Warlords BattleCry 3

by Enlight

Product Features

• Role-playing game
• Join the people of Etheria in search of new lands to conquer, or fight off the invaders with the Ssrathi
• 16 races, 28 classes of heroes with a new hero development system
• 6 different types of new dragons with all with unique abilities and breath weapons
• For 1 player

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00024GA9O
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: May 17, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #28,486 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

It was only a matter of time before the Selentine Merchants ventured too far from their trade routes, over the South Seas, searching for rich lands that might lay beyond. But they were unprepared for the terrors they would awaken, and the devastation they would unleash upon the world of Etheria.

At first, the southern continent seemed a peaceful, idyllic place - warm and tropical. But that would soon change. Although rich in gold and silver, the Selentines soon met the inhabitants of this new land - snake-like creatures who called themselves Ssrathi and their land Keshan. They were names that would come to be feared in later years.

The Selentines slew these first Ssrathi and took their gold, thinking them simple and primitive. But Nature too is simple and primitive, and it wields the most destructive powers and so it was with the Ssrathi. Their empire was large, their knowledge of magic extensive, and their Shaman-King, Iriki, was a creature whom even the Gods rightly feared.

The war that followed would change the face of Etheria forever.

Join with the many races of Etheria as you fight your way through the ruins, jungles and deserts of the southern continent of Keshan, searching for new lands to conquer, and the treasure with which you might build an Empire

Or take the role of the Ssrathi the snakemen of Keshan as they repel the invaders and then unleash the full might of their empire upon the northern realms!

Features

• Persistent Heroes: Sixteen different races, twenty-eight different classes.
• Retinues: To accompany your HERO in to battle.
• Full map editor: Random Maps, skirmish Mode.
• New Spells and Magic Items: More than one hundred and thirty spells over thirteen different spheres of magic. New Magic Items many of them special & rare, some even able to cast spells.
• Five New Races: Plaguelords, Saurians, Swarm. The old Human side will be split into Knights & Empire. This will include new units and new buildings.
• New Hero Development System: All of your old favorites plus eight new classes combine together in a new hero system that is easier to learn but harder to master than before. Take heroes beyond level 50. Gain levels while actually playing the game.
• New Terrain: Rock & Lava terrain, along with Jungle, Ruins and subterranean caverns.
• New Soundtrack: High quality soundtrack featuring thematic music, all at CD-Audio quality.
• Lots of New Dragons: Players will be able to produce six different colored dragons all with unique abilities and breath weapons.
• New Buildings: Many different shops will allow players to purchase items & troops to aid them in battle. The variety of different Lairs will produce neutral units that will roam the map seeking out trouble.

Product Description

Warlords Battlecry III builds on the outstanding features of the Warlords: Battlecry series, for innovative new role-playing action in the land of Etheria. The Story: As human traders explored for new lands and resources, they came upon the southern continent of Keshan. There they encountered the snakelike Ssrathi, whom they killed to take their gold and silver. But the Ssrathi were an incredibly powerful race, and the Northern humans found this out too late. The violence and bloodshed changed Etheria forever. Lead the humans into the South as you fight through Keshan, searching and conquering -- or lead the reptilian Ssrathi charge against humans encroaching from the North! Six unique new dragons with all-new colors, abilities and breath weapons New buildings - shops and lairs for purchasing items and producing new units Full map editor, plus random maps in Skirmish mode

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Man, this is addictive, June 9, 2004

By 

Aaron Lohr "Visionary" (Maryland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Warlords BattleCry 3 (CD-ROM)

So I just saw this on the shelf and picked it up. I never played any of the previous versions so I can't compare, but I can give you the opinion of an ignorant gamer getting his feet wet.

First this game is deep and I love that. The more creative and open-ended the better for me, and this game meets those requirements. It is a real-time strategy game but you also have a hero that goes from scenario to scenario. He/She gains levels and you customize every aspect of their creation and growth. There are something like 16 races and 20 something classes. I have a dark elf pyromancer, which is pretty fun. There are so many combinations, not to mention a random map generator, a map editor and multiplayer possibilities. Talk about replay value!! Yee Haw!

The graphics are not on par with the hottest games on the market, but they are more than fine and don't bother me a bit. Did I mention you can even have a retinue of units that follow you from scenario to scenario. And they gain levels and get stronger. I got this vampire following me around kicking everyone's butt.

There's more to this game that I havn't even touched on (tons of spells, items, units, monster lairs). Whew.....okay..

The campaign is pretty fun too. So you will have great amounts of fun whether you're single player or multi. Have fun!!

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but could have been better, June 29, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Warlords BattleCry 3 (CD-ROM)

This game really isn't as bad as a few news sources have claimed. That said, those sources (including the illustrious and respectable PC Gamer) do have their points. Let's go over the basic pros and cons of this game.

Pros:
- Incredible depth in terms of races (16!) and units, probably unsurpassed by any other current RTS out there
- Over 130 spells
- A unique RPG/RTS approach that others are starting to copycat
- A vast and addictive campaign
- Tons of cool new magical items for creating a personalized character
- A more involving storyline than WBII which (basically) offered a simple mandate to conquer the world. This one has a more developed and interesting story
- A refined interface, superior in every respect to the C&C series.
- Tons of strategic options, like the ability to set unit groups to have certain "attitudes" (i.e. cowardly, aggressive, rampant, fallback [units return to base when 25% HP], stand ground, magic defensive, etc), the ability to setup and monitor patrol routes, etc.
- A convenient resource system that isn't as anal retentive as Age of Empires but still complex enough to allow for strategic intricacy. You??ll have to weight your options between converting and razing buildings.
- A ruthlessly efficient AI in resource management and parallel production
- Extremely high replay value

Cons:
- An improved graphics system (over WBII), but one that still pales in comparison to most RTS's on the market.
- Very bad pathfinding issues, occasionally units will go in the exact opposite direction you ordered- not a good thing, obviously.
- Music, though appropriate, is a bit repetitive
- Sometimes units in a group will wander off for no reason and it can become tiresome to "herd" them back in.
- There are some bad balancing problems in this game. The Undead and Dwarves have severely undercosted units and two of the new races- the Plaguelords and the Scorpionmen or whatever, are a bit too weak at the beginning of the game. Several abilities have become abused (i.e. the "Energy" ability replenishes mana way too quickly.)
- the AI, although *economically* efficient as was aforementioned, is not very bright, at least as far as the main Campaign goes. For instance, on one of the early Pirate Treasure Island quests, there's this ridiculous hero who will come to your base, endure a ton of heavy artillery, run away to heal, *do the exact same thing* a few minutes later, like an idiot until you eventually nail him.

(To be fair though, the Skirmish mode AI is unusually strong however, and quite a challenge. Personally I just play the Campaign to get the cool items and play the Skirmish mode to get a real nice war. There is a range of difficulties, from ??Emperor?? to ??Squire.??)

Overall: Good, but could have been better. As a side note, many of the above problems and more have been fixed by a recent patch. GET IT NOW. (It??s at the official website by Enlight. I??m not allowed to post the link here due to posting guidelines.) Without patch, 4 stars; with patch, maybe 5 stars. I'll give it 4 stars though because they should have polished the game *before* selling it.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars warlords shines again, May 23, 2004

By 

S. Patel "sajioblo" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Warlords BattleCry 3 (CD-ROM)

Where other games always claim to have strategic depth, Warlords Battlecry is one of the few series that truly shines. Warlords consist of having a hero leading an army to victory.

The hero, in rpg fashion, benefits from being a thief or a paladin differently. Of course, one could instead choose to be lichelord, a daemon slayer, or a merchant. There are a great number of classes, each benefitting the army or the hero's abilities in varied ways. Your hero can be one of 16 "races"--ranging from daemon, to insectoid, to knightly order, to greedy imperial, and so on. Shops exist to boost your hero's stats through items, which can also be earned through quests or by killing enemy heroes. There are several spell schools, trumped by the great Arcane sphere, which modifies other spells from other schools.

Conceivably, one could have a small game based on the heroes alone. From that point, however, one must select one of the 16 races as your army. These parallel the hero species, and include:
Undead, Fey (Fairies & Unicorns), Demons, Knights, Imperials, Barbarians, Insectoids (Swarm), Plaguelords, Minotaurs, Wood Elves, Dark Elves, High Elves, Dwarves, Dark Dwarves, Reptiles (with Dinos!), and Orcs.

While some of these sides share units, the majority of units for each side are unique, culminating with the Titan--the "god" of your race. The number of possible hero/race combinations becomes astronomical, guaranteeing you'll get your money's worth.

Adding to the battles is the ability to select the AI stance of each unit. This avoids the problems with setting all units to defence or offence. In fact, there is a large range of behaviors involved, from retreating when low in health to wandering and attacking everything in sight.

Finally, the icing on the cake is a campaign that has a story but allows for much free will. There are sections of the map you don't have to explore, but these mini campaigns will give your hero a chance to grow in power.

The only complaint one could make are the graphics, which are a combination of 2d sprites on 3d terrain. Personally, RTS graphics won't make the game last longer, so I didn't care. The graphics aren't bad mind you, I liked the claymation style of the units. The whole thing is both a funny cartoon (thanks to the unit voices) and deathly serious story of demons invading the world. The folks at infinite interactive made it work though.