Let's do things slightly differently in this review. I'm going to tell you about the terrible storyline, poor cut-scenes and the boring tutorial before going on to concentrate on the good points. Right, got the bad points down have you? Well, it's just as well that the rest of the game happens to be one of the most well produced RTS games I've played in a long while.
One of the features that Battle Realms boasts is the use of the landscape in the game to help or hinder your armies. When you first play the game though as with so many other RTS' it doesn't really make much difference where your units are on the game map as it seems to make no difference. As you progress though you realise that units attacking from above have a huge advantage and the forest does provide extra cover for your armies. Another nice feature is the varying weather conditions, as rain really will cause mayhem amongst your troops.
It's not all bad news if it rains though as it will make your rice grow quicker and will put out the flames on any burning building in your town. As the rice grows from the rain there is no need for your villagers to manually water the rice, which allows them to get on with something more constructive.
Resource management is a major part of the game but in a different style to the average RTS. The main resources you have to collect are rice and water but both have multiple uses. For example, you'll use water when you construct buildings and new units but it can also be used to put out fires in your village and to water your rice crops. This aspect of management plays a major part in the game as your success depends on finding out the most efficient ways of using your resources.
The most interesting feature in the game is the way that your units can be trained in more than one discipline allowing you to have a team of archers who can also be used as swordsmen if need be. Take your standard swordsman for example and you can send him off to the archery range to train him in the arts of the bow and arrow. Next you can send him off to the alchemists hut and you now have a unit who can swordfight, fire arrows, and use explosives.
Your towns buildings can also be upgraded to improve their armour and hit points and also to provide greater accuracy if one of your units is attacking from a building. Some of the upgrades prove to be quite eccentric such as the geisha girl with a metal fan and the combination of upgrades and units are plentiful without ever becoming 'samey' which is a credit to the imagination of the designers.
One slight annoyance is in the amount of micro-management that has to take place before you can build the really powerful units, like the Necromancer. This involves moving the unit manually from one building to another whilst at the same time fighting any battles that are taking place that leads to a mass of mouse clicking. This problem can be slightly overcome with the use of rally points which if done correctly will automatically send the unit from building to building but annoyingly there are no keyboard short-cuts for creating units.
The graphics are good, especially the unit animations which are very fluid and varied. As a result of this the battle scenes are very interesting to watch as the mass of spells and swords mix in a big explosion of animation. The graphics are very detailed in all parts of the game and for once this details isn't purely cosmetic. For example, the flock of birds you've just rumbled past may look pretty as they fly off into the sky, but in reality this will have alerted the enemy that you're approaching and will give them extra time to combat your attack. This is a two-way feature though, and you should know that if you see animals scuttling out of the woods that the enemy are coming for you.
The game also displays some great AI for your opponent that is another major selling point of the game. The enemy always attacks you at the weakest part of your village and is also good at setting up well hidden ambushes meaning that it's not always wise to go chasing off after every unit that comes your way. For once even the pathfinding of your own units is almost perfect and it all adds up to give the impression of a game that has had a lot of time and attention put into it.
Sound also plays an important part in the game and again this is implemented extremely well. The eerie sounds of swords meeting and spells casting mix into a very weird but welcome atmosphere. As you'd expect the background music is of the oriental sort and is full of panpipes and drums, think Black and White to give you a better idea.
You have to make certain decision at points throughout the plot that also seem quite similar to Black and White. For example, right at the start of the game you have to choose whether to help save a town from a group of mercenaries or whether you want to join the mercenaries in massacring the village. The decision you make here chooses the path you take for the rest of the game. Be good and save the village and you will play as the good Dragon Clan, but being bad and destroying the village means you become the Serpent Clan who are a much nastier bunch of guys.
Although the game is played in a pretty straightforward level-by-level fashion, the way it's done ensures that no two games will ever be the same. A rather nifty map screen is introduced after completing each level that allows you to choose which path through the game you want to take. The decision you make here will affect the enemies you will face in the following levels so it is nice to know that you on completing the game you could go back and do it all over again by going though the game playing all the levels that you chose not to play originally.
As you've probably noticed by now the game does have a lot of groundbreaking features that will mean that Battle Realms will be unlike anything you've played before. It has original ideas, and some great graphics and sounds so what is it that stops it from becoming a classic?
Well, for starters the plot is amongst the worst yet to grace our screens and is by no means helped by the poor cut-scenes that litter the game. The tutorials are boring and lengthy and as we mentioned before it's a bit strange playing a RTS with no keyboard shortcuts to build units. However, these are minor problems and don't really detract that much from what is an otherwise great game and quite possibly one of the best examples of the genre on current release.
Arguably the best RTS to date
