Warriors: Rise to Glory
Review
Blood and Gore
by Howie Howard
reviewed on PC
We Said It And We Meant It!
With the above said, the developers appear to have been quite successful in their early efforts, as Warriors: Rise to Glory has risen to the point of being a very good little fighting game. So much so that it can be difficult to put down after getting started. There's a lot to do in the game with a nice character creation sequence at the beginning and throughout the game. Each fighter that enters the game world, and there will be more than one, starts out needing a name and points distributed to various attributes like strength, agility, endurance and others. Each fighter can have their physical appearance altered so that they have the look you want. That means choosing skin colour, facial and head hair (or lack thereof) and attributes such as scars, tattoos and more.
After creating the beginning character, the game features a tutorial. Players can skip it and move on to the bread and butter of the game if they choose to do so and get into the gladiatorial fighting in an arena against other fighters. As with other RPG fighting games it's all about building up a fighter that will be able to survive as progress is made. In Warriors: Rise to Glory, staying alive is not easy because the fights get harder as fighter level increases. Fights actually get a lot tougher and so choosing to increase the right attributes and picking the proper skills and equipment for your style of fighter is important. In reality, developing a poor fighter isn't a bad thing in the game because it's not all about the career of a single warrior, it's about his progeny and lineage that counts the most. In fact, killing off previous fighters can be to ones advantage in the long run because it seems like enemies develop a bit quicker!
I'm Going To Huff And Puff And Blow Your House Down...
A player's house really isn't just a place to put your feet up or a storage place for equipment. It is much more. Think of the house as being a family dynasty. When one fighter passes on, his progeny will carry on in their father's footsteps. Yes, you will lose your fighter and if you have spent time building him up, it can be a devastating loss. In Warriors: Rise to Glory any benefits the house has gained will pass on to the progeny. That means the next generation will start out at a higher level with more attribute points along with the benefits the house provides. Advantages for the next generation can include a higher beginning weapon hit percentage, greater damage done and even more money earned. Not having a recorded family history in the house is unfortunate because taking a look back at previous fighters would be nice, but it doesn't hurt game play.
If an action arcade style of fight game is preferred then Warriors: Rise to Glory might not be for you. Warriors: Rise to Glory is a roguelike turn based game played on a straight line where fighter movement can be either forward or backwards. Weapon strike intensity, either light, medium or heavy is chosen and then enemy damage is based on attributes. There are other actions that can be used instead of swinging a weapon such as resting to regain endurance, entertaining the fans to gain their support or the usage of special skills that are earned as fighter level increases. Every action taken uses up endurance so using tactics is important, especially in the higher battle levels. The game offers several difficulty levels and game modes, so there is always something to do.
My, You Have A Lot Of Weapons!
The weapon, armour and equipment system is extensive. There are progressively stronger weapons and armour that can be bought with money earned from battles. Weapons consist of agility based blade weapons and strength based axes. Players will need to have the agility or strength required to use each particular weapon. Ranged weapons can be carried in lieu of a shield and are usable after using a turn to switch, this requires one round. Armour quality and strength is based solely on cost, meaning, if you have the money then you can buy and wear it.
Skill sets correspond to the type of fighter that you want, either agile or strong. Equipment is unlocked when the fighter reaches the required agility or strength, but players will also need the required funds. Strength does dictate the amount of damage that is done but improving skill sets seem to be more important. Get killed off and all of the personal weapons and equipment goes away. However, being required to start a new warrior from scratch is fun because it allows for experimentation and using of different builds. Having the advantage of a fully developed house does come in handy and moving through the generations is how that happens.
Blood And Gore, Blood And Gore...
The blood and gore that's present in the battle ending cut scenes should be mentioned. Even though it's cartoonish in nature, it might be a problem for the younger gamer. Battles themselves aren't overly gory, but the after-battle cut scenes that might present a problem. When a battle ends the choice of whether to spare the loser or to end them needs to be made. If it's a casual battle, nobody dies. If its a Brutal mode battle then the scene goes to a pretty gory ending where heads explode and blood is spewed all over the place including the computer screen. Other than being tired of seeing it and being too lazy to click skip, maybe a solution would be a switch to turn it off. Or have a milder scene available.
Other than some gore at the end of battles there really isn't much if anything to complain about with Warriors: Rise to Glory. The game is well done and it has a lot to offer other than just a bunch of nicely constructed battles. The house dynasty theme and the character creation feature really makes this game shine. The battles being so challenging shifts emphasis on to the family dynasty part of the game. That in turn elevates Warriors above games that just re-spawn or that offer different ready made characters.
9.2
fun score
Pros
Great battle sequences, challenging bot opponents, very well done house / family / dynasty game aspect.
Cons
Seemingly total lack of multi-player online play
