Warlords Battlecry, from SSI and Mattel Interactive, incorporates elements of role-playing games with real-time strategy to present a game that challenges and intrigues.

If you are a fan of civilization games, like the fantasy role-playing development of heroes, find the strategy elements of battle game intriguing, you are bound to like this game. Yes, you will be required to build a city, mine and manage your resources. And it order to remain king of your keep, you’ll have to amass an army to battle those who would seek the Tears of Dawn, and control of Etheria.

You begin by selecting a character from one of the nine races – humans, barbarians, high elves, dwarves, Minotaurs, wood elves, undead, orcs and dark elves. The latter three are evil and would seek to own the Tears of Dawn – the main purpose of the quest – for their own. But that really doesn’t matter. The only real difference between fighting on the side of good or evil is the leeway you are allowed. Each outing has diverse paths you can follow. If you have a bit of larceny and callousness working for you – hey, head out on the side of the evil forces. But you’ll have to wait to make that choice.

Each race has its own particular strengths and weaknesses. Barbarians may not be as adept in combat as High Elves, but they can withstand more damage during the battle. And when it comes to laying siege to a city, dwarves excel above all others.

The game play is fairly intuitive. There are so many elements here from other games that the sense of déjà vu predominates. You must build your city, piece by piece, mine, fortify and head out to battle the other characters in the game. Quests enable you to build up your hero.

Lacking the three-dimensional graphics so familiar to PC fantasy role-players, Warlords Battlecry nonetheless succeeds graphically with a nice blend of scenery, buildings and effects. The characters are well-rendered and the special effects sparkle. This is the fourth game in the Warlords series, and perhaps the best. The gameplay moves smoothly through the large playing board, which encompasses sea as well as land battles.

The battles themselves are skill-based. You can’t throw your troops into the line and just win by attrition. You must think through the battles, and try to keep as many of your army alive as possible. Why? Because if they survive, and you win, those troops will stick with you, and be more adept at fighting through the experience gained.

And not only do the troops evolve, but so does the main character.

Warlords Battlecry is, in many ways, a typical SSI game. Strategy counts for a lot. The conditions of completing a quest are varied – it is not just a matter of winning the battles. There are other ways to succeed without a lot of bloodshed. There are 36 quests in all in the single person campaign game, broken into four chapters. Halfway into the campaign the real choice is presented – that being, of course, whether the path you follow is good or evil.

While the game may be a little flat compared to some of the more attractive, and high-end, RPG titles on the market today, Battlecry manages to succeed because of the depth of play. This isn’t a hack-and-slash game. The utilization of real-time lighting effects, and the marked differences between the character classes make this a solid, worthwhile adventure.

This program is Teen, presumably for the animated blood and violence. It does support Internet play, though that mode of play involves battles.

Install: Medium. This game – without the options of DirectX, Adobe Acrobat, and the AOL  add-ons – eats 645 megs of hard drive space.

Gameplay: 7.5. Though the game board is huge, this program flows smoothly.

Graphics: 7.5. This game is quite good, though perhaps not at the top of the scale. The effects are well-rendered, and present a visual treat even if two-dimensional.

Sound: 7.5. Solid ambient sounds effects and terrific musical elements enhance this game.

Difficulty: 8. You must develop your character and then challenge for control of the world. A difficult prospect in any RPG program. The varying elements for victory keep players on their toes.

Concept: 7.5. Allowing gamers to pursue either the course of evil or good is a nice touch. The program has a lot of the elements similar to other games in the genre, but is enhanced through character development.

Overall: 7.5. When you have a program that departs from the 3D-world that RPG gamers find themselves immersed, there must be something different or unique to make it stand out. Warlords Battlecry has a depth to it – maybe not in plot, but in the combination of fantasy and strategy – that makes it fun to play.