Warlock: Master of the Arcane Review

[PAGETITLE=Introduction & Mechanics][Top Ad] The great land of Ardania seeks a powerful mage to build a bustling empire and command an army feared by others - are you in? When I first caught a glimpse of Warlock: Master of the Arcane, I thought it was an expansion pack for Sid Meier's Civilization V - and I'm sure I'm not alone. On the surface, both games look undeniably similar, and even the mechanics for the most-part match up. But while the main Civilization series focuses on real-world events, landmarks and rulers, Warlock is pure fiction. I think it's safe to say that if you enjoy either Warlock or Civilization, you'll likely enjoy the other - but it's important to not dive into Warlock expecting its refinement to be on par with Civilization's. As much as I'd love to cease all mention of Civilization V from this point on, it's too difficult. Warlock might take a lot of cues from Master of Magic and is based on the world created in the Majesty series, but on the surface and with its mechanics, Warlock has a lot more in common with Civilization V. For those not familiar with either Civ or MoM, Warlock is a 4X turn-based strategy game that implements fog of war, uses hex tiles and has you build up your empire from scratch. Whereas Civilization's research tree focuses on real-world technology, Warlock's is all magic-based. At the get-go, you'll choose which skills to learn or improve, and continue choose a path after a set amount of turns. Of the magic in the game, there are two categories; Perks and Spells. Perks are bonuses to your empire, while spells are offensive and defensive skills. The magic system found here might appear simple at first, but it in fact requires a lot of planning and understanding. There are buffs (and debuffs) that can be applied to single units, and other buffs and debuffs that are meant for cities. If you focus in one type of magic too much, it might hinder your ability to properly accomplish your goals later. In addition to straight offensive skills like "Firestorm", "Ice Ring" and "Shadow Bolt", there are various summons that can be used as well. Fortunately, these summons can be placed on any tile you desire - as long as you've uncovered it. Without this ability, some battles would be made much more difficult. Many of the actions in Warlock are based on three possible things: population, resources and turns. Learning new magic is based on a number of turns and your research resources, while buildings require a certain population or pre-requisite building - both of which require a certain number of turns to accomplish. A turn requirement also applies to casting spells, so even with a boatload of mana, you can't expect to deplete it in one go. Resource management consists of food, mana (for using spells), research points (for learning new spells) and gold. Various things built inside of your empire can give bonuses to any one of these resources, and there are special tiles around the map where special buildings can be constructed to gain access to unique resources. An interesting mechanic Warlock implements is a quest system, where quests can be given to you at any time either by a random person or a god. These can range from building a specific building to taking out monsters or another empire; most quests offer rewards that make the hassle worthwhile. You are able to refuse a quest, but doing so to a god-given request can lower the respect that god has for you (which can lead to obvious repercussions). Like most RPGs, you can level up your troops and earn valuable gold by killing random monster spawns. These spawns can offer up some of the most difficult challenges Warlock has to offer. If you're taking on a single unit, things are sure to be fine, but if you encounter a large group of monsters, that's when you better hope your army is built-up. Some spawns contain a mini-boss monster as well which, if unprepared, can take out an entire unit in one shot. [PAGEBREAK][PAGETITLE=Gameplay & Final Thoughts][Top Ad] An area where Warlock shines is with exploration. The worlds are colorful, and there are many different special tiles found throughout a map that are not only useful to draw resources from, but add to the game's atmosphere. Increasing your ability to explore, there are portals strewn throughout each map that can be entered to access other worlds, a la Master of Magic. Some of these portals might have a group of monsters right at the drop (which can exit if desired), while others could offer useful resources and also double as an ideal spot to built up your troops. One of the best aspects of Warlock: Master of the Arcane that I've failed to mention up to this point is its $20 pricetag. For fans of 4X TBS games, that alone can make picking it up an easy choice. It's not perfect, but neither are most other games in this genre. That said, there are some complaints I do have, but most are minor and some might be due to personal preference. The biggest issue I have about the game is that there is no way to avoid war if someone asks (or rather, non-noticeably demands) resources from you and you don't want to provide them. It's either give the goods over, or go to war. Civilization's mechanics aside, this just doesn't make much sense. Another thing that struck me is that there is no top view - a feature I use religiously in games like this. When you have a busy empire, a top view can really help you move fast and find a particular resource or unit easier. Along similar lines, there is no way to click and drag the map around. Rather, moving around Ardania requires you to move your cursor to the edge of the screen, which I found to be annoying after a while. Moving onto an outright odd issue, if another empire takes care of a goal in one of your quests, it completes it for you (eg: clearing out enemies). This means you can earn a reward because someone unrelated took care of it for you; this just shouldn't happen. And speaking of enemies, sometimes they can move an insane number of tiles; just when you feel safe, you might not be. Lastly, there is minimal micro-management regarding land tiles and their resources (something some people might consider an upside), and some units share icons despite being slightly different fighters (eg: warriors vs. rogues). None of these issues are game-breaking, and few of them take away any lustre I find this game has (aside from the lack of a top-view, perhaps). Though I wouldn't rank the mechanics as high as Civilization's (I am sure some would argue this), I found Warlock to be very enjoyable, and a fresh change from the usual Civ fare. At $20, Warlock: Master of the Arcane is a game that 4X fans just can't afford to miss. Warlock: Master of the Arcane Discuss this article in our forums! Have a comment you wish to make on this article? Recommendations? Criticism? Feel free to head over to our related thread and put your words to our virtual paper! There is no requirement to register in order to respond to these threads, but it sure doesn't hurt! [PAGEBREAK][PAGETITLE=Extra Screenshots]

Warlock: Master of the Arcane Review

Page 3 – Extra Screenshots

Rob Williams