Warlocked Game by Nintendo/Bits Studio Reviewed by The Avardancer (Philip Wesley) Size: 32 megabits Save: batteries Released: 2000 Works with: Game Boy Color ONLY! **************************************************************************** Opening Snide Remarks: Bits Studio. Now where haev I seen them before? I remember. They did R-Type DX and I loved that game. Warlocked is the game that I have to review today. Oh, the name is a pun. War Locked, get it? As in locked in war and a traitorous wiccan. You know, Warlock-ed. Umm... forget it for now, I'll just review this little clear grey game. It also has nothing to do with the Marvel character. Or the movie series. Or the book series. **************************************************************************** Gameplay Descripion: For those who don't know, a Real Time Strategy (RTS) game is a game where you control a cursor. You use this cursor and a menu of commands to direct an ever moving platoon of characters to accomplish various missions. I'll do a short run through of the first level to explain how this works. Your first objective is to gather 100 Materials, gather 500 Gold, and build three farms. I'm useing the Humans for this example. Useing the beasts is similar in the first few missions. The first thing you do is move the cursor -it looks like a hand- and click on one of the little people by pressing A. Now, you can select where you want him to go. I suggest you have him walk over to the trees and cut them down. To do this, move the cursor down toward the trees until it turns into a little axe. Then just click and hold A. The person will go and start working on the forest, and you should already have de-selected the other guy. To keep it interesting, places you haven't been are covered in "?" blocks, naturally. As you move your little people/monsters around the board; more of the area becomes visible. Find the mine, and send a person to the mine. Also locate the scrolls as they will provide helpful hints for you. Finally, when you have enough gold and materials (fuel); you can build a Farm. Farms are used to help you increase the amount of people/beasts you can have on-screen. The more farms you have, the more units you can have from your Main Hall and Barracks. But, it costs money and/or fuel to develop your armies. You need to figure out how to use your little people to accomplish your missions. All of this happens in a world that is constantly in motion. In other words, everything is moving. If you are familiar with PC games such as Warcraft, Starcraft, Command and Conquer, and to some extent, Lemmings. You get the idea. There are several missions, and there are two hidden mini games -Poker and a Sliding Puzzle like those cheap ones you can get at the Dollar Store-; and you can find maps in the game for use in Multi-Player mode. The only down point to the game is the slowdown that occurs when you have a TON of troops on-screen at once. Other than that, it's great! To add some flavor to the soup; Bits Studios introduces "Wizards", they do different things like make troops, workers work harder/stronger. They make individual units invisible, spread diseases, use fire/ice/wind/etc attacks, and transform enemies into things. That's pretty cool. The game isn't startlingly original; but for what it features, it's awesome. The campaigns can quickly go sour if you are not careful. So, beware! Some of the best things in the game involve useing the wizards creatively to wreck some horrible chaos on to your enemy. Great fun. Oh, you can switch Wizards with your friends. I think that sucks. Because, it's hard to find someone with another copy and I think it's pointless. Instead of forcing players to trade, they could have just put in more levels, or hidden wizards really well. Oh, well. Liked: Fun, with lots of variety, secrets, Hated: Trading to collect wizards, and the lack of originality.. I mean, seriously, it's WARLOCKED. NOT POKEMON! Trading wizards... Of all the nerve. You don't see Starcraft players playing "Swap the Zerg!". Trading, and collecting is NOT a thing for RTS games. I mean, imagine how Battle.net chat would be then! "I'll trade you eight Terran Firebats for five Protoss Templars!" **************************************************************************** Graphics Description: First thing I noticed is that Bits Studios knows how to make cut-scenes on the Game Boy Color BETTER than Nintendo Software Technology does. The cut-scenes are designed the same way as the ones in the game Crystalis were; but ended up sharper. And the rain and snow effects in the opening cut-scenes are great. There's about three or four layers of moving snow and that's nifty. The spells look pretty cool and you can tell how a creature/human is doing by it's animations. Nice graphics overall; although I can see sections where you can tell the graphics are layered. The game graphics are never too small to see; and clipping is actually kept to a minimum.. unless you have about 30+ troops on screen.. then it slows down slightly and clipping is more evident. The character sprites are a tad simplistic in color; but that's not bad at all. In fact, those Orge creatures are almost cute... A lot of detail. Lots of it. Fast moving water, good special effects. The game is great. Let me say that it's good. It's all good. The best part? I think the best looking sprite is a sprite after Stealthwiz has done his job. The little ninja guys are awesome. I give them a tiny poem now. Ode to Stealthwiz It brings a tear to my eyes To see about 20 of the ninja guys. standing there in little ninja shawl Around the enemies Main Hall. Ready to strike at my command. To rid the world of the other clan. Waiting for the long, tired, moments to pass. Then we appear out of air and kick tons of @ss. Oh, in one of the levels, there is some blood. Oh, no! Oh, well. Liked: That snow.. it's a new benchmark.. I'm sure. Nothing is too tiny. Hated: I don't have anything to complain about.. the clipping isn't as bad as it could have been.. so I can't complain. **************************************************************************** Sound/Music Description: Great! Lots of voices, long music; but after a while of hunkering around beating people/monsters into bloody pulps... it makes you want to beat someone into a bloody pulp and I never thought the phrases: "Yes, Master!", "Okay, Master.", and "Attack!" could get boring. Oh, wait.. they DON'T. And the music rocks heavy and damn good. On a minor note.. why do the beasts have an accent? Are they British? Liked: Clear voice, lots of voice, good music.. Hated: The Queen doesn't say "Yes, Master!" and I want her too.. umm.. ignore that comment. **************************************************************************** Play Control/Game Design: The Instruction Manual is long; BUT you don't need it. They tell you what to do in the game. Since you really just control a cursor, the play control is as responsive as it should be. For an attempt at a proper Real Time Strategy game on the Game Boy Color. Warlocked succeeds. Here's to the genre, may more great games like this come our way! The cursor changes to reflect appropriate actions. Simple to learn, and it's easy to develop strategies in it. Buy two copies for multi-player... yumminess. Liked: No need for Instruction Manuals, Tenchi! Hated: ..... **************************************************************************** Improve: Add more levels, internet play, rumble, more voice, more wizards, and one more class. It could be Beasts VS Humans VS ? or something. RIYL: Starcraft, Warcraft, Command and Conquer, and to some extent, Lemmings. **************************************************************************** Final Words: A great addition to your Game Boy Color library. Long enough for those plane trips and auto rides. Lots of replay value; because no campaign is ever the same. **************************************************************************** Score Gameplay: ***** Graphics: ***** Sound/Music: ***** Play Control/Game Design: **** Personal Opinion: ***** Total: 24 out of 25 Final Score: 96% **************************************************************************** Currently Known Codes: A Bubbly Pox on all who wish to cheat!