Warhammer: Battle March (Xbox 360)
Console RTS swings and misses, again.
9/15/2008 6:50 PM | 0 Comments | Page 2 of 2
What's Hot: Packed with Warhammer Fantasy Battle authenticity; Excellent skirmish/multiplayer army builder
What's Not: Battles are too quick; Ranged weapons are too powerful; If you're not a 'Hammer fan you might be completely lost; Laughably bad controls
William Abner
Status: Most likely playing a sports game of some sort
The Orcs have enlisted a Giant ... yikes.
A new skirmish mode against the artificial intelligence allows you to play around with the nifty army builder, which is a little like playing with the Warhammer retinue books. This time, you can even add mercenaries to your legion. For example, rather than getting "Chaos," you can build your army from Undivided Chaos units or from the specific armies of Khorne or Nurgle (sorry, no Slaanesh or Tzeentch). The same goes for the Empire -- you can either build your army from the city of Nuln or from a specific Greenskin clan. This detail will be lost on Warhammer newbies, but diehards will appreciate it. You can also customize color patterns and add unique items to heroes. If only playing with your army was as much fun as building it.
Playing online over Xbox Live doesn't remove the silly control scheme, but it does allow you to play against a real person and not the predictable AI. This is the best way to enjoy the game. The problem is, very few people are playing the game online -- so unless you have a buddy to play with, you might be out of luck.
The PC version of
Battle March is a better buy, as it keeps all of the new goodies and wraps them up inside a saner, mouse-driven control scheme. Console fans are left once again holding the short end of the stick. As steeped in Warhammer flavor as the Xbox 360 version is, it's just too unwieldy to recommend.
This review was based on a retail copy of the game bought by Crispy Gamer.
