Warhammer: Mark of Chaos

In complete contrast our second review this week is that of Warhammer: Mark of Chaos, an RTS (Real Time Strategy) that follows closely in the footsteps of the Total War series. In this version you take control of either the Emperor's powerful armies or the forces of Chaos intent upon overrunning the old world. As with the Total war series, the view is of sections of the battlefield in which you must reign supreme.

The army you start with is the only weapons at your disposal and can not be reinforced at all. One nice touch is the use of Heroes, which you can either use in the full on battle or hunt down the opposing armies hero and challenge to a one on one fight to the death. Should you be victorious there is the option to increase your army at the next village or garrison. It is also here where you may choose the path of your hero, be it a death dealer on the fields of war or a duel specialist.

A word of warning, should you want to travel down the road of having your hero concentrate upon duelling then they may become entirely useless on the battlefield. I found the control system to be somewhat cumbersome if not out-dated and really think that more time should have been spent on making it easier to ensure your troops can create maximum carnage upon the enemies.

The graphics are very polished and with the ability to customise the appearance of your warring band the limits are really endless, but this is more of a gimmick rather than a needy tool to help you conquer the lands. Intermix the smooth running of the game with high quality cut scenes and you would think that you have a good game on your hands, this is not the case however for the game follows a very linier path, which only allows for small detours to complete side quests and is otherwise very much the same from battle to battle.

As usual there is the option to go online and pit your wits against people from around the globe, which is nothing new, but if you are aware of one of the many glitches in the game you should be able to walk your armies through the outlying defences and massacre the enemy from behind. In its attempt to bring the 'HOBBY' from the table-top to the computer screen, Games Workshop has made a reasonable attempt. However they should have given the licence to THQ instead of Deep Silver. (THQ are the people responsible from the Dawn of War series which is set in Games Workshops Warhammer 40k arena.)

Rating: 6/10. Available on PC.