Just released a new batch of screenshots from the forthcoming add-on
to the martial arts-themed real-time strategy game Battle Realms. The
Winter of the Wolf expansion actually takes place seven years before the
events of the original game, and it chronicles the story of the mighty
Wolf clan and its pursuit of freedom from the clutches of the Lotus
clan. Players will assume the role of Grayback, a Wolf hero who frees
his people from enslavement at the hands of the wicked Serpent and Lotus
clans.
Winter of the Wolf adds one new structure to each of the four clans, two
new units, and a new hero unit. Additionally, the game will feature two
new environments--the shale mines and a snowy world--both of which will
actually have an effect on gameplay. The new campaign spans 11
single-player missions, and the expansion pack will also ship with about
30 new multiplayer maps.
Winter of the Wolf will be available in the first weeks of September,
and unlike with most other expansion packs, a copy of the original game
is not required in order to play it--the game will ship with a copy of
the original Battle Realms in the box.
The original Battle Realms campaign focused on an exiled hero named
Kenji, who would become leader of either the Dragon or Serpent clans and
fight to unite the country under his flag. Along the way, he'd
inevitably square off against the vile Lotus clan and the barbaric Wolf
clan. The latter two did not play a central role in the story of Battle
Realms, but they figure most prominently in this expansion pack, which
takes place before the events of the original game. It chronicles the
story of Grayback, a Wolf leader who begins the campaign by staging a
rebellion against his Lotus-clan enslavers. Grayback must unite and
rally his forces and restore the Wolf clan to freedom over the course of
an 11-mission campaign.
The campaign gets off to a slow start, because it'll be a while until you actually break free from the Lotus clan's shale mines and can actually begin building bases and training units. You'll at first just have to make do with what you've got and go from point to point in several highly scripted but not altogether engaging missions. These use in-engine cutscenes to drive the story along, and while the voice-over is pretty good, the unflattering close-ups of the game's blocky units aren't. Also--and this has been a problem with Battle Realms all along--because you have limited tactical control over your forces, the battles in the early stages of Winter of the Wolf merely require you to sit back and watch.
As a more general criticism of the campaign, it's odd that it focuses on what's arguably the least interesting of Battle Realms' four factions. The various martial-arts-style units from the first game were one of the main attractions--it was a game in which you could control armies that looked like they came straight out of a Hong Kong kung fu movie. The Wolf clan's Stone Age-looking barbarians, with their bulging muscles and crude weapons, stood in sharp contrast to the other factions and made for interesting opponents. But Grayback and his wild clansmen can't carry a game as well as Kenji and his brothers-in-arms.
The Wolf clan may star in the campaign, but the Winter of the Wolf expansion makes a few additions to all four of the factions, in the form of one structural upgrade and three new units per side. These can all be used in the game's skirmish and multiplayer modes, and some appear in the new campaign as well. The structural upgrade for each side is a high-level town center enhancement that lets you train a couple of new units--either a high-level fighter or a powerful female support character. Those familiar with Battle Realms will recall the game's clever resource model, in which the very same peasants used for harvesting the game's two resources--rice and water--could also be sent into training facilities to be converted into fighting forces. Those military units could in turn be upgraded into entirely new forces by sending them into other training centers. It would invariably take a while to develop an army of top-tier units because of this, so the new town center upgrades are an interesting twist since they let you train relatively powerful units in just one or two steps. The new units, ranging from the bare-chested Dragon clan guardian and his huge studded club to the Lotus' menacing, scythe-wielding reaper, fit right in with the original game's colorful cast, and they're fun to watch in action.
Winter of the Wolf, true to its name, also adds a new snowy terrain type, which is a nice addition to Battle Realms' rather limited selection of settings. In some of the original game's maps, occasional rainstorms would increase rice-crop yields temporarily. Conversely, in these new snow maps, intermittent snowstorms will bring rice production to a halt, forcing you to make do with whatever forces and resources you already have on hand. A nice snowstorm may be an excellent opportunity to muster all your military units and attack your foes, catching them when their resources are limited.
The combat in Battle Realms is still quite chaotic. Units can be ordered to run, and they can easily bypass the enemies they come across and strike straight at the most vulnerable units or structures of their opponents. The game's large units, complex animations, and very large, spread-out buildings make it difficult to keep track of what's happening in the game's large-scale battles, and the game's interface--while sleek--unfortunately provides few options for precise control or effective use of some of the game's unique features, such as the ability to equip individual units with specialized battle gear. Also, the sprawling bases, relatively small unit counts, and relatively limited base defenses mean that fast, early, surgical strikes against key points in the enemy base are dominating tactics in Battle Realms. You might have trouble getting to those new units, since the game's relentless AI or any experienced Battle Realms player will be giving you the fight of your life long before you're in the position to train any. At times, Battle Realms plays like an action game in which you're forced to control too many characters at once. Recent real-time strategy games have successfully incorporated Battle Realms' brand of visually impressive, exciting battle sequences but also grant players a superior level of control over the proceedings. It's little wonder, then, that relatively few people are playing Battle Realms online at this time.
The campaign gets off to a slow start, because it'll be a while until you actually break free from the Lotus clan's shale mines and can actually begin building bases and training units. You'll at first just have to make do with what you've got and go from point to point in several highly scripted but not altogether engaging missions. These use in-engine cutscenes to drive the story along, and while the voice-over is pretty good, the unflattering close-ups of the game's blocky units aren't. Also--and this has been a problem with Battle Realms all along--because you have limited tactical control over your forces, the battles in the early stages of Winter of the Wolf merely require you to sit back and watch.
As a more general criticism of the campaign, it's odd that it focuses on what's arguably the least interesting of Battle Realms' four factions. The various martial-arts-style units from the first game were one of the main attractions--it was a game in which you could control armies that looked like they came straight out of a Hong Kong kung fu movie. The Wolf clan's Stone Age-looking barbarians, with their bulging muscles and crude weapons, stood in sharp contrast to the other factions and made for interesting opponents. But Grayback and his wild clansmen can't carry a game as well as Kenji and his brothers-in-arms.
The Wolf clan may star in the campaign, but the Winter of the Wolf expansion makes a few additions to all four of the factions, in the form of one structural upgrade and three new units per side. These can all be used in the game's skirmish and multiplayer modes, and some appear in the new campaign as well. The structural upgrade for each side is a high-level town center enhancement that lets you train a couple of new units--either a high-level fighter or a powerful female support character. Those familiar with Battle Realms will recall the game's clever resource model, in which the very same peasants used for harvesting the game's two resources--rice and water--could also be sent into training facilities to be converted into fighting forces. Those military units could in turn be upgraded into entirely new forces by sending them into other training centers. It would invariably take a while to develop an army of top-tier units because of this, so the new town center upgrades are an interesting twist since they let you train relatively powerful units in just one or two steps. The new units, ranging from the bare-chested Dragon clan guardian and his huge studded club to the Lotus' menacing, scythe-wielding reaper, fit right in with the original game's colorful cast, and they're fun to watch in action.
Winter of the Wolf, true to its name, also adds a new snowy terrain type, which is a nice addition to Battle Realms' rather limited selection of settings. In some of the original game's maps, occasional rainstorms would increase rice-crop yields temporarily. Conversely, in these new snow maps, intermittent snowstorms will bring rice production to a halt, forcing you to make do with whatever forces and resources you already have on hand. A nice snowstorm may be an excellent opportunity to muster all your military units and attack your foes, catching them when their resources are limited.
The combat in Battle Realms is still quite chaotic. Units can be ordered to run, and they can easily bypass the enemies they come across and strike straight at the most vulnerable units or structures of their opponents. The game's large units, complex animations, and very large, spread-out buildings make it difficult to keep track of what's happening in the game's large-scale battles, and the game's interface--while sleek--unfortunately provides few options for precise control or effective use of some of the game's unique features, such as the ability to equip individual units with specialized battle gear. Also, the sprawling bases, relatively small unit counts, and relatively limited base defenses mean that fast, early, surgical strikes against key points in the enemy base are dominating tactics in Battle Realms. You might have trouble getting to those new units, since the game's relentless AI or any experienced Battle Realms player will be giving you the fight of your life long before you're in the position to train any. At times, Battle Realms plays like an action game in which you're forced to control too many characters at once. Recent real-time strategy games have successfully incorporated Battle Realms' brand of visually impressive, exciting battle sequences but also grant players a superior level of control over the proceedings. It's little wonder, then, that relatively few people are playing Battle Realms online at this time.
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