Tag Archives: warhammer

Thoughts: Warhammer Chaosbane

chaosbane_numbers

I’ve spent half an hour or so trying to figure out a good way to start this review. It’s difficult, though, because of the way I feel about Chaosbane, and because of what Chaosbane does. The three versions of the intro I’ve written so far all meander around for whole paragraphs, blathering on and on about other recent ARPGs and their innovations in the space, largely because I’m doing my utmost to avoid talking about Chaosbane itself. Once upon a time that would have been fine; these days, however, I prefer to have a slightly punchier opening to my writing. A single sentence that sums up, as adequately as I can, how I feel about a game. And as far as Chaosbane is concerned I might as well use the message I sent to my game-playing friends immediately after my first sixty minutes with the game, because I knew one or two of them were considering trying it:

Do not buy Chaosbane under any circumstances.

Continue reading

Tagged , , ,

Thoughts: Total War – Warhammer

tww_ohdear

I think the idea of transplanting the Total War mechanics into Games Workshop’s Warhammer Fantasy universe has been around almost exactly as long as Total War itself has. And for good reason since the tabletop version of Warhammer involves models grouped into units precisely as Total War’s are, and also has most of the same core mechanics like unit type counters, flank attacks and morale; it seems like it’s practically a 1:1 fit that would be very hard to screw up. What a lot of people forget, though, is that it’s been tried before, and the main reason nobody really remembers Mark of Chaos (apart from the perfect intro) is because it wasn’t very good. It is possible to do Warhammer with Total War-esque mechanics and fail, so the Creative Assembly’s job is doubly difficult: not only do they have to get the gameplay right, but they also have to redeem themselves after the fuckup of Rome 2 by releasing it in a state that’s playable at launch.

After 25 hours with Total War: Warhammer, I am pleased to report they’ve succeeded on both counts. Mostly, anyway.

Continue reading

Tagged , , , ,

Thoughts: Vermintide

vermin_horde

Well, if you want to try making a version of Left 4 Dead using the Warhammer IP, I suppose replacing all of the zombies with Skaven and the guns with actual giant warhammers is one way of doing it.

Continue reading

Tagged , , , ,