Since I decided to take all Warhammer games under my nurturing and very sympathetic wing, it`s no surprise that I immediately reserved the latest edition for myself. However, with all my sympathy and dedication I just couldn`t get around to liking it. My original enthusiasm quickly faded and made room for the disappointment that quickly reared its ugly face.

The original Warhammer - Mark of Chaos appeared without too much fuss and remains pretty much unknown, even to this day. I don`t have a problem with this, but I do have a problem with the fact that in order to play Warhammer- Battle March, I am forced to have the original installed. Since this is not a standalone expansion, I imagine the number of people that are going to buy this game will be as high as the number of people that bought the original. And that`s definitely not a lot... I wonder what genius came up with this marketing idea that is going to have a serious effect on the number of copies sold.

Anyway, moving past this little "bump in the road", I started the game with high hopes and an open mind, ready to lead my little green and black friends to victory. These are the two new races brought to us by this expansion, mainly the green Orcs and Goblins, and the black skinned Dark elves. While the orcs didn`t really appeal to me, I was really looking forward to leading the Dark elves on their path to victory.

Actually, any game that included the Dark elves as a playable race, immediately drew my attention thanks to the wonderful books of R.A.Salvatore (the Drizzt series) that should be read by everyone, as far as I`m concerned :).

Getting back to the game... After taking a glance at the (boring looking) menu and graphics options, I decided to jump right into the fray. The Orc campaign has you playing as Gorbash, leading a mighty Waaagh! Waaagh is actually the Orc synonym for war, mayhem, destruction and mainly anything that involves fighting and killing. As silent spectators to this Waaagh, we have the cunning Dark elves, with their special agenda, that will "guide" the orcs into doing their dirty business.

Players of the original version will feel right at home when starting this, as everything is exactly the same, from the interface, to the hero screen. This could be considered a good thing... or a bad one, depending on your tastes. While some liked the interface of the original, others, like me, hated it.

Everything seems to respond in slow motion, from your units to the buttons in the menu. This really frustrates, especially when, in the midst of battle, you are trying to give your units some life-saving orders.

Just like the original, you are treated to an excellent introductory movie that should get you into the theme of the game... Unfortunately, everything goes downhill from here. You can either play the original campaigns, or the new one from the expansion. If you haven`t played the original, it`s strongly recommended that you do so now, as the difficulty level for the expansion is quite high. The in-game movies look a little better than those from the original, but there`s nothing noteworthy about them.

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The campaign map has remained the same, with your army travelling from one location to another, to start the next mission. You can visit temples and other "friendly" locations in between missions, in order to upgrade your army and retrain units lost in battle.

I must make a note here and warn you that if you plan on completing it, extra care must be taken with all your units, from the start of the game to the end. This is because all units earn experience as the campaign progresses, so taking care of your troops is very important.

As I said, you can visit different locations on the map to upgrade your troops, or retrain them. This isn`t very complicated, as all you can select is upgrading the attack to +3, or the defense to +3. You can also purchase banners for your troops here, and retrain them, which is quite expensive.

Hero-wise everything has remained the same, with the same three upgrade directions: combat, duel or command. It is advisable to specialize heroes in one domain. Heroes can be attached to your regiments and significantly improve them, if you invest in the command skill tree, but even if you don`t, they are still a force to be reckoned with. You can equip items on them (quite a lot, actually) to make them even better, and the missions usually have a high number of items and potions lying around. There are still problems when trying to give one item from one hero to another, but I guess players of the original should be used to it.

Don`t be fooled by the campaign map, as everything is already decided for you, and the order in which you play the missions is always the same. You do have at times the option of choosing one path or another, such as waiting for reinforcements or rushing ahead, but this doesn`t happen very often.

Before a missions starts you are allowed to arrange your troops, attach heroes to regiments and so on, but I fail to see the point in this, as the placement zone is pretty small, and you are never attacked from the start. The combat quickly turns into chaos, as your careful placement goes out the window and your troops charge right into the action. This wouldn`t be a problem, as you can still give orders and direct you cavalry towards enemy archers, order your infantry to protect your archers, and other life saving decisions, but.... There is a big "but" here. You can`t, because of the horrible interface and the abysmal performance on any computer. As soon as the fighting starts, you are forced to be nothing more than a spectator and watch as your troops get slaughtered, or come out victoriously, by who knows what miracle.

Graphically speaking, the game looks fine, but a brown seems the defining color. Everything in the game is brown, or a taint of brown, from the grass to the units. Maybe it`s just me, but I didn`t appreciate the brown wearing troops, on the brown background, slinging brown spells while fighting brown enemies. The excruciatingly long load times don`t do anything to help this game, but I guess you can serve lunch while the game is loading.

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Conclusion:

I wish I could say more about this game, but the truth is that nothing is all that changed from the original, and the new additions aren`t enough for this to be labeled as a good expansion. The multiplayer mode is interesting enough, if you can get past the interface problems, and play it with all the details off, so you can actually control your army. I was very disappointed by this game, as I was expecting all the flaws of the original to be corrected, and the game to truly shine, as it should have. Players (and fans) of the original will enjoy it, though, as the campaign is long enough to keep you occupied for a while. It still needs a lot more polishing and I hope the good ideas present here (such as the RPG part of the game and the army management) will be improved in a future game. It would be a shame to let this go to waste.

Gameplay: 68

Good ideas and intentions thrown out the window. The responsiveness of the interface is as slow as it gets, and sometimes you have to repeat a command several times for your troops to actually acknowledge it. The RPG part is fun though, and leveling your hero is easy and fun, and there`s nothing like watching your big brute of a hero rip an enemy hero to shreds in a duel. The chaotic combat will make winning the missions a matter of numbers more than a matter of skill, and I think this is exactly the opposite of what the intention was.

Graphics: 63

Brown grass, brown troops, brown background, brown shields and brown weapons... need I go on? You can zoom in at grass level, useful for entering combat and watching the fight, but that`s about it. You can rotate and pan your view as well, but, like most 3D games, this is a disaster and could have been removed. Remember, always keep functionality above looks.

Sound: 68

The orcish sounds will start irritating you after a while, if you`re like me and don`t appreciate snoring, shouting and growling in your headphones. The music is pleasant enough, when you listen to it, but there`s nothing about it to make it stand out.

Multiplayer: 80

Everything is better in multiplayer for the simple fact that your opponent has the same problems as you. The customization screen before a multiplayer or skirmish match has remained, and is fun to play with. Winning or losing a multiplayer game revolves around luck more than troop placement or logistics.

Hardware: 50

I truly can`t understand how the frame rate can drop like this, even when no fighting is taking place. Single digit frame rates are a common occurrence, even on modern computers, and one Alt-tab means the end of the game. Expect to grow a beard in front of your computer when waiting for one mission to load.