Wars and Warriors: Joan of Arc Impressions
We checked out the strategy gameplay behind Joan of Arc, the upcoming action strategy hybrid about France's most famous military leader--who's not Napoleon.
It's quite possible that the nation of France wouldn't be around today if not for Joan of Arc. That famous 15th century heroine, through sheer force of will and brilliant leadership, roused the sorry remnants of the French armies and beat back the English occupation, unraveling all the progress Henry V had made toward making France a permanent part of "Jolly Old" England. So, for better or for worse, thanks to Joan, France survived and eventually gained a permanent veto in the UN Security Council. Not bad for a teenage girl on the brutal battlefields of medieval Europe. Of course, she did end up burning at the stake for it--but let's focus on the positive side of her story.
Joan's stellar strategic accomplishments are part of the inspiration for Enlight Software's upcoming game, War and Warriors: Joan of Arc. This is one of those hybrid designs that attempts to combine action, adventure, and strategy into an ambitious and, hopefully, easily playable game. We covered the third-person action adventure aspects of Joan of Arc in a recent preview, but we've since been able to spend more time with the game's real-time strategy component.
Interestingly, the third-person action and real-time strategy gameplay in Joan of Arc are closely related. It's not a static game where you play the strategy portion for one level and then switch to the action mode the next. Instead, you'll find yourself on your toes from the get-go, and you'll be switching between the two constantly. For instance, you may be fighting as Joan in the action mode when you notice a wave of English reinforcements heading your way. You can then switch to real-time strategy mode, which pulls the camera back to a top-down view of the world. From there, you can locate some French forces nearby, lasso them with the mouse, and send them your way for some backup. You can then return to third-person mode to get right into the action again.
As you've probably guessed by now, Joan of Arc won't be a conventional real-time strategy game. You don't build bases or cities, nor do you gather resources or churn out units. Instead, your job is to maneuver your forces around the map, while at the same time beating back the enemy in melee combat. While you're zoomed out in the top-down view, the AI takes over the character you were playing to pick up the slack in melee combat.
The forces that you'll use to beat back the English will come from towns and cities that you liberate along the way. Joan can actually be joined by famous historical characters on her journeys, but, in keeping with her historical role in rallying the French, only she can recruit new soldiers at a barracks. There are a variety of different unit types in the game, including archers, crossbowmen, siege engineers, and, of course, swordsmen. You'll group these soldiers into units, each of which is centered on one of the game's main characters, like Joan, Etienne de Vignolles (known more famously as "La Hire"), and Charles of Ponthieu, who would go on to become King Charles VII of France. This means that controlling units is simple, as all you need to do is give the order to the main character, and the other soldiers will follow automatically.
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- GameSpot Score6.2fair
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Wars and Warriors: Joan of Arc Review
Designer Trevor Chan's first foray into action games yields mixed results, because this third-person hack-and-slash suffers from some rookie mistakes.
- Feb 13, 2004
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- Enlight Software
- Historic Action Adventure
- Release: Feb 7, 2004
- ESRB: Teen
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