There are games that are released all year round, but for some reason, people just don’t buy them, no matter how many good reviews we idiots give them, no matter how many players recommend them. Liquid Entertainment’s first game, Battle Realms, was one of those games. It had some great units, great gameplay mechanics, an interesting backstory, and good balancing. But even though the game was still planned in 2001, it somehow faded from view, probably due to the haze of anticipation for WarCraft III… Either way, it never achieved the sales it deserved. Despite this, Ubi Soft decided to support the developer in developing an expansion for the game. This made me very happy, as I remember expansions like StarCraft: Brood Wars and Age of Empires II: The Conquerors. Unfortunately, Winter of the Wolf is short and has a mix of easy levels overall, despite some new units and heroes. I was hoping it would be a great addition, but it was actually pretty average.

Winter of the Wolf takes place before the events of Battle Realm. It tells the story of the Wolf Clan and their escape from their homeland and eventual slavery, which was only really hinted at in the first game. The Wolf Clan, the thugs of the Battle Realm world, were once a perfectly peaceful people, living in harmony with the land on their own little paradise island. They don’t rely on science, but on the bounty of nature and their own strength to survive. When nature’s mercy ran out (a huge storm threatened to consign their homeland to the fate of Atlantis), they were forced to do whatever it took to survive. In this case, her druid order had to use her sacred White Wolf totem to send her to another, safer land. They miscalculated a bit and somehow ended up right in the middle of the Snake and Lotus clans’ territories. The wolves were allowed to live there in peace for a while, but since they were inferior in intelligence and strength, it really made sense to push them into slavery. So the Dirty Lotus enslaved the wolves in the slab mines. But they didn’t want to lie down and die. At least, not if young Greyback has anything to say about it.

For seven years he planned a violent and thorough return of the Wolf Clan to freedom. Circumstances may have forced him to do so a little sooner, but soon the movement for freedom grew and he suddenly found himself at war with the Wolf Clan, the Serpent Clan, and the Lotus Clan. As is always the case with such things, none of the more powerful clans paid much attention to the matter due to their arrogance. Drastic measures were not possible while thinking that I am one of them, just like Ivan who just today in his arrogance actually ate his lunch thinking he was safe, not knowing that a hidden feast was just waiting to loosen his bowels. Evil deeds. Anyway, the beginning of the game is about Greyback humiliating the other clans by tightening his loincloth.

Unfortunately the first few levels are very long and very boring. Yes, I know they were used to set up parts of the story, but let’s be honest. These types of levels are what you’ll remember from StarCraft and most other real-time strategy games. Instead of building units, you wander around maze-like levels full of enemies, trying to find an exit and finding units. I’ve never liked these types of missions, but in Winter of the Wolf it’s even worse. The units you gather underground are mostly melee units, so every time you find an enemy you’re just ambushed. There are virtually no puzzles, no real strategy and no real fun. Maybe something like that was needed to set up for the rest of the game, but we didn’t need that much, and we didn’t need that long.

You can’t just run through the levels faster because of the stamina limit. And most of the wolf units lose stamina quickly when they run. When she’s gone, her boys are slow! Slow! Go faster, you idiots! At least I didn’t have to think straight when going through these levels. I just went with them from place to place, let them fight and then heal again (wolf units have natural healing). As a result, we didn’t lose a single unit at the start of the entire game.

For seven years he planned a violent and thorough return of the Wolf Clan to freedom. Circumstances may have forced him to do so a little sooner, but soon the movement for freedom grew and he suddenly found himself at war with the Wolf Clan, the Serpent Clan, and the Lotus Clan. As is always the case with such things, none of the more powerful clans paid much attention to the matter due to their arrogance. Drastic measures were not possible while thinking that I am one of them, just like Ivan who just today in his arrogance actually ate his lunch thinking he was safe, not knowing that a hidden feast was just waiting to loosen his bowels. Evil deeds. Anyway, the beginning of the game is about Greyback humiliating the other clans by tightening his loincloth.

Unfortunately the first few levels are very long and very boring. Yes, I know they were used to set up parts of the story, but let’s be honest. These types of levels are what you’ll remember from StarCraft and most other real-time strategy games. Instead of building units, you wander around maze-like levels full of enemies, trying to find an exit and finding units. I’ve never liked these types of missions, but in Winter of the Wolf it’s even worse. The units you gather underground are mostly melee units, so every time you find an enemy you’re just ambushed. There are virtually no puzzles, no real strategy and no real fun. Maybe something like that was needed to set up for the rest of the game, but we didn’t need that much, and we didn’t need that long.

You can’t just run through the levels faster because of the stamina limit. And most of the wolf units lose stamina quickly when they run. When she’s gone, her boys are slow! Slow! Go faster, you idiots! At least I didn’t have to think straight when going through these levels. I just went with them from place to place, let them fight and then heal again (wolf units have natural healing). As a result, we didn’t lose a single unit at the start of the entire game.

The game had no real way to force the player to use certain techniques or traits. It never felt like you had to do anything. There was nothing to force you to do this, and even the simplest strategies were efficient and effective. And there was no real reason to use new units in the game. There were no goals based around them, except in the early levels, when only the miners could reach the switch that turned off the magic barrier. What was the Switch doing in such a stupid place anyway?

Unfortunately, Winter of the Wolf wasn’t what I would call challenging. The single player campaign was completed in about 6 hours without much difficulty. Even the final strategy level of the game was surprisingly easy. Some of these new characters are barely introduced, the new units are barely mentioned during the campaign and aren’t put to good use by the computer. So what about the undead armies that the Reapers can deploy? Those were mostly a side note.

I would have liked to know more about these things, and about the heroes of each clan. It feels like there could have been a more creative way to introduce these types of units and features to fit and improve the story.

I really love the story and style surrounding Battle Realms, and after talking to the talented people who made it, it’s easy to see that a lot of thought has gone into it. But in this case, the construction and development of this plot was a bit perfunctory. The basic plot was a good start, but it feels like they tried to cram it into such a short campaign when a little more character development and plot twists could have easily expanded it to multiple levels. This was probably my main complaint, but it just seems like so many missed opportunities to build the world in more interesting ways.

I know it may not be a fair comparison given the difference in budgets, but Brood Wars had everything this expansion doesn’t. The difficulty ramps up quickly because players who are playing already have the original. A very interesting and well-thought-out story with great dialogue and some deep layered characters, and lots of new campaign levels. Even if the story was focused on wolves, there’s no reason we couldn’t have had a Serpent or Lotus campaign. Adding more antagonists and a decent amount of characters should make the experience even better.

Multiplayer is as great as ever. The best way to experience Battle Realms to its fullest is to play against human opponents. Only then will you see the truly creative and planned use of all combat equipment and technology. New units for the four factions (as well as the Dragon Clan, although technically they were not released at the time of Winter of the Wolf) add to the mix and fun of multiplayer. Each clan receives upgrades for their female units, which can be done with upgraded “City Centers” for each side. All of these units can employ unique special abilities or draw power from their towers, which can then be distributed to allied units in various ways, such as health and stamina. This is an interesting twist on the multiplayer aspect that can change the balance of the game if used correctly. All other units are melee fighters and can each have two different special abilities. These are useful too, but weren’t the super awesome addition I was hoping for ever since Battle Realms.