Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A review of the product bought AFTER the release date ;), 28 Nov 2006
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
Shadow of the Horned Rat
Dark Omen
I haven't played the table top games, and I absolutely don't think you need to be a fan of table top games, or even Warhammer in general to enjoy these games.
I was introduced to them when I played the original PC games "Shadow of the Horned Rat" and "Dark Omen", which are both in my top 20 favourite PC games of all time; And this is a sequel that continues the story from those games - although, again, I really don't think people should be worried if they haven't played the earlier games. For anyone who did like those previous games, then I'm glad to report this is an excellent successor, and is the game we've all been waiting for.
HOW THE GAME PLAYS
The main battles are basically similar to the Total War style, where you have a set number of units and troops which you can deploy and set up before the battle starts, and when you say to start, its just your troops versus the enemy troops. You don't build bases, and in most missions you won't be able to reinforce, or rebuild your troop strength. The battles are generally on much smaller maps with fewer troops than Total War, but there are lots of troop types, with different formations and special abilities, and it can be quite tactical making sure you engage the enemy troops with units that will be most effective. There are also hero units with lots of special abilities, and which can be 'attached' to troop units to greatly enhance their strength. Hero units can also engage enemy commanders in duels with a different set of special abilities.
Between battles, you see the World Map or Campaign screen where you can buy reinforcements for depleted units, or completely new units, and enhancements for weapons and armour. Management is mainly about money and items you loot from the battlefields, and making sure you don't lose too many troops; The worse you do in a battle, the more money you will spend on buying replacements between battles instead of better armour/weapons/items, so you have a real incentive to lose as few troops as possible in battles, and make sure you use the right tactics.
This is also where you move your army on to the next battle, and although the occasional battle is optional, the campaign is basically a linear affair linked together by cut scenes, split across several chapters each on a different map.
For most battles, you can't simply deploy all of your army to the field, but have to select a certain number of heroes and units which you choose beforehand.
HOW I RATE THE GAME
Having nearly finished the Empire Campaing, I'm really enjoying it. I love the overall atmosphere, and enjoy the way the story progresses as you move over the map. I also think that because you are using one army for all the battles, it makes you much more careful to win battles with as few losses as possible, and you become a lot more attached to your units. Basically, as you progress through the Campaign, you are trying to build up your army by buying new units and recruiting allies by winning battles. If lose lots of troops in lots of battles, then you may find yourself in the situation of not having enough resources to buy extra units, or improve weapons and armour.
Before you panic however, the game is reasonably easy on the Medium difficulty setting as the heroes are perhaps a bit too powerful - but that does make them fun to play with.
In fact it may be a bit TOO easy on the default Medium difficulty setting - the enemy armies don't seem to attack together, but instead send units only a few at a time, making them fairly easy to defeat if you play defensively; And even when the onus is on you to attack, it seems a little too easy to pull single units away from their comrades and dispatch them while they are isolated.
But the Chaos campaign does seem to be harder, and so far has actually been more fun to play than the Empire campaign.
People who played the earlier games may remember how hard it was to manage your army successfully enough to have enough units to win the final battles - and playing the Chaos campaing on a Hard difficulty setting reminds me of the original games.
There's lots of variety in units, and items, and trying to choose between buying a unit of Knights, or buying better weapons/armour/specials for the units you already have. There's also a good variety of mission types, for example, some are just for heroes and involve them fighting/exploring or dueling enemy Champions on there own. Perhaps the game should be described as a cross between Total War and Warcraft III. The herores and story progression similar to Warcraft, but individual battles similar to Total War.
Through my rose tinted glasses of nostalgia, I'm giving this a 5 out of 5, but being as objective as possible, I still can't give it anything less than 4 out of 5.
A couple of reviewers have mentioned lots of bugs and implied the game had not been finished? Well, one of them posted their comment before the game was released, so I don't know what version they were playing; But I've bought the game, and the only bug I can find is a certain problem with the "Random Sounds" setting in the options, which can cause the game to stutter when units try to speak - but as soon as I turned that option off, I had no other problems, and in all other respects it seems to be a well made and professionally produced game. (I have not tried to play the game online, and that's not why I bought the game, so I imagine the bugs some other people have mentioned only affect the online side of things and people should check the forums if that is what interests them)
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Mark of Chaos , 11 Dec 2006
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
Ok, this game aint too bad..
Good Points
Skirmish mode - I can see a lot of people buying it just for this. I myself am a Warhammer gamer, and well I live too far (or too old lol) to play regulary, so this satifies me.
Graphics - Although im going to have a whinge about the graphics in the bad points as well, they are, as they stand spot on!
Campaign - Very good, and easy to handle, I like the way the Chaos Warband is built up (being a Chaos gamer I played the Chaos campaign more).
Instruction book - There is one and if you read it you will discover there is a Skirmish mode, unless of course you bought or downloaded a pirate version.. Or you are simply too boneidle to read it.
Bad points
Graphics - OK, as I said in the good points they are spot on, however why do game producers not allow for middle to low end machines to cope with games (im talking about 1.4 being the lowest...) Not everyone can afford a huge machine. Most people who will buy this game will probably be early teens to students, so won't have a huge machine or bank balance to play it. I have a high-end/top middle machine, and it slows down when the battles get big. Perhaps a patch to allow a complete turn down without losing all the good looks is in order?
Sound - My sound card is currently not coping with it, so it jumps in places or disappears in places..
From a Wargaming point of view this game is class, im looking forward to a few expansion packs coming out. But im giving it a 3 as it could do with being tidied up.
Cheers
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Dissapointing but enjoyable nonetheless, 16 April 2007
Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars
Firstly, as mentioned in other reviews, the game looks amazing, with a quality video intro. However, as a fan of the original dark omen and horned rat games, i feel hugely dissapointed. The game is linear, with a boring storyline that does not connect you to the characters - for instance in the final battle of the empire campaign i fought and killed the head honcho of the chaos army - and that was the first time i even knew of his existence! plus with the choas of the actual battle, i didn't even realise there was a duel going on! And so the campaign finished leaving my dissatisfied and with a definite feeling of.... oh, is that it?
My other main area of concern is how EASY the game is. The AI is atrocious, and if u play defensively (big on ranged units) you can almost sit back and watch the enemy get anhilated time after time with no concerted thought or strategy. Admittedly some of the scripted AI unit entrances can catch you off guard on the occasional scenario - but all you need do is restart the scenario and you know exactly whats coming, where, and when, and it makes the game all too easy. having completed the game on hard without losing a single battle and with far too much gold to have anything to do with, i found myself slightly irked at so much promise being wasted.
And that is also the point - the game has so much promise! it looks great, the mechanics are there, and i actually enjoy playing the game! it's just a shame that such poor AI and the linear, scripted scenarios offer so little in the way of challenge.
Enjoy what there is on offer, but lament such a wasted opportunity to improve upon the originals.
cheers!
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