Customer Reviews

Joan of Arc

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Wars and Warriors: Joan of Arc is an exhilarating RTS/Action game. It brings you the prefect combination of hack and slash and Role playing. You play as the Maid of Orleans, leading the resistance to the English invasion of France. What makes this game insanely addictive is the amount of different combos you can perform with 2 basic mouse buttons. The controls for the game are very basic and follow the basic layout for movement in FPS or 3rd person view games, it is nothing new. After 5 minutes of playing the game, you will feel right at home. The game itself enables you to choose different skill levels of play. Of course, the first time I played this, I chose the easiest difficulty. After a few hours, I became cocky and thought to myself that I could handle the hardest difficulty. Oh boy, let me warn you. Choose this difficulty at your on risk. It is no walk in the park. Arrows and swords were flying everywhere, and unfortunately all towards me. The replay factor is pretty high in this game. Even though I beat the missions multiple times, I never grew sick of playing it. I just wanted to hack and slash and level up more! I like the fact that Joan of Arc allows computer controlled characters to join your team. It adds the sensation of playing with others, although it does not compare to the actual multiplayer sensation. I spent mindless hours playing this and I did not want to stop. I recommend this game to anyone that loves to play Role Playing games and hack n slash games because this game is a great combination of both.

Graphics ( 7/10): Visually, the game is on the same level as most of the other 3rd person games out there. It actually reminds me of the Tomb Raider graphics. Although I really did enjoy the loading screens, they were very pleasing to the eye and made the wait a little more enjoyable.

Music/SoundFX (8/10): The music was very impressive. It set the mood and brought you back to ancient times. I would definitely say the music is what made the game fun to play.

Game play (7/10): This game is perfect for all the hack and slash fans out there. It is not your regular hack and slash game, Joan of Arc throws in a twist of RPG which adds a whole new level of enjoyment. The variety of attacks you can use is massive and gives you so many options in battles.

Graphics: 8/10
Music & Sound effects: 9/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Creativity: 8/10
Value: 8/10
Interface: 8/10
Overall 9/10

This is simply one of the most creative game I played this year, with its unique blend of RTS and Action gameplay, I can't help but sit down and play an hour or two every day after work.

The game looks absolutely stunning on my computer, and it runs silky smooth even with all details turned on with FSAA 2x. (P4 2.4Ghz, GeForce Ti4200, 1Ghz Ram). One of the thing I really enjoy in Joan of Arc is its breathtaking scenic. The level designers had gone into great details in recreating medieval buildings and castles.

I especially like the music for Joan of Arc, the battle music theme actually makes my blood rages while the peaceful music really blend seamlessly with the game environment. I just wish they would have release a collector edition with the original sound track!

The unique gameplay experience is what made this game great! You can switch between RTS mode and Action mode anytime. If you don't like action, simply switch to RTS mode and let the AI do it's job. Or if you prefer to perform massive combos with only your left and right mouse buttons, just switch back to Action mode and control one of the five unique general to your heart content. Each of these general have their unique combos and ability, which adds to the replayability of this game.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with this game, collecting special items, fulfilling quests, executing massive combos. This is the game for you if you like RPG/Action/RTS all in one!

Most professional reviewers have rated this game bad to mediocre, and with good reason: gameplay is simplistic, bugs are rampant, the AI is so primitive that your troops get stuck on any available obstacle, graphics are dated, the allegedly 'historical' background is nothing of the sort, and the frustration level caused by trying to deal with the many glitches generally ruins any possible enjoyment.
If you want a "Dynasty Warriors" clone, there are far better - and numerous - other choices out there.

First of all, for this price, Joan of Arc is a bargin, so if you like Joan and the Hundred Years war, go ahead and get it...but keep the following things in mind. 1. This game is only loosely historically accurate, and I mean loosely! 2. Some of the battles and scenarios are insanely long. 3. Glitches in the program can make commanding your troops virtually impossible at certain points. 4. The camera jumps around at the worst times. To enlarge on the above comments: The long battles can make you go a bit wacky and get you frustrated, especially when your soldiers start doing stupid things (Example: I tried to get some archers to follow me, and they simply stood behind a wall, firing into it, rather than firing at the English.) This stupid AI can make bigger battles REALLY frustrating, so don't throw your mouse...they're expensive! However, in my opinion, the worst thing about the game is the erratic camera angles. In one fight in the gateway to Orleans, the camera suddenly jumped downwards, so I had a view from the legs on up of everybody. This whole effect gave me the weird feeling that I was an English soldier who just got cold-cocked by Joan and was laying there on the ground stunned...however, considering I was supposed to be controlling Joan, this was a very bad effect. But, despite these flaws, the game is really fun...and I liked the music too. Note: If you get frustrated trying to command your stupid troops, just beef Joan up until she's a monster and use her like a super-hero, then, when you start to loose life, run back and get your stupid Men-at-arms for support, then eat some food to heal, and use Joan again (she's the only character who can use a horse, so it's worth it to keep beefing her up verses the others like Jean de la Metz.) This could have been an AWESOME game, but its obvious that they didn't have the budget to do that...coupled with the fact that there was a plan to put it on Xbox which went arwy. (This explains the games really console feel...it does have a real Xbox feel to it.) This would have made a smokin' Xbox game...to bad that deal fell through.

I played on "easy" mode and this game was a lot of fun. It is a welcome distraction from most action games where you spend hours getting killed in the same spot. You get to play as 5 different characters and can flip through them at your choice. Just note that you slowly gain more characters. You don't start out being able to have them all, and you can't even do a "strategic view" in the beginning levels. This game did get me interested in Joan of Arc and her generals. Interestingly, La Hire was commemorated as the Jack of Hearts in French playing cards. The game stops when you crown King Charles, so a happy ending will be created for those who don't know how the real-life story ended. The one negative on this game is that the AI is so incredibly stupid. They should have taken lessons from the Command & Conquer people. Your soldiers will get stuck on every obstacle possible. You can lose half your army in a trebuchet because they try to walk through it, and then can't get out. Overall, this game was a lot of fun.

Excellent graphic and sound just not the game style play I like.

Hey I will not lie to you. I had a wonderful time running around bashing English guys in the head with my mace (or sword as the case may be) but the A.I here is dumber then the A.I in games put out by Nivalogic. I never thought there would be a software company to top them when it came to stupid A.I.

Another thing that annoyed me was that for all the time the game spends on trying to get you to work as a team with your soldiers they never actually do anything, they just serve to get in the way. Really once you get Le Haire nothing else is needed. He is probably the best part of the game he is like a human tank. I still play for hours and hours with just him on some missions he is just that fun. Although his character seems to be more a nod of respect to the character from Age of Empires and not particularly based on any historical figure.

Overall-So yes the quality of the game is weak, but it looks good and Le Haire is fun to play around with. So if you have to play the game just play it for that reason and forget the rest of the missions.

Sorry.. forgot to give stars on my review of this game
5 ourra 5 ^_^