Warhammer Mark of Chaos is the eagerly awaited RTS (Real Time Strategy) game by Namco Bandai. Based on the Games Workshop tabletop wargame, Warhammer, one can fight alongside the evil Chaos or the mighty Empire. The game itself is amazing, graphics are top-notch and the AI is stunning. It captures the whole Warhammer experience greatly and has pretty good multiplayer action. Although there are some disadvantages (such as multiplayer technical issues and a fairly basic campaign) its well worth buying this game.
The game is fairly simple to get used to (after about half an hour you will probably be used to most of the basic controls) Basically, its mostly drag and click but there are some useful rotating/zooming options (all explained in the tutorial, which is a must for first-time players) and if a quick view reset is required, all you have to do is tap the Space Bar on your keyboard.
The battles are very similar to the Total War games (only instead of just humans, these include Orks, Elves, Skaven, Chaos and other creatures/armies from the popular fantasy wargame) The battles are amazing to watch and at some points I just zoom in and watch my men fight. Unfortunately the campaign-mode is nothing special. The player has a choice of two campaigns, the Chaos campaign and the Empire campaign. Even though Mark of Chaos and the Total War games feature the same type of epic-battles, the same can't be said for the campaigns. The Mark of Chaos campaigns are nothing close to the strategic depth of the Total War campaigns, but they both feature the same turn-based style.
Both the Empire and the Chaos campaigns are very similar, you move along a pre-determined battle path and fight battle after battle, meet and help a besieged town, duel an enemy hero and defeat and encampment of enemies. Occasionally you may come across a crossroads leading to an optional battle, but other than that, there aren't really any random events. You are able to buy your own army's units, upgrade them with better armor, weapons, siege equipment, banners, musicians and unit champions and even bless your troops in a temple, granting them various battle benefits. When you decide to fight a battle, you can obviously choose which troops to take with you and this is were the decision making and strategic planning begins.. do you want an army full of ranged weapons, such as muskets, bows or axes or would you rather rely on a force made up of swords and spears? The choice is up to you..If you lose some units in the battle, you can replace these (for a cost) at your army camp/town(eliminating the whole "resource gathering" process that may make other RTS games boring). You also get to control various heroes throught the game. These can also be upgraded with unique upgrades, they can collect armor and other items from dead units and use special skills to boost their/their regiment's fighting/defense skills. These heroes can duel enemy heroes in one-on-one combat. Speaking of battles, these involve quite a bit of strategic thinking and with the right tactics, it is possible to crush the enemy with minimal losses from your side. The fighting isn't like most RTS games, it isn't "fight to the death", units have morale and if a significant amount of that unit is killed, the survivors will break ranks and flee, giving you (or your opponent) the chance to regroup and chase the remainder of the enemy's army until they're forced to surrender.
Multiplayer battles are often huge and exciting (that is, if you manage to connect..) Unfortunately there are some connection problems (even after patching) but thankfully, these will eventually be fixed and Mark of Chaos supports multiplayer play over a LAN so its not THAT big of a problem.
This game is a fine example of a modern day RTS and any future expansions should be interesting..
I give this game an 8.5/10
Matthew Baldacchino - Admin/Webmaster
Wii Sports Games
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