Battle Realms

Genre: RTS

Multiplayer: Internet, Local Area Network

Developer: Liquid Entertainment

Publisher: Ubisoft

Publisher in Russia: Russobit-M

Release Date: Early 2001

Official Game Website: www.battlerealms.com

Minimum Requirements: CPU 350 MHz, 64 Mb, 16 Mb Video

Recommended Requirements: CPU 600 MHz, 128 Mb, 32 Mb Video

Ed Del Castillo, working at Westwood's studios on what would become a classic, was full of inspiration. The world trembled from Command & Conquer as if struck by the Tunguska meteorite — and it was great. But the RTS genre since then has been a lifeless sculpture for Westwood designers. A monotonous stream of stamped copies emerged from under their chisels. The golden calf trampled all the muses, and the beautiful masters of games became professional craftsmen. Ed did not escape the general fate, remaining producer and co-designer of all descendants of C&C for three generations. Yet about two years ago, as they say, he weighed anchor and set sail on the submarine named Liquid Entertainment, bringing with him a vast experience accumulated over years of caretaking C&C.

Wielded by stereotypes, Ed could think of nothing better than to embark on a "return of the RTS genre to its roots." One cannot say that the realization of this idea became an unbearable burden for Ed and his team. Luckily, the roots were always at hand — it was just a matter of directing them into the right path. Ed, without blinking, watched the development. As a result, Battle Realms turned out to be the most canonical RTS — but in the modern sense of the term. That is, just the way a real-time strategy should be now.

Battle Realms is nurtured on the fertile ground of medieval Japan. Rice fields, elegant rivers, and miniature waterfalls, narrow-eyed peasants in flat straw hats, Buddhist monks, black ninjas, the merciless blade of a katana in the hands of a samurai, and the main character named Kenji — the son of a daimyo. But medieval Japan in its pure, historically accurate form is Shogun, at best — Takeda. And here, in Battle Realms, we are told a tale where the curved blades of Dragon warriors suddenly burst into flames, samurai become immune to arrows, and the main character wages war against the necromancers of the Lotus clan and easily converses with a Dragon at the top of a mountain.

It should be noted that the plot is a significant and integral part of the game. It's a tale of a little dragon, Kenji, who is believed to have coldly thrust a blade into his father's back and spent seven years in exile, only to return and lead the Snake clan and put an end to endless strife in the land — or perhaps to take revenge on the real murderer. The backstory, which can be easily found on fan sites, stretches ten pages of fine print. But it should only be read after getting into the storyline — and the plot grabs you from the very first scripted video and compels you to play through missions just to see the next one. Even detached from the game, the story of Battle Realms would look good: war-scorched lands that were once flourishing, a chase for a mysterious artifact, wicked betrayal, a friend crucified, accomplished revenge, and a quest for one's "self" in a conversation with a red-gold reptile, ancient as the earth itself. The missions are strung onto the narrative thread like pearls, and scenes, events, and characters are woven so skillfully into the gameplay that you watch the next video, holding your breath and carefully reading the dialogues — brief enough not to exhaust but no less meaningful.

The developers even grant some freedom in progression and allow for slight branching in the storyline. In the very first mission, you determine which side of the Forces the main character will join. The good Kenji (Dragon clan) is wise and magnanimous, while the evil one (Snake clan) is overly self-confident, boastful, and cruel (and its story turns out to be a bit different). However, the differences between Good and Evil here are more ideological. The buildings and units of the Dragon and Snake clans look and are named differently, but as they say, they are of one blood. Missions take place on the same maps — but the layout of bases and the strategic situation can be different. Furthermore, victory can be achieved through the conquest of various provinces: almost before each mission, you can choose which way Kenji will go — right, left, or straight (as in Emperor: Battle for Dune). This is enough to avoid experiencing relentless déjà vu when replaying these 14 or 15 missions.

And how should it be?

The gameplay theory in RTS has not changed since the Paleolithic.

And Battle Realms, as I have said, is made strictly according to theory. We gather resources. Build a base. Form an army. Scout. Attack. Exterminate all who are of a different color. Scour the maps for the "last alien." Everything is strict, just like according to Marx-Engels. But these are the canons. From which one can already dance.

Having decided to give the game a modern look, Del Castillo first eliminated the manual production of so-called "peasants." In Battle Realms, this is an automatic process. As soon as you place a Peasant Hut in the open field, peasants start to emerge from it with military regularity. Wonderful — the player is freed from the arduous task of clicking on the peasant icon at the production building every minute.

Following point No. 1 of the Theory, we send peasants to gather rice from the fields and fetch water from the nearby river. If there’s no river nearby, any puddle will suffice. Water never runs out, and new rice keeps growing — especially if you remember to irrigate. But resource gathering is limited by a cap. Ed Del Castillo did not aim to make the player a rice-and-water magnate. A great move — as you will soon see, half the game is built on this limitation. The second half is based on another limit — the limit on

the production of peasants. The more of them there are, the worse the Peasant Hut performs as an incubator. The workers materialize at the door of the huts less frequently and with less eagerness. Finally, there comes a moment when they stop appearing altogether. And so it goes until one of them gets killed — then their numbers begin to recover.

How, you ask me, can half the game be built on this seemingly trivial detail? Quite simply. The fact is that a peasant is, metaphorically speaking, the primary state of a unit in Battle Realms. So to speak, its larval stage. A peasant who receives training in one of the buildings turns into a warrior — a spearman or archer, or in the worst case, a geisha (let's leave the gender question to the developers). Spearmen and archers (unlike geishas) can receive further education and become Dragon Warriors or Kabuki Warriors. Those, in turn, can "grow up" to be a samurai. If you take another path (i.e., to other buildings), you can gain specialists in pyrotechnics — chemists or cannoniers.

Thus, the size and growth of the army directly depend on the "birth rate" of peasants. The limit on the total number of peasants — and, consequently, units in general — varies in different missions! Thus, while in StarCraft no one hinders you from breeding armies of two hundred units — here you must make do with what Ed sent. As a rule, the player commands a squad of 20-30 fighters, which is quite enough to pass any mission. And not by overwhelming the enemy with numbers, but by thoughtfully considering each move and reloading multiple times, as in Myth, for example. For otherwise it is impossible: if you lose all your warriors while storming the enemy base — recruit the army anew. This is not difficult in the early missions, where you can manage with just archers and spearmen. A samurai can be obtained from a peasant in about two minutes. And ten samurai? Twenty? And this is despite the enemy also being active and regularly popping in to pay you a visit. Therefore, Battle Realms is much more of a tactical game than C&C, StarCraft, and their ilk. Hence, it is still enjoyable to play even now, after countless hordes of RTS clones.

The second whip that Ed uses to spur the player into decisive and as early as possible military actions is displayed in the game by the well-known Yin-Yang symbol (see screenshots of the interface panel center). Successfully defeating the enemy, you accumulate yin or yang points — depending on which clan you are playing. And these points... serve as payment for all upgrades in the game! Just like that — high combat morale and no dependency on rice-and-water machinations. According to the official FAQ, points are awarded not just for killing a certain number of enemy fighters and rampaging through an enemy base — the reward also depends on how effective your tactics were and how well you managed to minimize losses. Although, perhaps in practice, there is no such dependency at all — proving its existence (or lack thereof) is almost impossible. But that is not the point. The principle itself is incredibly gratifying. Although the parallels with leveling characters in RPGs or tactical games are evident to the naked eye. However, units in Battle Realms do not gain experience and do not become veterans (although it was promised!). Nonetheless, it does not spoil the game at all. Honest samurai style.

Following the "Myth" teachings

Tactics in Battle Realms became a subject of discussion right after the game's release. This is good — it means that it is not limited to mindless rushing. By the way, Ed fought against rushing separately, declaring war on it on all fronts, and powerfully kicking the parasite out of the game. Therefore, the same official FAQ can confidently proclaim: there is no rush in Battle Realms! And this is the plain truth. I have verified it myself.

It is useless to storm the base of an enemy clan with a set of identical units. At the very least, a combination of archers and spearmen is necessary — otherwise, the advance will drown in the blood of your fighters. Close-combat units will be taken out by guard towers and mages/catapulters, while the formidable infantry will merely be shredded by the enemy afar like a range of Robins. In short, the squad that you are going to conquer the map with should be somewhat balanced. Only then can we speak about some tactics. Without competent tactical maneuvers, victory will certainly elude you — especially at the highest difficulty level.

The second key to success is the correct formation of units before battle. It is a pity that Ed and Co. were too lazy to implement formations. You have to arrange everyone manually: in front, samurais intermixed with Dragon and Kabuki Warriors, behind them a cover of archers. And somewhere nearby there must be a geisha, playing the role of a field doctor. However, under such a scenario, battles will still proceed according to the "wall against wall" template. One could exert some effort and come up with much more nuanced and clever moves — it is possible thanks to the special abilities of the units.

After visiting buildings like the Shrine and Fireworks Factory (of the Dragon clan), the warriors gain new talents that depend on their troop type. For instance, Dragon Warriors get an impenetrable energy field, the samurai have immunity to ranged attacks, and Kabuki Warriors can "shutdown" the enemy's ranged attacks. Heroes (Kenji, his friend Otomo, traitor Shinja, and others) do not require additional training — they are endowed with special abilities from birth.

On fan sites, for example, a tactic is actively advertised: putting one Dragon Warrior at the forefront, "turning on" his energy field and mowing down enemies with arrows from a distance while they unsuccessfully attempt to carve the bait into pieces. However, using special abilities incurs a cost — stamina is consumed. Once it runs out — the unit loses its talent until it recovers its strength. Health for fighters also regenerates over time — but very slowly. Thus, as already mentioned, a geisha must be a mandatory participant in all military dramas or, preferably, two or three for backup.

The thing is, the enemy AI is programmed against her exceptionally viciously and first thing sends a couple of kamikazes into the center of your troop to take out the geisha. The kamikazes will of course perish, but if they fulfill their role, you will have a rough time. By the way, there is also a tactic based on the geisha's special ability. If you sacrifice the geisha, it will restore the health of all nearby units to maximum. Thus, by "spending" two or three geishas, you can take down an opponent that outnumbers you.

As for the AI in general, it does not present anything remarkable. The enemy executes the simplest maneuvers — for example, it tries to send "messengers" to taunt your warriors and lure them into a trap. The friendly AI is also not particularly clever, and your troops gladly fall for such bait. Taming their unrestrained urge for heroism can only be accomplished through commands like Guard or Stop — luckily they are executed unconditionally.

The three-dimensional world of Battle Realms features quite detailed physics. Not as elaborate as in Black&White, but also not like in most 3D RTS games where all physics usually boils down to units climbing hills slower than coming down and shooting farther from the top. Here, it is implied. As is that trees (forests abound on almost all maps) obstruct sight, and the occasionally encountered boulders can be pushed off mountains to crush careless opponents. Burned buildings quickly stop burning in the rain — and rice grows faster under it.

Wild horses roam the meadows, which can be captured, taken to a stable, and sat upon by any warrior (except for the heaviest ones). This way, a small cavalry unit can be formed, making daring raids on stray enemies and working the fields with peasants. Enemy forces dismount horsemen and immediately hop into the vacated saddle! Even a peasant, seated on a horse, starts replenishing rice and water supplies faster.

The graphics and animation in Battle Realms are simply remarkable — I have no complaints about them, and even the inability to scale the image and rotate the camera does not disturb me at all. Where else can you see tiny samurai swords stained with blood in battle?! The warriors wading through water create ripples, the wind rustles the foliage, and flocks of birds, frightened by your forest maneuvers, fly out from the tree canopies — by the way, the characteristic bird calls can signal the approach of an enemy (!). Tiny rabbits graze in the grass, little fish splash in the stream, scorpions crawl across the parched desert soil, and evil wolves inhabit the forest, looking for an opportunity to taste Kenji’s allies. Decorative waterfalls set the tone for a lyrical mood, while amidst a strong storm and downpour, a bloody battle in the middle of the road looks so magnificent! It's a pity that warriors do not slip in the mud.

The Path of the Samurai

Ed and his friends from the GameSpy Arcade server will surely reach out a hand of friendship to players who wish to shift focus from single-player to multiplayer. In multiplayer, by the way, you can play as your long-time enemies from the Lotus and Wolf clans. And they have a different tech tree, different units, different tactics... You will need to relearn the art of war.

The development of Battle Realms — expansions, sets of additional missions, continuation of the storyline, a second part, finally — entirely depends on public recognition. Ed said as much: if there is recognition — we will do everything. If not, then Liquid will have the whole team shave their heads and become monks somewhere in Tibet, forever immersed in contemplation of the nature of Yin and Yang.

This is a copy-paste of an article from Igromania. The disc came to me by chance, and the game was destined to become my favorite strategy, alongside WFT3 and Rise of Nations. The graphics of the game surpass even those of modern strategies yet are not demanding on hardware. The balance of powers is excellently thought out, four races with unique abilities for each. I hope you also enjoy this game and will surely fall in love with it.

Some screenshots: