Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria Review - PC

Gameplay

Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria features single player and multiplayer gameplay modes. The single player modes are Campaign, Skirmish and Random Map, while the multiplayer mode allows you to compete in a skirmish with up to seven other people through an internet connection. The Campaign mode is the meat of the game, taking you through story-based missions as you attempt to conquer as many provinces as possible, expanding your empire and rising to power. Before starting a campaign - or Skirmish or Random Map, for that matter - you must create a Warlord. Your Warlord is a powerful creature that you play as during the missions, commanding your troops to victory. Creating a Warlord is as simple as entering a name for it, selecting its specialised classes and favoured race, and assigning a character model to it to give it its appearance. You can create multiple Warlords so that you can play as different ones all the time, but I found that one was enough. The game's Skirmish mode allows you to set up a standard battle, selecting a map to play on and the conditions for victory. Skirmish battles are similar to the Campaign except that they aren't story-driven and therefore are there for players who wish to simply play a standard game or get a bit of practice before entering the Campaign. After setting up the battle you must choose the races that will compete in the game, including yours. The race you select will have varying effects on the gameplay and will affect the appearance of each of your units or soldiers. In order to win a Skirmish battle, you have to destroy all of the enemies' structures to degrade their empires and eliminate them from the map.

Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria is played like any other Strategy game - from a birds-eye view. This gives you complete vision of structures and units and allows you to scan the map quickly by scrolling across using your mouse. The game screen features a small map, which sits in the top-right corner, displaying dots that represent enemy structures. Along the bottom of the screen is a heads-up display that gives you complete control over quickly selecting units, ending your turn and more, and displays brief information about your gold supplies. Occasionally you'll run into unoccupied or occupied structures on the map. If you destroy the units guarding the structure you can claim it as your own or destroy it and salvage gold from it. The benefit of claiming a structure is that you can use it to produce (continued next page)