Previous Next

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 Or Releyne has got one or two things going for it: the player is quite effectively insulated from the game's mathematical workings - statistics only pop 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 unsurprising 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.

The sort of bland, unremarkable but undeniably competent product that leaves one struggling to come up with one's quota of words.