use it on resource producing structures to start the numbers ticking. Using these resources (various races use different ones predominantly), you build up an army and invade the other bases. Simple enough in theory, but there's plenty involved. You can upgrade
numerous buildings, including your main Fortress, which allows the production of all sorts of different units, unit upgrades, and magical abilities. You then pick and mix until you have what you need to take on the opponent, while they do exactly the same, just like any other strategy.

Here's where Warlords becomes unique - the RPG elements. When you start, you pick one of 12 races, among which are such faces as Humans, Orcs, Minotaurs, Barbarians, Daemons, High Elves, and so on. Unlike most games, each of these has plenty of different units, strategies, and unique traits. When in a battle, your Hero is a unit (and a powerful one) who does a lot of stuff, as mentioned. He can Convert enemy buildings, build your own buildings, attack, improve the morale and attacking ability of your nearby units, and some can even use magic. Winning a battle and killing with your Hero will net him or her some Experience, which can in turn let them level up. You have four classes (Warriors, Rogues, Priests, Mages) to choose from once you reach Level 2. Daemons, for example, can be Warriors, Rogues, or Mages, while Minotaurs can only be Warriors or Priests. At Level 3 you get to pick a specialty class for that, which changes your stats and what abilities you can later pick up. There are plenty of different specialties, abilities, and options you can pick, which can complement your play style or even make you break out a new one. There are also items scattered around the various maps (or dropped by dead Heros) which your Hero can pick up, and improve your stats and traits as a result. High leveled Heros have some serious power and can destroy whole bases unimpeded when aided by just a few troops... but the enemy gets a Hero as well. So there's plenty of options and different styles available, and it's always very satisfying to watch your Hero rise from being average to being awesome.

Another thing about the RPG system is that EVERY unit gets Experience from killing units. While not as important or noticable as the Hero, it does mean that your other units get the chance to become powerhouses as well. At the end of each battle, the strongest of your units get the chance to be recruited into your retinue - this means you can bring them back for other battles by paying a small cost at the beginning of that battle. So in some ways it's like having a few extra heroes. This, combined with a solid and satisfying RTS system, makes for a very fun game.

Replayability (10/10)

Now this is where it shines. More than any other game like it, I find myself drawn back to this one, over and over. Because of the large amount of land in Etheria, a single campaign can take quite a while to completely finish. While you don't have to conquer every territory to win, you CAN, and for the adventurous types this tacks on a lot of
hours. Add to this the fact that there are 12 races, all who have very different play styles and so on, as well as four difficulty settings and four modes of Hero play... well, there's plenty to do. And the Heros themselves are the big parts - four classes, and 12 or so specialty classes, and all can make your Hero strong in different ways. Again, combining this with the fact that there are 12 races... if you like this game, then you will be stuck on it for a LONG time. For this, I take my hat off - the most replayable Real-Time Strategy game in existence. And like most PC Strategy games, there is multiplayer, though I think it's more fun to just use this as a single player game. At least it's there.

Overall (9/10)

A surprisingly enjoyable experience from an older, lesser-known Real-Time Strategy series. If you're into strategy, then at least one of the races will have a mode of play that will catch your eye, and then you'll be hooked on a very fun single player campaign. Older graphics, sounds, and lack of storyline stop a perfect score, but it's still not really necessary. If you can find it, I'd recommend picking it up.