Review: This article goes in depth about a game and opens a dialogue about the positive and negative aspects that compose that game. At the end of the review, the author notes whether he or she feels this game was worth playing. Keep in mind that this review reflects the author’s opinion; you may have a different experience with this game!
Time Spent: 41 hours
Platform: PC-Only Release
Retail Price: $59.99
What do you get when you combine a popular strategy PC game series with the long established canon of a tabletop war game? Do you think the two would sync together beautifully or would doing such a thing only end up in failure? Video game adaptations of tabletop war games such as Warhammer, Warhammer 40K, and Warmachine really only seem to have two outcomes: spectacular success or crushing failure. While the Dawn of War franchise has received a generally favorable reception from critics and fans, Games Workshop‘s PC port of an iOS game called Warhammer 40,000: Deathwatch – Tyranid Invasion flopped and has garnered a mixed response. Several Warhammer games are set to release in the coming year and only time will tell if they show promise.
Thankfully, Creative Assembly has a track record of producing decent strategy games. While Rome 2 suffered a botched release and tried to accomplish too much and Attila: Total War incorporated a number of features that should have existed in Rome 2 (with Creative Assembly still charging full retail price for their newest title), the studio accomplished something wonderful with Shogun 2 and Medieval 2. Even their less polished titles still had flavor and flair with a intricate attention to detail that demanded respect. But what about Total War: Warhammer? The Warhammer Fantasy universe is one filled with rich lore and diverse factions each with their own history and style. From the vicious Orcs and Goblins to the murderous forces of Chaos to the regal High Elves and the daunting hordes of Skaven, Warhammer Fantasy incorporates all of the elements of a high fantasy world clearly inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien and amplifies it in wonderfully absurd ways. While I prefer Warhammer 40K, its fantasy counterpart exudes an intense appeal and significantly less grimdark.
Somehow through sheer creative genius, hundreds of hours of labor, a great deal of luck, or a combination of these three things, Total War: Warhammer is a resounding success. Unshackled by the bindings of real history and given the freedom to create a world steeped in fantasy with powerful heroes and monumental villains, Creative Assembly has crafted one of their best (if not THE best) Total War games yet. I am aware that this is a bold claim and please do not mistake me. Total War: Warhammer has many flaws. These flaws, however, do little to jeopardize the experience of the game.
Set right before the “End Times” in Warhammer Fantasy, Total War: Warhammer allows players to take control of one of four factions (five if you purchase the Chaos DLC): The Empire, Dwarves, Vampire Counts, and Greenskins. Each faction has a unique play style and certain mechanics that dramatically alter how a player must approach his or her grand campaign. Well balanced and filled with plenty of powerful units, the Empire is a perfect choice for the gamer who wants to do it all. They have some of the technological innovation of the Dwarves (the human god Sigmar did save their king in millennia past), cheap line infantry, heavily armored shock cavalry, and wizards who can support their allies or crush their enemies using a plethora of magic. As a radical counterpoint, the Greenskins field numerous cheap units that generally excel at melee combat with some heavily armed and armored infantry and terrifying monstrous creatures that crash through enemy lines and decimate their forces. Even more frightful is that if an Orc army reaches a certain “fightiness” (a measure of how much the Greenskin armies have been fighting and raiding that, if too low, the Orcs and Goblins will begin to fight each other and suffer attrition), a WAAAGH! will begin and an entirely new army appears next to your original. This army will target whatever your first army attacks and this momentum can catapult a savvy Greenskin player forward through several enemy cities.
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!! (You have to have at least 3 As)
As I mentioned before, Creative Assembly’s attention to detail usually shows in their Total War franchise of games. From the design of the units to the background information present in their encyclopedia, the developers certainly spend a great deal of time doing research in order to present a moderately accurate product. Total War: Warhammer is no different and the absolutely stunning units and their relative accuracy to the tabletop game left me impressed. While I understand that transposing a tabletop war game into the digital realm necessitates some sacrifices in terms of a unit’s rules or abilities, Creative Assembly has faithfully reproduced many of the faction’s units. Though I wish that they included all of the units present for each faction in the tabletop game, you can still train and command many of the most iconic units and Creative Assembly can always continue to add content as they go.
In fact, in the most recent update released, Creative Assembly added the Blood Knights for the Vampire Counts faction. On the tabletop, these elite shock cavalry can butcher enemy units with impunity. For Total War: Warhammer, the Blood Knights are Tier 5 (the highest tier) Shock Cavalry that have impeccable defense, a bone-shattering charge, and have frenzied attacks so long as their leadership remains high. Should Creative Assembly continue to add units to each of the factions and remain this dedicated to preserving their rules and roles from the tabletop game, then their latest title can only stand to improve. I am disappointed that we can only choose from five of the existing Warhammer Fantasy factions. While this is not to say that the starting five aren’t important, other factions like the High Elves, Lizardmen, and Skaven play incredibly influential roles in the story of the Fantasy world. Their absence seems to be an intentional and displeasing decision in order to streamline the experience and keep players from becoming overwhelmed. In fact, it appears to represent how Total War: Warhammer is meant to be played. Factions can only capture certain territory: The Empire can only capture territory belonging to other human factions and Vampire Counts while the Dwarves can only capture territory belonging to the Greenskins (and vice versa for both). I understand this decision from a mechanical standpoint, but it can cause some headaches when a player wishes to deal with a city that belongs to a faction he or she cannot conquer and can only loot or raze. What keeps that faction from simply settling the city once more?
This can become a major thorn in that player’s side and without proper planning, that player’s armies may begin to suffer from attrition by traveling through territory not intended for his or her faction. It’s a curious departure from the norm of Total War and while it generally tends to work in Warhammer, it still becomes annoying. Diplomacy, a system rarely fleshed out in the Total War series of games, still sees little improvement though factions do seem more intelligent in how they do business with you. Certain in-game events may also cause a faction to seek an alliance or form a confederation more readily which offers players a rare moment of respite when assailed by a powerful enemy. This is a move in the right direction and hopefully Creative Assembly applies this in their future games.
The greatest and probably most influential change that exists in Total War: Warhammer is the fact that your faction leaders can never die. Even if you spend 200 turns playing the Grand Campaign or if an enemy hero manages to assassinate him, that faction leader will always live on unless you conquer his final piece of territory and destroy his last army. Even other heroes and lords can never die from old age which gives the player an unprecedented level of control over how that character develops throughout the life of the campaign. We all understood why important historical figures could not live forever in the other Total War games: historical accuracy. Tokugawa Leyasu died, Alexios Komnenos died, Augustus died, all of these men and women eventually perished because that’s what happened in real life. With a game based off an event in the Warhammer Fantasy universe about men and women who defy the odds and exist in a fantasy world, we can witness our heroes become truly legendary. This, above every other facet of Total War: Warhammer that I love, stands out as Creative Assembly’s best decision. Bravo, ladies and gentlemen.
Who would have thought that gamers actually enjoy watching their heroes develop and become badasses? Further still, the campaign map of the Fantasy world is stunningly gorgeous. Mountains in the shapes of skulls steam with magical energy while volcanoes erupt and the Chaos Wastes spew forth rampant magic. Dwarven cities glimmer with clean architecture while the castles of the Vampire Counts exude despair. Down to the design of the units, Creative Assembly did a fantastic job breathing life into this digital world. Not all of the unit models have a great level of detail; Mannfred seems to lack the regal intensity of his tabletop model and the Bretonnian units have little variety despite the plethora of outstanding paint schemes made by the many fantastic painters of the hobby. Still, these hiccups remain few and far between.
Thorgrim Grudgebearer rides his golden throne carried by his Dwarf bodyguards. Awesome.
While Creative Assembly certainly plans on releasing more content for Warhammer, they have opened up the game to extensive modding support. Many men and women have contributed to the growing and colorful modding community; from simple unit redesigns to reworking of existing factions and enabling gamers to play as factions such as Bretonnia and the Varg (who are not normally playable in the Grand Campaign), the user created content for this game will continue to flourish so long as Creative Assembly encourages its growth. I eagerly await what these talented men and women in the community will make next.
As a final note, Creative Assembly recently released a paid DLC package called “Blood for the Blood God.” Initially expecting the addition of Khorne-based Chaos units, I found that this additional content provides the following (source):
- Blood spurts
- Gory spatter on unit models
- Limb and head dismemberment (humanoids and non-legendary characters)
- Zombies, skeletons and Grave Guard may continue to fight after dismemberment!
- Explosive Gibbing from deadly mid-torso strikes
- Blood-drenched UI elements
- New random, global campaign events that generate greater carnage in battle
This DLC pack currently costs $2.99 and while that certainly isn’t a great deal of money, this feels like content that should have already existed in the game. Creative Assembly has a record of releasing similar paid DLC for their past Total War titles (or in the case of Attila, an entire game) that should have been a part of the primary content. I am grateful that this doesn’t impact the game in any way and I fully support a company’s right to add extra content for a price. It still, however, begs the question: What else will companies consider “premium content” and to what extent will they go to exclude it from their base game? I feel like this is a slippery slope that has only grown in the recent years.
Thankfully, Total War: Warhammer‘s base experience can easily fill hours of your time. Ladies and gentlemen, trust me when I say this: this is one of the best Total War games to date.
Happy gaming!
-Valiant
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