Trouto's Full Review: Warhammer: Dark Omen for Windows
I know games workshop (GW)had some say in the making of this game, but I am glad that they did not have all the say. I loved this game, and I have played it to completion many times.
I am an avid gaming fan, playing games like warhammer, 40k, Gork, fantasy battles, and Mord. I like the games, but I have always challenged and bytched about picky, silly rules. This is what you get when you play with only the six sided dice. Limited flexability in the rules. I thought that the 'Dark Omen' game took all the good parts of games workshop, and ironed out the problems. It is a smooth flowing game, and the 'real time' action is perfect. I mean, why have a turn based game, when it is more challenging with real time. If you really need to stop the game and assess the situation, you can always pause. I believe that this game is represented of the way the makers of warhammer would have liked it. I doubt if they would have put their name on the game if it was not what they wanted.
The game itself is based on the player being Morgan Bernhart, a mercenary warrior, who is dragged into defending the entire realm. It follows his travels across the country, gaining allys and crushing enemies along the way. You control an army of men ( sometimes Ogres!!! ), who are in individual groups. You initially place your army in a steup screen, which is not real time, then when you start, the clock begins, and the enemy attacks! Compaired to the first game by the same makers, 'Shadow of the horned rat', this game is superior in all ways. The graphics, sound, and game play are fantastic, and during the many hours of playing this game, I never had any problem with glitches or slowness in the flow of the game.
I found that the AI of the game followed GW rules to a tee. Your men ran sometimes when charged by undead, and the weaker undead sometimes all died when routed. I did find though that you could give a couple of groups the run around, where they would simply follow you, not try to trap you. This is where the human player was superior. On the otherhand, the computer army was nearly always a larger army, which made it really tough in the later episodes, I tell you. I counted in the final battle, the comp had over double the points of my army. I loved the way magic items appeared, it was great getting new items.
My only problem with the game, is that I found I wanted to use the other armies, not just the humans. I would love to see the next game where you could customise an army, and run a campaign with any army. Apart from this, what is there is great.
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