From Dreamcatcher Games comes Besieger, a 3D real-time strategy game that pits hundreds of units against each other in epic-scale battles. For the most part, Besieger delivers these battles, giving the player control of tons of units at once. However, most of the gameplay feels a little too familiar, pretty plain and not terribly different from any other RTS game you’ve ever played. Not only that, but the game does fall prey to various problems, like poorly implemented AI and path finding issues for units. While the scale of the game seemed initially promising, Besieger’s shortcomings and problems keep the game average at best.

Besieger has you controlling two conflicting forces, the Cimmerians and the Vikings, who had previously been living together in peace. The campaign will switch between the two warring nations in order to allow you to experience both sides of the conflict.

Much of the game feels a lot like WarCraft III. The campaign is story driven, giving you control of your forces as well as certain key players (heroes) around whom the game’s storyline revolves. These heroes can be leveled up and reused throughout different stages of the game. Also, you are required to build units at points, like various buildings and edifices that will allow you to either upgrade your combat units or create new ones altogether. So basically, it’s all familiar ground for most RTS fans.

One area that Besieger does do a little differently is the sheer amount of units you can command at once; simply play the Skirmish mode right off the bat to see what I mean. You have control of literally hundreds of soldiers at once as you try to either attack an enemy stronghold or protect yours from invaders. However, in doing this you will begin to see the glaring issues with Besieger.

For one, the AI is pretty lousy. Enemies always attack in the same patterns, without ever changing up their strategy. Your troops also have path-finding issues as well, constantly getting stuck on objects and waiting it out until you get around to them. This wouldn’t be such a problem with a smaller scale game, but when you’ve got about a hundred soldiers getting stuck in a castle gate refusing to move as Viking hordes are sacking your home, then it can be a little frustrating to say the least.

The game also has some hideous camera problems. Refocusing the camera is not intuitive whatsoever, as it will go wherever it damn well pleases when you try to center it over your units. While there are two other modes (bringing the total to three), none of them feel terribly comfortable.

The graphics are decent for an RTS, but not too great. The environments look very clean and have a considerable amount of detail to them. The units look about par for the course for a strategy game, made up of few polygons but otherwise fairly well animated. All in all, there’s nothing too outstanding on the graphical presentation.

The sound side is pretty much more of the same as well. The music is pretty average, with fantasy-style tunes throughout. The voice acting is decent, although it does get annoying when your units bark out the same responses to your orders over and over again.

Many RTS game’s come out every year, each of them trying to bring a new element to the table. Unfortunately, Besieger doesn’t quite do this, instead providing a game that doesn’t cover any new ground or add any innovations to the genre. Plus, the game has enough problems to warrant anyone to think twice before purchasing.

Gameplay: 6.5
Besieger doesn’t cover hardly any new ground for an RTS, and even falls back a bit. The AI is weak, unit path finding is a pain and the camera is out of control.

Graphics: 7.5
Besieger’s graphics are pretty good, but not great. The environments look nice, with a lot of detail and a very clean look. The units are also fairly decent, a bit simplistic in terms of detail but well animated. The game doesn’t have any special effects to speak of.

Sound: 7.0
The sound presentation is pretty average, with a fantasy-oriented score. The voice acting is decent, although the repetition is a bit annoying.

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 6.0
Besieger doesn’t break any molds and provides a very run-of-the-mill RTS experience.

Multiplayer: 6.5
Any fun that you would have with the online multiplayer mode will be limited by the game’s shortcomings.

Overall: 6.5
Besieger won’t offer you anything new, simply covering old ground that has been done better before. With insipid AI and pretty average gameplay, Besieger doesn’t really stand out against the current crop of RTS games.