Age of Heroes III: Orc’s Retribution

Sequels are sometimes great and sometimes a total let down. Take for example, Robocop and Robocop 2 – both great in their own way, then there was Robocop 3, which falls in to the category of ‘why on earth did they do that?’, there’s a similar instance with Terminator 1 and 2, then the third was a total let down only to be reprieved in part by the fourth rendition. As you can see the pattern emerges here on the silver screen, as does this rather poisoned chalice get repeated in the gaming world please take exhibit A: Age of Heroes III: Orc’s Retribution. This game is everything that the others were just not quite as good (but only just) – despite some nice little touches.

Now, after being very pleased with the previous edition (Age of Heroes II: Underground Horror, the game developers have somehow removed the cool Ortega the Necromancer character and placed you into the rather grubby boots of an Orc in a fight against Elves. Now I admit, I don’t know the first thing about Orcs and Elves really but I thought the Elves the good guys? In any case, in this game the rather plentiful force of tree-dwelling arrow and sword flinging blonde pointy eared creatures will make a fondue of your merry band of grunting Orcs if not careful – so pick your battles wisely.

The first moments of the game consist of you getting into a fight where you will lose and then your true mission begins. As you would expect from a RPG you will have to explore the map thoroughly and vanquish any foe whenever you find them. The Elves have fortified positions which make your battles nearly impossible to be victorious in. Fortunately you may find a rather creative Goblin who has a taste for making siege engines; this will prove very valuable when attempting to get further into the game.

This is almost exactly the same as the previous game but I feel the sheer number of Elves on each map will reduce you to tears and not much more than a bloody mess on the floor (in the game at least) even on the easiest setting if you don’t make the most of the various skills and abilities that you will pick up along the way.

Movement is taken in turns and you have a number of paces to take within each turn. By coming into close contact with the characters on the screen you will either end up in a fight or gain another useful addition to your force. In the fight scenes you will zoom into a small board which is comprised of hexagonal squares, allowing you to attack either at range or close proximity (depending on what the unit’s equipped with). As you would expect, the larger your force is, the more damage it will inflict and more likely it will survive any blows received. In these battle scenes you can make use of spells and so on which will help you seize the day.

The movement of your characters both on and off the battlefield is quite adequate if not slightly repetitive. I would have to say that it’s a little cumbersome as with previous renditions, it’s still unable to let your character move as pre-instructed, but instead force you to move the cursor to re-click on where you want to move to.

Effectively this is the exact replica of the previous episodes of this game apart from the introduction of obstacles on the battlefields, like gates. I found myself being able to accomplish more in this game as the missions were a lot more straight-forward, e.g. finding someone, letting someone join your group or bashing all Elves in on your way. So for a more novice player, this may be arguably more suitable for you to get your teeth stuck into. The more advanced players will be finding it almost a linear pattern which will mean the true reward is sought on the battlefield, and yes, your prowess and skills will be definitely tested here.

Rating 84%

Positives

Good fun and quite tricky

Long play time and addictive

Save feature on demand

Some battles have had obstacles added

Variety of enemy and ally units with special attributes

Negatives

Repetitive

Controls aren’t the greatest

Not very clear graphics when walking the map as it’s not always obvious where your exit is

No auto-save function – if you fail to save your progress then it’s lost forever and you have to go to where you last backed up.