Battle Realms

Game: Battle Realms
Developer: Liquid Entertainment
Platform: PC
Release Year: 2001
Stephen's Rating: 5/10

I must apologise for not posting in a very long time. My wife and I are expecting our first child in 3 weeks time and I've been rennovating the baby's room... but I'm back for now in this brief window before she is born!

Basic Plot

The story follows Kenji, the last heir to the Serpent Throne. Right from the start the player is presented with a choice whether he will confront some bandits who are attacking some peasants, or join them in doing so. The choice impacts the game and two different storylines emerge; either Kenji works to bring good to the world and follows the path of the Dragon clan, or he can follow in his predecessors footsteps and lead the Serpent clan.

The story then revolves around trying to obtain an artifact called the Orb of the Serpent before the other clans.

Gameplay

Battle Realms is a real time strategy game similar to Age of Empires or StarCraft. The aesthetics and story are based on Oriental mythology which is unique for games of this genre. The game included four playable races (clans):

• Serpent Clan; uses stealth, trickery, and brutality.
• Dragon Clan; honourable warriors who value honour and justice.
• Wolf Clan; former miner slaves who fought for their freedom.
• Lotus Clan; sorcerers who delve into dark magic.

Each clan had their own fighting style and aesthetic. Like other RTS games the player needs to gather resources to build their structures and units. The two resources in the game are rice and water which are gathered by peasants.

Another resource is either Yin or Yang (depending on the faction). These are obtained by winning in combat, by the size of your army, and how far the army is from your base and can be spent to summon Zen Masters. It can also be used to research some fighting styles and upgrade a Zen Master.

A player starts off only being able to produce peasants. He or she is then able to research new fighting styles in one of their three main structures in order to unlock new units.

Zen Masters are hero units which can be summoned at the cost of Yin or Yang.

Another unusual aspect of the game is that peasants are built automatically and at no cost, but the rate at which they spawn is inversely related to the population of the player. The more units the player builds, the longer it will take to spawn a new peasant.

Positives

For the time this was a fairly complex RTS with a bunch of interesting mechanics which were refreshing.

The aesthetics of the game were strong and engaging.

Negatives

The resource system was somewhat confusing. The peasant spawn system reminded me of "upkeep" in Warcraft III, and really put me off playing it.

Memorable Moments

My memory of this game is that it was kind of oddball and unexpected. I'm not sure why I didn't commit and play it to completion.