Warlords Online
Did you know that the classic PC fantasy wargame series Warlords and the popular multi-platform puzzle RPG fusion game Puzzle Quest are directly related? I didn't, until Warlords Online recently hit the web.My initial reaction was "yes, Warlords!" Then I realized how much it was like Puzzle Pirates or some such, and I started to think "how could Warlords have come to this?" And then I recalled Warlords IV and what a travesty that was...
I was introduced to the series with the rather late title, Warlords III: Darklords Rising, after it was already years old. Even though the game was quite dated and didn't run properly under Windows XP without some coaxing, I was blown away by the addictive simplicity of it. It wasn't long before I'd also tried out Warlords I and II, and I found that the whole series up to that point was brilliant. I pretty much ignored Warlords Battlecry on principle, since I wasn't looking for another RTS to play.
I was stoked when I first heard about Warlords IV and eagerly awaited its release. Unfortunately the game pretty much sucked ass owing to many problems that, in my opinion, stem from one common theme: the game had lost its vision of simplicity. From the look and feel of everything to the functionality of the world map, menus, and combat system, Warlords IV felt busy and cluttered. Earlier Warlords games had the simple elegance of Advance Wars and emphasized exactly those properties that make 4X games so gut-wrenchingly addictive, whereas Warlords IV felt like one of those myopic fantasy strategy games that uses layered and arbitrary complexity to mask the absence of compelling content. I still sometimes force myself to play Warlords IV because I just can't get over what a huge letdown it is and I keep expecting to someday "get it" even though I can't say what "it" is. (I have similar episodes with Master of Orion III.)
In a sense, Warlords Online is a step in the right direction because it takes Warlords closer to its roots of simplicity and addictive gameplay. That said, I just don't feel right playing a Bejeweled-like game when I could by playing Warlords II or III. (I've also been known to play Disciples II, which I bought on Steam last year. Fucking righteous game, that one.)
posted by Parappa @ 2:01 PM
3 Comments:
Master of Orion 3? Man, don't waste your time; expecting anything decent from MoO3 can only end in tears.
On second thought, I suppose you could sharpen the CDs and throw them at pollsters. That would provide more entertainment than actually playing the game could ever hope to.
I fondly recall the excitement when I picked up MoO3. I throughly enjoyed the previous two. I was so disappointed...it was just so painful.
"I told you to build a ship!" "Where's the damn ship?"
So true, Michael... so true.
At least the success of Sins of a Solar Empire has shown the PC game publishers that there is still a demand for 4X games, as long as they're good.
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