life

This game really isn't as bad as a few news sources have claimed. That said, those sources (including the illustrious and respectable PC Gamer) do have their points. Let's go over the basic pros and cons of this game.

Pros:
- Incredible depth in terms of races (16!) and units, probably unsurpassed by any other current RTS out there
- Over 130 spells
- A unique RPG/RTS approach that others are starting to copycat
- A vast and addictive campaign
- Tons of cool new magical items for creating a personalized character
- A more involving storyline than WBII which (basically) offered a simple mandate to conquer the world. This one has a more developed and interesting story
- A refined interface, superior in every respect to the C&C series.
- Tons of strategic options, like the ability to set unit groups to have certain "attitudes" (i.e. cowardly, aggressive, rampant, fallback [units return to base when 25% HP], stand ground, magic defensive, etc), the ability to setup and monitor patrol routes, etc.
- A convenient resource system that isn't as anal retentive as Age of Empires but still complex enough to allow for strategic intricacy. You¡¯ll have to weight your options between converting and razing buildings.
- A ruthlessly efficient AI in resource management and parallel production
- Extremely high replay value

Cons:
- An improved graphics system (over WBII), but one that still pales in comparison to most RTS's on the market.
- Very bad pathfinding issues, occasionally units will go in the exact opposite direction you ordered- not a good thing, obviously.
- Music, though appropriate, is a bit repetitive
- Sometimes units in a group will wander off for no reason and it can become tiresome to "herd" them back in.
- There are some bad balancing problems in this game. The Undead and Dwarves have severely undercosted units and two of the new races- the Plaguelords and the Scorpionmen or whatever, are a bit too weak at the beginning of the game. Several abilities have become abused (i.e. the "Energy" ability replenishes mana way too quickly.)
- the AI, although *economically* efficient as was aforementioned, is not very bright, at least as far as the main Campaign goes. For instance, on one of the early Pirate Treasure Island quests, there's this ridiculous hero who will come to your base, endure a ton of heavy artillery, run away to heal, *do the exact same thing* a few minutes later, like an idiot until you eventually nail him.

(To be fair though, the Skirmish mode AI is unusually strong however, and quite a challenge. Personally I just play the Campaign to get the cool items and play the Skirmish mode to get a real nice war. There is a range of difficulties, from ¡°Emperor¡± to ¡°Squire.¡±)

Overall: Good, but could have been better. As a side note, many of the above problems and more have been fixed by a recent patch. GET IT NOW. (It¡¯s at the official website by Enlight. I¡¯m not allowed to post the link here due to posting guidelines.) Without patch, 4 stars; with patch, maybe 5 stars. I'll give it 4 stars though because they should have polished the game *before* selling it.

Battlecry 3 is another example of how the Warlords series cannot seem to evolve.

I want to enjoy this game, really. Just as I wanted to enjoy Warlords 4 (turn-based), but in both cases the series seems to have suffered from either a low-budget approach or a lack of innovation. Summarized, Battlecry 3 is Battlecry 2.

Graphics:
Almost precisely the same as in Battlecry 2. A 2-D isometric approach with a typically fantasy theme. But as you might expect with an expansion, they "improved" the graphics by making them murkier and hazier and even found a way in which to make it more difficult to distinguish your troops from the scenery.

Gameplay:
Gather, build, fight, rinse, repeat, get poisoned, repeat, uh-oh your hero is about to perish, what's the button I press to get to him?, oops too late. New races bring limited twists to the theme. The Hero concept is improved, though, and now gives you the ability to level up during a fight and combine classes.

Campaign:
The campaign is claimed to be non-linear and dynamic. It's a stretch. There's a critical path of scenarios you must complete and then a number of side scenarios. You can do them in a few different orders, but the scenarios you see today will be the same you see tomorrow. It's no fun when you travel back and forth from two points on the map and always (always!) get ambushed by the same group of enemies in the same spot on the same skirmish map. Credit goes for a good random map generator for skirmish battles outside of the campaign.

Sound:
Music is wonderful, as always, though the same old unit, spell, and battle sound bites have been recycled from way back to Battlecry 1.

AI:
Enemy AI is not bad, as is usually expected with a Warlords product. Pathfinding, though, is worse than Battlecry 2. Significantly worse.

Multiplayer:
Haven't tried. It's been improved nominally from the previous version, my understanding.

Longevity:
If you are a hard-core fan, it will stick with you for a while, at least until you've tweaked your hero enough to go online and the fun of that ebbs. If you're into the single player game, you'll have to work on not getting distracted by the TV while you are playing.

Overall:
There's few important innovations here. You're not going to call a friend to show him or her this game and insist on a purchase. Considering this could be the third time you've paid for the same artwork, sound effects, and general gameplay, you'll need to be a die-hard fan not to turn away when you see a shiny coin lying on the floor next to you.

So I just saw this on the shelf and picked it up. I never played any of the previous versions so I can't compare, but I can give you the opinion of an ignorant gamer getting his feet wet.

First this game is deep and I love that. The more creative and open-ended the better for me, and this game meets those requirements. It is a real-time strategy game but you also have a hero that goes from scenario to scenario. He/She gains levels and you customize every aspect of their creation and growth. There are something like 16 races and 20 something classes. I have a dark elf pyromancer, which is pretty fun. There are so many combinations, not to mention a random map generator, a map editor and multiplayer possibilities. Talk about replay value!! Yee Haw!

The graphics are not on par with the hottest games on the market, but they are more than fine and don't bother me a bit. Did I mention you can even have a retinue of units that follow you from scenario to scenario. And they gain levels and get stronger. I got this vampire following me around kicking everyone's butt.

There's more to this game that I havn't even touched on (tons of spells, items, units, monster lairs). Whew.....okay..

The campaign is pretty fun too. So you will have great amounts of fun whether you're single player or multi. Have fun!!