WH: Mark of Chaos SP Campaign Impressions

[Jason]

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<p>Since some of you were wondering what the <a href="http://www.markofchaos.com/" target="_blank" title="MoC">Warhammer: Mark of Chaos</a> singleplayer campaign is like, here's what IGN had to say about the early part of the game:</p><blockquote><p>After dispatching these lowly Chaos units, players are taken to their first look at the overland map. While the tactical battles will look very much like fantasy version of the Total War series, the campaign map is quite a bit different. Instead of a persistent world where territories and cities can be conquered and defended constantly and cities need to be managed, there's a progression of missions that's linear for the most part. The economic and management meta-game has been effectively eliminated from the equation so that players can focus all of their energy on battle. That isn't to say that there aren't choices to be made. Occasionally players will come to crossroads where they can decided to move one way or another, but for the most part, Mark of Chaos plays out over a structured campaign rather than a freeform turn-based game. However, depending on the decisions made, there's a chance that the enemy could come in and take away previously conquered mission zones behind you so that you'll need to move backwards to retake an area. </p></blockquote><p>They also discuss side missions, leveling up, and castle sieges in the campaign.</p><p>Read: <a href="http://pc.ign.com/articles/736/736583p1.html" target="_blank" title="Impressions">MoC Campaign Impressions</a></p><p>Spotted @ <a href="http://www.ign.com/">IGN</a></p>

 

[DarkUnderlord]

What's Medieval War like? Anyone reckon it's a better game than this? Are they actually similar in any way?

 

[fizzelopeguss]

This is shaping up to be a real dissapointment. =(

 

[kris]

What's Medieval War like? Anyone reckon it's a better game than this? Are they actually similar in any way?

Most likely some similarities on how the tactical battles play out. Medieval will be good if they work out the balance, which was the big problem in Rome Total war where Cavalry beat anything else.

 

[LCJr.]

Doesn't sound that much different than the previous games. SotHR had two main branches and Dark Omen was pretty much linear with 1 or 2 optional side missions.

I can't say much about the later the TW series but with Shogun playing against the AI got old pretty quick. The smaller early battles were fun but once you get into the massive army stage it gets pretty dull.

The AI never sent a good force mix into battle and the attacking general has to come in with the first wave. Once the general is dead the enemy morale drops and they break pretty easily. I actually attempted to endure the boredom of playing with the battle timer off and it wasn't that much fun. I had one battle where the AI's 16 unit army consisted of a Yari(spear) general, 2 Yari, 1 Yari cavalry and 12 archers and this out of several thousand troops. Needless to say the general and his archers were wiped out pretty quickly in melee and the rest of the battle was a slaughter. New wave appears and takes a few casualties then breaks and runs. Cavalry rides down the fleeing units. Rinse and repeat. I had 2 cav units in that battle and each had over 400 kills. Finally I got to the point where I would just auto resolve before I completely gave up on it.

 

[Whipporowill]

Doesn't sound like what I was hoping for at all... when even DoW will get a fucking world map.

 

[kris]

Doesn't sound like what I was hoping for at all... when even DoW will get a fucking world map.

Its just a mission overview map. More or less shows the location of the next battle.

 

[Direwolf]

What's Medieval War like? Anyone reckon it's a better game than this? Are they actually similar in any way?

Most likely some similarities on how the tactical battles play out. Medieval will be good if they work out the balance, which was the big problem in Rome Total war where Cavalry beat anything else.

Except for hoplites...

 

[kris]

What's Medieval War like? Anyone reckon it's a better game than this? Are they actually similar in any way?

Most likely some similarities on how the tactical battles play out. Medieval will be good if they work out the balance, which was the big problem in Rome Total war where Cavalry beat anything else.

Except for hoplites...

I raped them too with Cavalry. Hoplites moved like robot refrigerators and was easy to circumwent, hit them in the back and when they turn to face you you draw back and/or hit them in the back with another unit. They break like everyone else.

would not work as well against a human player though.

 

[Whipporowill]

Doesn't sound like what I was hoping for at all... when even DoW will get a fucking world map.

Its just a mission overview map. More or less shows the location of the next battle.

So that (as well) it was only hype after all? I expected more with all preview hype the DoW expansion is getting.

 

[Astromarine]

no, it was clear from the start that what you get in DoW was nowhere NEAR detailed enough to be called a "world map", as games like Total War are others understand them. The ONLY thing you can do in it, and again this was never "hidden", is choose where to fight next.

As for Mark of Chaos, I was expecting a bit more, yes. Having said that, I won't feel cheated if that's all there is, as long as the battles themselves are good. Like others said, that's pretty much the same as previous warhammer games, and I liked Dark Omen well enough. It's one of those features I expected to be in the game while not attaching any value to them. What I hinge my enjoyment of the title on are good tactical battles and decent army customization.

 

[Jason]

More singleplayer info:

Gamersinfo.net: You’ve built in to the game an army creation system tied in to the game. Will it work only with the multiplayer or will this be an option in the single player mode?

Chris Wren:: In single player you will first choose to play as either Empire or Chaos. We will then start you off with a small group headed by your army’s champion. As you proceed through the single player campaign, you will be continually upgrading and customizing your army. By the end of the campaign you will have a very specialized army that you have crafted, and this army can be saved off and used in your multiplayer games. For the purposes of the story, some of the customization options are not available in single player, for example you cannot paint or customize the look of each unit in single player, nor can you customize your banners. The reason for this is that the army that you lead plays a specific role in the story we are telling, they are from a specific clan or district and thus wear the colors and banners of that region. In multiplayer you can do pretty much whatever you want with customization, you can make your army look however you want, and banner customization is completely at your discretion.