Warlords Battlecry III: Warlords May Battlecry Company: Enlight Software The core of Warlords Battlecry III is the combination of RPG character development and the strategy of an RTS. Before venturing into the world of Battlecry III, you must first create your avatar. This character will serve as your main hero throughout the game's massive campaign. You begin by choosing from among 16 races, including the typically fantasy humans, Elves and Dwarves and even a few more interesting ones like Plaguelords and Ssarathi -- a race of lizardmen. You also have a selection of classes to choose from, ranging from combat types like the Warrior or Dragonslayer to pure magic types like Priests and Illusionists. Each class comes with a selection of pros and cons, such as the Summoner's low attack but monster summoning abilities, and there is enough variety that even the pickiest of gamers should find something that that like. The class you choose will also have some bearing on your avatar's skills. These include strength, health and charisma. As with other RPGs, these attributes play directly into how you character handles in the game. High strength points will effect damage numbers, health will determine your hit points, and so on. One of the more unique things in Battlecry III is how some of the other, more often ignored attributes play a role in the game. Every player wants high spell-casting and damage outputs; a desire that usually leaves skills like Charisma out in the cold. However, Charisma turns out to be a major stat within Battlecry III's RTS side. High Charisma points will expand your army's morale boost, making your army much stronger. Obviously, this leads to an interesting trade-off; do you want one ultra-strong fighter or an army with a strength boost? Attributes can also be enhanced through the use of magical items and some skills. Further enhancing the RPG aspect, your hero can receive quests from temples. After obtaining a quest you can play though a small side-story and enhance your character through the collection of special items and good old fashion leveling. Getting into the RTS side of the game, Battlecry III follows a familiar pattern found in other games in the genre. You begin by collecting resources, setting up a town and raising an army. A few new wrinkles are thrown in the mix, setting the game apart from others. The more noticeable difference is the lack of peon lines. Everything you need to generate resources, which include gold, gemstones and other materials. Once you come upon a holding, your avatar can take control of it. From then on, as long as someone doesn't destroy it, or it doesn't run dry, you will have a steady stream of resources. Depending on the race you choose to play as, certain resources will be more valuable to you. Playing as the humans will mean that you may have more of a demand for gold, but as a Dwarf you may have more need for a gemstone. This lends an interesting dynamic to gameplay as you are always going out in search of resources. Instead of having everything within reach (as in other RTSs), you are encouraged to explore your surroundings, capture resources and defend them. The option to destroy mines also plays into the mix. If your race has little need for a particular resource and you come across something that you know your opponent needs, you can take it out and essentially screw them over. Of course, this could come back and bite you in the ass if a particular high-level unit ends up costing more of that resource than you have access to. Battlecry III feels much more defense-oriented than other RTSs. You can still build large armies, but the slow build times and abundance of defensive structures seem to throw a wrench into the plans of players who are known to hit the other player early. Low-level troop rushes are doable, but take planning. It should be interesting to see the strategies higher-skill players come up with. So far, Warlords Battlecry III is shaping up to be a strong entry in to the RTS category. Look for our review sometime soon. -Starscream, GameVortex Communications AKA Ricky Tucker Related Links: Enlight Software: Official Warlords Battlecry III: Official Site