Warlords III - PC Review - Gamecenter

Free Email

Search

Click Here!

CNET: Gamecenter: PC

Reviews

Warlords III

continued
Give It Up, Or Turn It Loose
Simultaneous turns give the game a sense of urgency but still allows time for strategic thinking. Also, since everyone goes at the same time, an eight-player game can go as quickly as a two-player game. Even in Heroes of Might and Magic II (one of my all-time favorites), you can't play a substantial game with more than two players and hope to finish in one night. The only downfall to simultaneous turns is that so much happens at once, and it is impossible to keep track of it all in real time. Therefore, careful planning and thinking ahead are vital to success. It also helps Warlords III that each battle is saved by the computer, and the results can be viewed by players at their leisure.
Of course, with the wonderful turn timer feature, leisure can be hard to find. With the turn timer, game hosts can prevent anal retentives from dragging the game to a crawl. Also impressive is the chat feature, which allows for two different chat modes and includes the ability to whisper to individual players. Warlord's most impressive multiplayer feature, however, is its sheer number of connectivity options. You can play others via IPX, TCP/IP, modem, serial cable, hot-seat, email or by using Brøderbund's free game matching service, The Red Orb Zone. The ROZ isn't as full featured as Battle.net, for example, but it is functional and updates itself as new versions arrive.
Perfection Is So Elusive
Warlords III has a few minor drawbacks. For starters, there's the manual, which is hard to use as a reference, and should contain an index. Also, the interface, while very functional, isn't very intuitive. Tasks such as building stacks of armies from other stacks can be a chore. On a more serious note, even though Warlords is a Windows 95 game, you can't minimize it or switch to another window if the game crashes. This might seem minor, but games do crash when dealing with the Internet, and the only recourse is to reboot your PC--and that's just a drag.

Give me more!

Games - Free Overnight Delivery

PC-Mac, PS1, PS2, Nintendo, Dreamcast • Rune, $39.95 delivered Free overnight • Nomad Jukebox 6GB MP3 Player, $479.95

Warlords III

Click for printer-friendly format
Email this story to a friend
SPONSORED LINKS
Buffalo Wireless LAN
Voodoo Cards Here!
Shop B&N.com Today!

Comics
CDs
DVDs
Inline
Movies
Skateboards

Search for more products:

mySimon
a CNET Networks Company