Latest Reviews
Too HumanHellboy: The Science of EvilSoulcalibur IVGuitar Hero: On TourSecret Agent ClankUser Reviews
There are currently 0 User Reviews for Joan of ArcWrite your own review for this game today and you will receive 100 Gamer Points.
Click here to register
Wars and Warriors: Joan of Arc Review
Derek dela Fuente
30/03/2004
Wars & Warriors: Joan of Arc manages to mix RTS with RPG and action elements to some success...
As most people know, Joan of Arc was a young, French peasant girl who became heavily involved in the hundred years war and the eventual liberation of France. Although shrouded in fable and legend, the historical facts prove that this young lady was indeed a great heroine of her time and has been immortalised in several screen adaptations to date, including a recent addition in which Joan is played by Mila Jovavich.
This game, however, is not based on any of the films in favour of being more historically accurate. The missions are loosely based on the various military endeavours that Joan of Arc and her followers pursued in order to rid France of the English.
Yet another genre hybrid, Joan of Arc combines the elements of Action, RTS and RPG to create something with the combined appeal of all three.
The bulk of the game is played in âaction modeâ, which is in the first person perspective. In this mode you can move freely around the entire map in each level and interact with all the other characters and enemies you might meet, much like a 3D RPG but simpler in terms of your options. For example, you can talk only to key figures and interact with only a few objects, which mostly are just boxes that you can break to obtain the contents.
The character development is more involved however, as you have more then one playable character for a start, there are several characters or âcommandersâ as they are known, other then Joan, including Jean De Metz, La Hire, and The Duke of Alencon amongst others who you can instantly switch to and control depending on which mission you are playing. All the commanding characters including Joan have full inventories, which can hold armour, weapons, ammo, power-ups and food items. More importantly each character has a set of statistics that include strength, dexterity, etc. and can level up by gaining experience points. This element really helps to give the game depth and a purpose as you will eagerly anticipate each level up as well as the special weapons and power ups that can be found throughout the levels. The fighting in action mode is yet another facet to the gaming experience and yet perfectly integrated into the whole.
The premise is quite simple, you have a light attack and a heavy attack and various combinations of the two will make for some impressive combos which will earn you extra points, in this respect the game plays a lot like a first person version of âDevil May Cryâ or âThe Two Towersâ. Each commander can also take non-player characters under their command. These men will follow that commander around and attack any enemy units in the near vicinity. The number of units each commander can have under their command is determined by their leadership skill, which can be increased each time you level up.
The second mode in this title is the RTS element is pretty much nonexistent until you have played the game for a good few hours. After playing the game for some time I was unable to initiate the RTS mode (it was ghosted) despite doing as instructed in the manual. More information on this should have been included in the manual!
The characters are all well drawn and well animated but the levels are very sparse, repetitive and more than a little bland at times. There is little to hide the fact that you can only explore a few distinct areas in each map and there can be some irritating loading times. This is only a minor problem though as there is far more to this game.
As far as soundtracks go this game provides a good quality of both sound effects and music. There is also some very good dialogue, which unlike so many games, actually makes sense. There is little to fault in terms of the sound overall.
The nature of the game makes it gradually more addictive the longer you play. The RPG elements keep things interesting and the action keeps it satisfying, although not riveting. Coupled with the added RTS elements this game has a good longevity. The pure simplicity of the game makes it very tempting to just pick it up and have a bit of a go which is excellent news for the less experienced gamer!
Unlike many games that try to mix the genres it manages not to overly complicate things and so, importantly, the different genres (action and RPG) manage to remain integrated and part of the same game as apposed to feeling like different games that are simply on the same disc.
