When I was a young lad, just beginning to discover the wide world of gaming on my Commodore 64, one game that I ended up playing quite a bit was EA’s action-strategy classic Archon. Archon pitted two players against one another on a modified chess board with pieces culled from various forms of mythology. The creatures moved like chess pieces with different patterns and ranges of movement, but the twist was that when one of the pieces attacked the other the two would duke it out in a real-time battle. The result was a game that required both brains and reflexes to win, and was incredibly addictive. Ever since, I’ve attempted to find a version of Archon that would work on my current computer, but my searches have all been fruitless.
Needless to say, when LucasArts announced that they would be releasing Wrath Unleashed, a turn-based strategy game with real-time battles starring fantastic and mythological creatures, I was incredibly intrigued. This new game sounded an awful lot like the Archon I knew and loved, but with all the power that the current consoles could offer. Of course, Archon is a tough act to follow, but if anyone could do it, LucasArts would be more than capable. Or so I thought.
As Archon before it, Wrath Unleashed plays much like a modified version of chess with fantasy-based creatures as pieces. Each player controls one of four factions, which correspond to the four elements (wind, fire, earth and water, in case you haven’t ever played a fantasy-themed video game before). He or she can move one piece per turn, and the ultimate goal is generally to either occupy a set number of Temple spaces, or to kill the opposing demi-god, who is analogous to a king in chess, with the added ability to cast spells in addition to moving and attacking. The board is hex-based, and contains squares of different terrain which provide benefits for one or more of the game’s four factions; for example, a Plains square will provide a damage bonus to earth creatures fighting there.
When one character attacks another, a 3D battle ensues. The battle system is somewhat deep, providing each creature with light and heavy melee attacks, light and heavy magical attacks, a special magic attack, and the ability to block and dodge. There are also combos which can be executed which are specific to each creature, and environmental hazards to avoid in the arenas, like spikes and guysers. Now, granted, this sounds deep, but the battles really tend to devolve into boxing matches; aside from block/dodge and light melee, the attacks often take too long to execute, and are thus too much of a gamble to use. Even just with those moves, the battle often feels clunky and unresponsive, and most matches are over almost before they’ve begun anyway. Granted, with sufficient skill (or luck), one can overcome a handicap in power, but those instances are more the exception than the rule. Given the repetitive nature of the battles, also, the action segment of the game really doesn’t hold up after repeated play.
The strategy element is also not as deep as one would like. The game does seem fairly complex at first, with different structures to take into account and terrain that can shift the course of battle, but there really aren’t all that many moves that make sense in a given turn; the biggest decision is often whether to spend one’s turn casting a spell or attacking. The different terrain also only becomes a factor when considering whether to attack a creature of similar strength; the bonus to either creature generally isn’t significant enough to make a difference in the outcome of the battle otherwise. Even if the game’s rules imposed a need for strategy, the opponent AI is poor enough that said strategy would be rendered unnecessary; the computer players rarely cast spells to heal or resurrect powerful units, and regularly make moves that leave important spaces undefended, allowing the player to move in with minimal resistance.
There is a tutorial to introduce the player to the game, but it falls short in its execution. Specifically, it does a decent job explaining the rules of moving about the game board, but provides no instruction at all as to how to engage in battle, leaving that lesson to the button mashing of the player. Worse than that, though, the tutorial explains the basic rules of the game, then instructs the player to read the manual for the full rules. Needless to say, those playing Wrath Unleashed as a rental (which, if you haven’t figured out already, is the preferred way to experience this game) will find themselves simultaneously bewildered and frustrated. The game does have a fairly good in-game help system, which helps to keep the nuances of different creatures, structures and terrain straight, but the tutorial should eliminate at east some of the need for such a system.
Once past the learning stage, there are two main modes to choose from in Wrath Unleashed: Campaign, which is self-explanatory, and Battle, which is a skirmish mode. The campaign is rather underwhelming; there is a path for each of the four factions, but there are only four missions per side, which results in a fairly short campaign. The missions are different enough from the main game to be interesting, but some repeat, which is unforgivable given the miniscule number, are generally not overwhelmingly challenging, though there are exceptions here and there. The story that accompanies the campaign is equally anemic; there is just enough backstory to provide a transparent reason for the involved parties to battle, with no real effort made to make the player care about the outcome. Heck, even, “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father: Prepare to die!” would have been a step in the right direction. What’s worse, the campaign endings are identical to one another, with a different overlord swapped in. Now, granted, one can only expect so much, but given that this game is made by LucasArts, the same storytelling geniuses that brought us games like Day of the Tentacle and Grim Fandango, it is not unreasonable to demand a bit more than the laziest of narratives.
Battle Mode is a fairly standard skirmish mode for up to four players. There are a dozen or so maps of different orientations, and other variables, such as opponent AI level, army size, and victory conditions. Needless to say, with more computer players comes a slower game experience, as one must watch the entirety of the computer players’ turns, even including battles between two computer players. (Non-human battles can mercifully be disabled in Battle mode, though it should be noted that such an option is not available in the campaign.) The experience is fairly no-frills; there is no map editor, nor any way to download additional content. In fact, given the potential for a real challenge between human players, it is particularly shocking that there is no Live support at all; a game like this, especially one that supports four players, practically screams for online playability, and it seems like an incredible oversight that none was provided.
Graphically, Wrath Unleashed is not hard on the eyes, but also does not even come close to taking full advantage of the XBox’s capabilities. The frame rate stays steady, and the creatures are predictable, yet decently rendered in battle sequences, though they are difficult to distinguish from one another on the game board. The biggest transgression, however, is the art direction, particularly in terms of the demigod designs. I honestly cannot remember female characters wearing less clothing in any other game (aside from maybe BMX XXX), and it really hurts Wrath Unleashed’s credibility. It’s really difficult to take a evil goddess seriously when she’s wearing a barely-there bikini, the top of which is fashioned to look like two evil, purple hands. It almost seems like the art design team was hired from pre-teen D&D night at the local comic shop.
Sound is equally mediocre. There are some generic background scores, but they are fairly unremarkable, and one actually sounds a little too much like the Imperial March from Star Wars to be coincidence. Voice acting, what there is, is delivered as believably as one would expect, which is to say that it is over the top, but not so much so that it seems out of place. The in-game announcer could use some work, though; she over-pronounces all her lines, and really is not particularly necessary. While she isn’t annoying, if she was to be included, her delivery should have been cleaned up somewhat.
Overall, Wrath Unleashed isn’t a terrible game, but it has enough problems that it can’t help but be disappointing. With the right mix of people, this might be a decent multiplayer game, but playing against the computer in random battles gets old quickly, and the campaign doesn’t provide enough depth or challenge to make Wrath Unleashed appropriate for more than a rental. With some more polish and thought to depths and feature set, this game could have been great, but as it is, it seems both overachieving and incomplete at the same point. Simply put, Archon this isn’t.
