Warriors of Releyne logo

IMPRESSIONS * £29.99

Well, the Dharaks are rampaging and on the war path again. And it looks like it's another job for the Wind Riders of Releyne, and yet another average war-game to join the ever-increasing Amiga fraternity. Warriors of Releyne is packed to bursting with those dreaded hexes, and it also features a combat system based on rolling dice, which has some extremely silly effects; such as both the attacker and defender getting killed or the defender being turned into a hobbit.

In fact it's stunningly uninspired in virtually every department - although, with a lovely touch of irony, the graphics are actually rather nice. The game suffers from a clumsy control system, whereby you have to manually scour the huge playing area for your own people by clicking on a compass, instead of scrolling around the map itself.

However on the plus side, Warriors comes with a free construction kit, allowing you to knock up scenarios that, um, look exactly like the three that come with the game anyway. An eminently forgettable affair.


Es geht aufwärts...

Warriors of Releyne logo

"Wenn Sie ein Spiel von Impressions beginnen, müssen Sie auf alles gefasst sein!", steht hier am Beipackzettel zu lesen - aber hallo, soviel Selbstironie hätten wir den Impressionisten gar nicht zugetraut! Oder haben das die Jungs gar ernst gemeint?!

Wäre immerhin möglich, denn statt der beschriebenen sechs Szenarien liefert dieser Nachfolger des unsäglichen "Great Napoleonic Battles" tatsächlich nur deren drei. Für bitteren Ernst spricht auch, daß sich die Warriors schließlich als beinahe Spielbar erweisen, und darauf konnte nun wirklich niemand gefaßt sein!

Zur Sache: Auf großformatigen Wabenkarten werden Frieden und Freiheit des Fantasy-Eilandes Releyne Runde um Runde gegen grimmige Digi-Invasionen aus übersee verteidigt. Wem dabei die fertigen Strategy-Sandkästen nicht reichen, der darf mit Hilfe des umfangreichen, der darf mit Hilfe des umfangreichen Editors seine eigenen basteln und deshalb sei die eingangs erwähnte Schummelei zumindest halb verziehen.

Ein weiterer Grund, Nachsicht walten zu lassen, wäre auch, daß sich das Strategical im Gegensatz zum napoleonischen Rohr- bzw. Vorkrepierer vollständig und leidlich bequem mit der Maus steuern läßt - wenngleich die Handhabung von Genialität immer noch weit entfernt ist.

Selbst das Gameplay wurde einer Frischzellenkur unterworfen, so daß nun noch allerlei neutrale Figuren wie Riesen, Zauberer oder Pegasusse durch's Gelände stampfen und sich eventuell für die gute (oder schlechte) Sache anwerben lassen.

Last but not least wirkt sogar die Optik inzwischen ganz erträglich, und in puncto Audio wollen wir es auch gelten lassen - der Titelsound ist OK und die Zwischenjingles jingeln ebenfalls recht nett. Fazit: Immer noch nicht das Gelbe, aber sagen wir mal orange... (jn)


Warriors of Releyne logo

Most wargames these days seem to come with some sort of editing system as a side-order, so you can play through battles of your own design when you get bored of the ones you're supplied with. That's probably because the programmers have got to write one anyway, so they might as well bung it in to give the blurb-writer something to think about. Here's a game, however, that's presented as more of an editing system with a wargame thrown in.

Warriors of Releyne is about as typical a fantasy-based wargame as you're likely to encounter. The map is divided up into hexes which are populated by buildings, roads, rivers, trees, sea and a variety of indigenous mythical beings.

The members of this last group fall into three categories - the Releynes, who are on your side, the Dharaki, whom the computer controls and who are trying to oust the Releyne from their territory, and neutral creatures which can be swung either way depending on how carefully you approach them.

Play proceeds via the usual movement and attack phases, and battles are decided using the inevitable statistics and dice.

So far so well, predictable. Warriors has got one or two things going for it: the player is quite effectively insulated from the game's mathematical workings - statistics only po up when absolutely necessary - and the graphics actually border on the attractive, with one or two tunes to back them up.

Problems? The icons are about as self-explanatory as the flight deck of Concorde, and, along with all the menus and things that pop up, are rather dark and yucky-looking.

Largely uninspiring, then, but it does just what it sets out to do and will doubtless find an appreciative audience amongst Those Who Like This Sort Of Thing.