Real-Time-Strategies (RTS) are slowly evolving, anyone who has played the recently released World War III will realise that games in this genre don’t need new additions, innovations or to carry on getting bigger, the true evolvement for this genre is through refinement, narrowing the focus and emphasising on the tactical side.

Battle Realms is the first title from Liquid Entertainment, headed by former C&C producer Ed Del Castillo. If it’s any indication of what to expect for the future we could be looking at a major developer in the making.

Battle Realms places you as a commander in an Asian, fantasy themed setting. After seven years of exile, Kenji returns to his war-torn homeland. Will he rise above his bitterness and liberate the land under the Dragon Clan flag, or will he give in to his darker side and conquer it as his father's Serpent Clan did so many years ago? Regardless of Kenji's choice, his actions will force him into conflict with the sinister Lotus Clan, the noble Wolf Clan and a mysterious foe from the past. 

Battle Realms is different to most RTS, removing most of the complications found and concentrating on fewer resources primarily Rice and Water. These are closely intertwined in to your game, more so then most RTS titles, for example water can be used to drink, put out fires and make crops grow quicker. 

Other resources such as horses can be used to give your troops the advantage or allow your peasants to collect rice quicker. Also you don’t buy units in Battle Realms; instead you train peasants to become various different warriors. There are various different buildings to train your peasants in different skills, such as a spearman or archer. The best part of this system is you can then teach them in other buildings (up to three) to further enhance their skills, for example Spearman can be sent to the archery to become Dragon Warriors, and then can be further evolved to become even more powerful warriors. 

It’s a fantastic system that allows you to become more involved with your troops and resources on an individual level, ensuring a higher level of attention is paid on developing tactics and strategies based on the different warriors you’ve got. For those like me that were put off RTS after C&C2, this is the perfect antidote.

With each clan comes a Zen Master, these powerful warriors have a variety of abilities ranging from magical skills to enhancing nearby units. These units are more then capable of changing the tide of a battle, and can be carried across to later levels.

Battle Realms pays close attention to your actions in the form of Yin & Yang, play with good intentions and you’ll earn Yang points, those who act with evil intent will earn Yin Points. These can then be used to purchase upgrades or saved to make Zen Masters more powerful. This essentially adds a role playing like aspect to the title, playing towards this is beneficial to the player as you’ll earn more points and ultimately become more powerful in the process.

The terrain and weather play important roles in Battle Realms; rain will put out fires but is equally helpful when you’re trying to grow crops. Likewise the terrain can be used to your advantage and disadvantage, a steep hill will be hard to climb and attack on, but is ideal for pushing boulders over onto the pack waiting below.

Battle Realms features some great visuals carried out with a unique style that suit the setting well. Units are full of personality brought to life with numerous excellent animations; attacking with a variety of moves and techniques, Samarai’s kneel and pray, wounded warriors limp and stagger, etc… The environment is also lusciously packed with little details, water ripples when your troops cross rivers, cloud shadows dot the land, animals scamper across the fields and blood pools collect after combat. Battle Realms oozes personality, which is a rare and refreshing change for this genre. However you’ll need quite a hefty set-up to get the game working, you’ll need at least a PII500 with 64Mb and a decent 3D card to get the game running, but its well worth it if you can.

Battle Realms isn’t perfect though; combat is often too frantic, as you have no control over formations, so it usually becomes a mass huddle of troops albeit awash with colour and detail. It’s hard to distinguish your different troops on the radar, actually it’s quite hard to distinguish anything on the radar, however the biggest complaint is the lack of distinction between units, as each one has both a long range attack and a melee attack. When you have so many multipurpose units it seems sensible just to evolve them to their furthest level, however I’ve found employing a mixed balance of archers, swordsman and more powerful warriors is the best strategy.