Warlords Battlecry II is a real time strategy experience that combines role playing elements into its core gameplay loop to give you a greater sense of ownership over each hard fought mission victory. It’s a mix that has been done several times before and since but Warlords Battlecry II perfects the balance with a long campaign and an insane amount of depth beyond the surface to dive into. Released in 2002 Warlords Battlecry II serves as a direct sequel to the original game released two years earlier.
Warlords Battlecry II is set in Etheria, a dark world of fantasy that is home to a dozen races with their own homelands. With Etheria being as diverse as any other fantasy land you’ll find lands of ice, forests, desserts, oceans and mountain ranges. Within this world the game races have their own history, units, structures and available hero units so there is good replay opportunity and strong multiplayer potential as you mix and match strategies to always deliver a different battlefield situation.
During the single player campaign players are challenged to capture every single region of the game world of Etheria with their selected race. In total there are 67 regions for players to capture which makes for a long and enjoyable campaign experience that is about more than just the individual battles and requires players to adopt a macro game view. This progression across the regions is completely non-linear with players directing the story and regions that will be the next target for their forces. For players that want a shorter experience to either test out these races or don’t want to commit to the large scale conquering of Etheria there is a skirmish mode available.
The race you select initially has some impact on your likely pathway through the world as it impacts both your starting area and initial diplomacy. This choice of race also impacts the hero you’ll have available, the buildings you can construct and the resource needs that all impact upon your strategy options.
This results in familiar race archetypes like the dwarves that have sturdy infantry units with fantastic resistance to poison although their units are slow to move and expensive to produce. At the other end of the scale you’ll find the evil daemon that offers a flying unit as the core of their army that scale over time although have a difficult time establishing an economic foothold early on.
Race choice aside you’ll find a familiar gameplay loop of gathering resources and building bases to create your ideal army mix of units. These units will charge or hold the line alongside your customisable hero unit who can accept quests and gains experience overtime from questing or battlefield combat. Using this experience you’ll be able to level up and improve their statistics to become a more formidable force in battle that makes them a key military units.
With its mixture of RTS and RPG Warlords Battlecry II brings together two of the most popular game genres of all time and makes them one adventure. With the lengthy campaign as your foundation with the overlay of a huge variety of races, spells and heroes to choose from it’s a strategic game that will serve you well beyond the initial playthrough.
Summary:
- Combined RPG and real time strategy together as you design a hero unit to take the battlefield with your troops.
- Conquer the 67 regions of Etheria in the campaign mode or try the shorter skirmish challenges.
- A dozen races with their own units and strategies to explore that require different macro strategies to achieve success.
- Command over a hundred spells from different magical spheres to assist your hero and army units.
- Continue your adventure with the random map generator for endless fresh strategy conflicts.
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Review Platform: PC
