Developers nowadays are trying hard to find the right ingredients to make the perfect real-time strategy game that caters to console gamers. Whether it’s Electronic Arts with their Command & Conquer series or even Microsoft’s own Halo Wars, the RTS genre is filling up quite nicely on the Xbox 360. Sadly, Namco-Bandai’s latest RTS, Warhammer: Battle March, isn’t going to pick up any end-of-the-year awards.
The Warhammer franchise is surely popular enough to warrant an RTS since it has a fervent fan base that will play anything with the name attached to the product. But Warhammer: Battle March is nothing will have the masses cheering. It in essence tears the controls right out of Warhammer: Mark of Chaos and has you playing at a frantic pace trying to keep up with controller input for your units.
So what’s the one thing that all console RTS titles hinge on? Controls, controls, controls! The controls are shoddy and hinder the gameplay from being enjoyable. Having to fumble with flipping through your units, heroes, and activating items through the triggers and bumpers is a hassle. If you aren’t fast enough to react to your enemies advances, you’ll be prone to a counterattack as Warhammer is fast-paced on the battlefield while the controller input isn’t.
The game’s campaign isn’t anything special either. It’s a straightforward affair that’ll only have you stopping at camps to get reinforcements and medical help. It’s an uncomplicated storyline with generic missions and objectives; in other words, don’t expect anything special out of Warhammer in terms of a storyline. One area that needed work was the exposition; the developers thought it was fine to fill everyone in on story through generic text scrolls before each mission.
Combat isn’t vastly tactical either – it’s undemanding to say the least. The objectives will ask for you to defend, attack, and retrieve so no worries about getting a headache trying to overcome the opposition. The computer AI also suffers from a lack of real intelligence. They’ll rush you in waves and leave openings in their defense to take advantage of. It’s an easy game; one that doesn’t require much skill. It’s too bad since having played the PC versions in the past Warhammer has been a great strategy title.
Technical issues plague Warhammer from ever looking or sounding more than an average game. The environments are insipid and weak in terms of details while the units are better looking. In fact the characters and units look like the real life miniatures recreated in a video game. The audio portion contains pitiful voice-acting and sound effects while having a great soundtrack. Yeah, it’s easy to notice that Warhammer is a mixed bag.
So what does have Warhammer: Battle March have going for it? Well there are Xbox Live games to partake in that’ll fill that void of tactics and strategy. Players should take more pleasure from playing against real-life opponents rather than dull computer AI. But there are far better titles on the Xbox 360 in the real-time strategy genre. Wait for Halo Wars or Tom Clancy’s End War to fulfill your needs for a competitive and smart RTS.
