RTS Warrior Kings re-released on Steam ...

[muds_animal_friend]

... but it doesn't appear to be updated in any way. In fact, it doesn't even state if it's the "remastered" version which fixed some of the more prominent bugs. Anyone played this on Windows 7?

Designed by gamebook/RPG legend Dave Morris , this was a ground-breaking and very underrated, albeit buggy, game. It was the first true 3D RTS I can recall where elevation actually matters. There are varied tactical unit formations with corresponding bonuses and maluses. The base-building component is practically a city building sim in it's own right. Faction choice is "evolutionary" in that choices made during tech research and building dictate what kind of faction you evolve into during sandbox gameplay: the demon worshiping pagans, the imperial zealots, the gunpowder based renaissance, or some combination of the three. The grimdark(ish) single-player campaign presents some interesting c&c along the way that provides extra replayability.

 

[Acheiropoieta]

I still have these discs kicking around somewhere. I played them a lot when they came out, but it always felt like a game with more potential than actual fun. The terrible path finding on the units didn't help. Maybe it would have been more fun in multiplayer.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I really liked that game back then but never able to finish it because of many bugs... This could be a true classic with more care at the release date.

 

[muds_animal_friend]

The game breaking campaign scripting bugs, and there were many, were fixed in the remastered edition. The pathfinding issues with unit formations were not. Many a time I wanted to punch my monitor in rage as the pikeman block I ordered to advance decided to uselessly wheel around on its axis instead. Warrior Kings: Battles never really resolved those problems either which is a crying shame as there's a good real time tactics game buried in there someplace. Ignoring the combat, Warrior Kings plays best as a low-fantasy version of The Settlers.

 

[Markman]

I do have the original disc in basement somewhere. And I do remember it being a glitchy buggy unstable piece of shit. Cant talk about the gameplay tho cause I gave up on it trying to get stable preformance.

 

[KoolNoodles]

What a cool game. Just not sure I could re-visit it and feel that again though. The story and setting were interesting when I was a kid, and the graphics were on par with everything else. The "C&C" was actually very important, because it would completely alter the units you could use in the campaign.

 

[visions]

I remember I had the demo from one of the discs that came with a PC Gamer issue but I could never get it to even work.

 

[Harthwain]

I think Warrior Kings could be a good material for a remake - add better controls for armies (something akin to Supreme Commander 2) or even come up with a whole new system of orders via army commanders, to reduce the need to click on every single units, maybe add an active pause, keep the rest (modernizing the visuals, obviously) and you have a solid game right here.

 

[Filthy Sauce]

Pretty sure the warrior kings games have a tactical pause feature.

 

[Harthwain]

Pretty sure the warrior kings games have a tactical pause feature.

Huh. I knew there was a pause button, but all this time I didn't realize it allowed you to do something more than just freeze the game. Back then the only RTS with the active pause - that I knew about - was Total War, and it got released AFTER Warrior Kings.

 

[visions]

Age of Empires had active pause. Also Warlords Battlecry. Probably other games too but these two are what immediateley come to mind.