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Battle Realms

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 12, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is an excellent game I would reccomend to inexperienced and experienced strategy gamers alike. For those who don't play such games very often, you can learn the game quickly through a nicely designed tutorial and begin playing the campaign immdediately. The game has four unique sides to play as, so mastering each one will take a great deal of time. The amazing graphics and fun gameplay make this game a very good buy.
Experts will enjoy how innovative this game is. Instead of creating peons (peasants) they are generated, and all other units "come" from peasants, so sending a peasant into the appropriate building will produce an archer, warrior, or any other basic unit. If you like you can send this basic unit into a second and third bilding, creating even more units! Any unit can also go into specific buildings to gain "battlegear", which are basicly special powers. These and other original ideas will make this game a breath of fresh air for people tired of typical RTS.
Well that's why I like this game so much, so check out the demo at www.battlerealms.com and buy it if you like it.

It ainýt as fun as StarCraft, but itýs still great

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: September 15, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Graphics: VERY NICE, full 3D environments and characters. Beautifully rendered waterfalls, terrain with various slopes and elevations, and forests that hide units and buildings by utilizing fog of war. Units actually have several animations of attack, as opposed to the zealots in StarCraft (SC) which run at 40 mph at their target, only to repeatedly "one-two" punch them when they close in. Units also appear 2.5 times larger than many other RTS games, so you can appreciate more realism there. Pyrotechnics, fires and explosions look great as well, although there are very little of them compared with other RTSs.

Sound: good. Sound FX, and music are nothing spectacular in my opinion but really compliment the game. Most of the music has Asian themes either majestic, tribe-like, or even ominous. The sound of waterfalls running, horses galloping, and faraway birds squawking add to the sound quality.

Interface: This takes some getting used to. Hotkeys are quite important, as even when I was directly observing a battle, I always thought to myself at the end "what the hell just happened?". In such chaos, it's difficult to even select the units you want and time will be wasted moving your cursor around. Unfortunately, very few are displayed during game play, so many of them need to be looked up and memorized in the help menu. Those such as locating idle peasants, goto battle location, and certain buildings will be handy to know. The game lets you group units for quick reference and imposes no limit per group, but anything more than 8 and you'll need to access the rest by scrolling. Hotkeys are provided for using battlegears as well and the interface was intuitive enough to allow you to access a specific unit's battlegear within a group or all of them with the push of a button. Again with 8+ unit groupings, selecting specific unit's battlegear is more cumbersome. There are improvements that could be made. First off, there are no formation controls. Second, many of the units, even healers and peasants get "trigger-happy" and will attack enemies out-right. Commanding them to hold position or to flee without attacking won't always work, so you're then forced to micromanage.

Gameplay: granted that many of you may have seen screenshots beforehand, this is one area I feel I should elaborate more on. Peasants (the lowest tiered units) are auto-generated. They do their resource gathering and building, then they're sent into certain buildings to be trained. They could then be sent into more buildings to train into generally better units. In addition to creating different units in this matter, many units can also equip one battlegear at a time giving them different abilities and spells, some of which take stamina, others may only be used a certain number of times per re-equipping and others may hurt or kill the unit using it. Like previous RTS which incorporate spells, they range from defense/attack/range/speed bonuses and even provide different abilities such as fire arrows or teleportation.
One aspect that gives "building AND resource managing RTS" a lot of strategic depth (at least what I've noticed) is a motivation or strategic reason to build lesser units over high level units. Battle Realms (BR) seems to have gotten that down pact. For example, veterans of SC will understand why creating a victory fleet of capitol ships will seldom work against good, experienced players. In BR, All units inflict certain types of damages (blunt, cutting, pierce, explosive, magic, fire) and have strengths and weaknesses against certain types as well. For example, samurai, the Dragon clans 3rd tier units are extremely weak vs. explosive damage, and a cheap 1st tier unit like a Serpent musketeer can wipe it out in 2 or 3 hits. Musketeers however have good defense vs. cutting damage inflicted by samurai. In another case, archers may gain the upper hand with attack and range bonus as well as security when perched on top of high cliffs, and will be able to butcher missile units and especially melee units. Another nice aspect about this game is that even with multiple races (clans in this case), all the units of the same designation across all 4 clans don't succumb to the "same unit different name" syndrome. An example to illustrate this would be the 1st tier missile units. Even without battlegear, archers, crossbowmen, hurlers, and leaf disicples have different weapons, ranges, weaknesses, rate of fire, etc., unlike what happened in Star Trek Armada, where all units of a certain level are armed with phasers. Several places in where Battle Realms is different from many other RTS is where upgrades are handled by yin/yang points, earned ONLY by defeating enemies. Heroes can be summoned for the price of yin/yang, many of which are rather unique, NOT just regular units with upgraded stats. Resources are nearly infinite, as water never dries up and rice can grow back when watered. There is a unit cap of 20, 30, or 40 and a tower (the game's defensive building) limit of 4 per race.

Replayability: If you like the game for what it is, you'll come back to it as people do with SC and any other RTS. Multiplayer adds more dimension to the game, although there aren't as many players as there are for other PC RTS. The skirmish mode is like a single player version of multiplayer. Both of the previous 2 have different modes of play and options, such as starting army, resource growth, weather, where players start off, and how fast yin/yang is earned. Finally, there are 2 campaigns, one for Dragon clan and one for Serpent clan, and each has its own set of heroes to unlock.

Bottom line: Although SC is my all time favorite RTS, I can definitely see myself going back to this game, more so for the multiplayer. I also eagerly anticipate any new add-ons and expansion packs.

Challenging, Addictive, and Extremely FUN to play

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: September 26, 2002
Author: Amazon User

A combination of good graphics and well-defined, cool-looking characters -- I'd say better than WarCraft III. Creative Japanese theme... you harvest rice and collect water as resources.

Has MANY well-thought of features and game-play details. For example:
Peasants gather resources faster if you place one of the Masters in the ricefield, or a Kabuki warrior (historically Japanese entertainer).

Every character has multiple moves and circle around each other during battle -- unlike WC3 -- this gives a very fluid feel to the fights.

Learning curve is low as everything operates on mouse with few keyboard shortcuts to remember.. WITHOUT sacrificing variety of possible strategies. Basically User Friendly interface.

So let's pose the question: Which of the following is most interesting in Battle Realms...
- visual effects
- simplicity of the gameplay
- variety of strategies that are available
- online play
- story line

Answer: YES!
If you like RTS, you'll enjoy this one...There's a reason it's got nearly 5 stars with close to 50(!) reviews~

One IMPORTANT thing... download the BattlePacks (patches)...BattlePack3 makes it so MUCH more challenging.

Great graphics, but beyond that....NOT THAT MUCH REALLY !!!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 12
Date: December 22, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The game has got excellent graphics and superb animation of the characters. Yet, the gameplay gets too boring after a while.
There are hardly any real strategies in that game. You simply build an army and then they hack teh enemy to pieces or get done themselves by the enemy.
Also the game has almost no defense buidings like gun turrets, towers or walls which make it impossible to build a good base or to defend teh buildings. It also takes a lot of tactical aspects out of the game.
Battle realms has a lot of cool features, but it lacks everything that makes a true entertaining RTS game. AOK for example is still fun playing after more than a 100 hours. The same applies to Starcraft. These new 3d RTS games try to impress the player with graphics, but have nothing more to offer.

High Quality RTS

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 21, 2001
Author: Amazon User

At first the game seemed a bit "iffy", but then i installed it :). The graphics are very well done and the game play is excellent. You tell your units to attack and they run after the enemy and start attacking and keep on attacking till the enemy is gone or all dead. If enemies come near your troops attack automatically. The storyline is good and the ability to choose your route along the way is great. I recommend this game to all RTS gamers.

Better than WC3

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: March 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Graphics- Battle Realms is one of the most beautiful RTS games on the market. Every unit has several fighting animations, so battles always play out differently and never look the same. Units also have various idle animations, some which have an effect on gameplay. The terrains and maps are very detailed, with fish and frogs in the water, birds in the woods that fly out when disturbed, and insects in the desert.

Sound- The orchestrated soundtrack flows dynamically, changing depending on the current situation. Each Clan has several different songs. Overall the voice overs are fine, except for a few "weird" clips.

Gameply- Battle Realms features totally innovative gameplay. Every unit, even the strongest and most expensive have a counter and can easily be killed if they are not paired with different troops. This prevents newb- tactics such as massing. Most units have two special powers, battle gears, that can drastically affect the outcome of a battle. Since even a level 1 unit can have a very effective gear, there are no useless units in Battle Realms. There is a semi- long branching campaign with a map similar to the one in Emperor. The AI in Battle Realms is also exceptional. Units will automatically attack their last attacker, and often have two different attack types ( samurais have piercing bows and cutting swords). They alternate between weapons to maximize damage to the enemy. The unit AI never has problems with pathfinding.

Conclusion- I have played both Battle Realms and the WC3 beta extensively, and although WC3 is only a beta I can say that BR is far superior. It is a fresh addition to the tired "mass up the strongest and wipe out the enemy" formula of modern RTS games, instead focusing on micromanagement of a small amount of units. BTW, even once you reach 20 units, you will feel like you have a huge army. Thus, most games are decided by early game skirmishing of 6-8 units. The only negative thing I can name is the multiplayer, which uses Gamespy. Gamespy has the laggiest servers ever, so don't expect to find more than 10 games at a time. However, once you get into the game the lag will clear up. I give Battle Realms, Liquid's first game, a 5/5.

Best strategy game out there.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: March 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Battle Realms is without a doubt the best strategy game of the year so far. Unfourtanlly Battle Realms has been underrated and underplayed by critics and gamers alike. The gameplay is new and inniovative. Unit production is much deeper than other strategy games as instead of creating from a list of units or creating from one structure, you can train peasants which are generated automaticlly. You train a peasant by sending him to a building of your choosing. this turns the peasant into a sepcific warrior which can be trained further by sending him to a different structure.
Animations of all the units are fluid and complete, and the attack/idle animations are different and each unit alternates through a set of them. Forests can block your view, but trees can be burned to the ground or chopped down. If units run trough forests, a forest alert of flocks of birds will fly up, revealing your position to the enemy. If it rains, fire wont be as effective against structures as the rain will put it out.

The game also has a map editor avable for download at the offical Battle Realms website.

Battle Realms has a multiplayer mode, skirmish mode, and a single player campaign. The single player mode allows you to play the story as either the dragon clan or serpent clan, while all the clans are playable in skirmish or multiplayer. Custom maps can also be used in multiplayer and skirmish mode.

Battle Realms has many different features. Horses are generated on every map, and can be mounted to fight with and aid you in battle, or depending on your clan, can be fed to wolves to create new units. There are 2 primary resources in Battle Realms, these are rice and water, both are used to construct buildings and train soldiers. There are 4 clans/races in Battle Realms, Dragon, Wolf, Lotus, and Serpent You can upgrade your soldiers at the buildings you create them at, these upgrades cost yin or yang, depending on your clan. You gain yin/yang by engaging in combat. The hero's/Zen masters in Battle Realms all have their very own special ability, and are different for each clan. Also, most units have an innate ability. These do not cost reasources, and are activated automataclly. In addition to Health, units have Stamina. Units can run or/and use battle gear at the cost of stamna (with execptions). When they're out of stamina the unit can not run or use certain battlegear anymore.

Battle Realms is a great game. visually pleasing, amazing sound and story, and most importantly, very fun.

Simply complex, complexly simple!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: March 12, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I've been playing strategy games of all types for almost 20 years. I like them a lot.
When I installed and fired up Battle Realms for the first time, I was pleased by the look and feel of it. Then I was once again learning yet another strategy game... ho hum... A day later I was totally in love!
StarCraft was a big favourite of mine but now I'll never install it again.
Battle realms is clearly the most ingeniously complex yet decidedly simple game I've ever played. It incorporates all that's ever really been good in the strategy genre into one stunningly beautiful package. Its 3D world view is nice enough for a modern game but graphically, its unit combat animations and management are just fantastic! Your armies jostle and jive about the battlefield giving it the feel of watching masses of the best masters of all the worlds fighting styles 'mixing it up' for your amusement!
But that's just the eye candy!
The game mechanics should appeal to the most obsessive number-crunchers and statisticians to the 'I don't give a damn, I just like the look of that troop type' players.
There are 4 different races (clans) to chose from and that helps give the game an incredibly rich complexity in unit versus unit relationships.
There's so much I'd like to say about the game but I really don't want to spoil it for ANYONE!
Buy it. Buy it now. It's the best RTS I've ever played and I've played them ALL but none so obsessively as this.

A game about Tactics

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User

There are alot of good things to say about battle realms, from its unique flavour, and distinct clans with distinctly different units and tactics, to its original method of unit development and its amazing graphics, including its varied unit animations that make combat look like combat. I'll have to focus on just one...the tactical aspect that makes the game replayable over and over, fresh with every game.

Right off the bat, the game hits you with its graphics and the obvious new elements...like peasant training and horse gathering. cross training units between buildings to create more powerful units is also unique to battle realms and it presents interesting quandaries. Some people have worried that the resource system in the game was maybe too simple..that alot of the strategic aspects of other notables before battle realms, like ages of empires, were in the implementation of economy. Well economy is alive and well in BR...Peasants are infact, a resource...soldiers don't come out of thin air..they come at the price of workers, and working a good balance of this is essential to success. Horses also, can generate a quick rushing force-as most units can become mounted, or else they can be used to bolster ones economy by becoming pack horses.
Stamina is also a unit statistic that ads whole new realms of tactics to the battle field...rushing to an attack may mean not closing that range to the other guy's archers..or it may mean forgoing the possibility of retreat. Baiting units becomes more valuable in this game than it ever has been before, because getting back to significant locations in time to defend them may not be viable.
There are upgrades for units as well,and theywork like baptism by fire in a way...you get yang or yin by fighting...which you can use to improve certain units strengths, and the upgrades are unique in themselves. the further you are from home the more points you get to upgrade, which discourages turtling.
Some strategy veterans have unfortunately, been quick to discount the depth of Battle Realms because of some of the reduced accessories...less buildings...less resources. But units in other games have never had so much depth...Samurai are capable of staying at range and lobbing arrows...or else closing with their sword, for instance, and almost all units are further customizable by 2 options of battle gear that have affects in combat. units have innate abilities, like the kabuki's juggling that make peasants work better for the entertainment. The game is streamlined in the way you produce, without making that element unimportant. What it means in the end, is that the game comes down to the battlefield...and rarely in one duke out slug fest. A less sophisticated player actually has a chance against a grognard of the game...not because the game has no depth...but because he can actually pull the wool over the guys eyes and have it mean something. You try that in ages of empires...take out the pros first wave of cavalry however you might manage to do that...just to have him send a bigger one, because his economy outmatches yours 3 to 1. You can definitely have a stronger economy than the next player in battle realms, and it will matter...but it won't be the most significant factor that determines the winner and the loser. Combat in this game is fast and furious, but those who have argued that all you do is throw units at the other guy's units, will lose every time against a seasoned player. Buy it and see.

It is the 2nd best RTS game around

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User

While it may not be Age of Empires but it certainly is a brillant game. Like any game it has its flaws, but these flaws are easily ignored. The good parts about the game are simply over whelming. The amount of strategys you can have, the level of detail in the game and the the great maps(and now editor).

I recommend this game to anyone who can win games without cheating, there are no cheats in this game. Battle Realms creators have fixed all the bugs in the game (well that they know of at least) and now its a brillant game. ]

P.S-C+C Renegade is better

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