A very surprising & great RTS, even if it is a wanna-be Warcraft III.
Gameplay: If you have played a RTS in recent years, then you should be able to jump into Warlords Battlecry very quickly. Right away you will feel like you are playing WC3's little cousin. You build up a base, purchase units, aquire uprgrades, play as different factions, etc. The big twist here is the introduction of heroes into the mix. Now I know WC3 had heroes, as well. Warlords takes it to a whole new level, though. Here you start the game making a hero. As you gain experience, you gain levels. You can then customize your hero to whatever kind of 'job' you would like. You can make him a warrior, thief, mage, or whatever you want. As you go through the game's lengthy single player campaign, you gain levels and can purchase new skills & abilities.
Needless to say, this is a very addicting thing to have in a game. Sure it's not as deep as a RPG, but it was nice to be able to choose what path I wanted my hero to take. And at a point in the single player game, you come to a 'fork in the road', so to speak. You can either choose a 'light' or 'dark' path. The main difference in the paths is minimal, except for the different races you will be in charge of. But it does add a lot of replay value to an already very long game. And it is fun to see how the storyline changes depending on what path you choose.
Other than those two things, this game plays very similar to the Warcraft games and doesn't really distinguish itself from a crowded RTS genre all that much. That's not necessarily a bad thing, considering how good the games it's copying are. Even the storyline is pretty good, albeit a little predictable. In the single player game, you use several different races, but you can use the unavailable ones in the skirmish mode. I just had a lot of fun playing this and I think anyone who is a fan of the Warcraft series should check this out.
Graphics: This isn't the game's strongpoint. As I have said, the game reminds me a lot of WC3 in terms of gameplay. Too bad SSI didn't bother to copy the quality of the visuals, as well. What you have here is a game that plays like WC3, but looks about as good as WC2. That's not to say the game is ugly, by any means. It's very colorful and the characters all look nice. It just won't 'wow' you in any way, and was behind the times even by the year 2000 standards. The cutscenes certainly aren't very good, and I experienced a great deal of slowdown during gameplay. That's pretty bad for a game that isn't that great to look at.
Sound: Pretty standard music here. If you have played any other medieval-themed RTS, you will know what to expect here. The funny thing I noticed is that while playing as the humans, your 'Squires' (a.k.a. Peasant) have the same exact sound effect when they talk as they did in WC2. I am surprised nobody at Blizzard complained about that. It's really obvious when you first start playing the game.
Value: As I have said, there are two different paths you can take in the single player campaign. If you do both paths, you will be playing this game for quite awhile. And that's not even counting the skirmish mode & the multiplayer. This one will keep you busy for awhile.
Tilt: I really liked this game. Like I have said, it plays like WC3's ugly cousin. But I love the idea of making the heroes more of a centerpiece by adding a RPG element. It makes the game very addicting, and along with the great gameplay itself, is a game you will be playing long past when you should have went to sleep. If you are a fan of the Warcraft series and you can get past the shoddy visuals, you should give this game a try.