Besieger

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Through the foggy mist on this morning, my Viking forces stand ready on the hilltop. In the distance lays the Cimmerian fortress, preparing for my onslaught. As the sun rises, my forces charge into the battle of the ages. Sadly, as soon as my forces hit the wall and are told to enter the fortress, beneath all the plans and preparations they forget how to walk in a straight line…

The Battle Scenes

Besieger is the new RTS game from Dreamcatcher in which gamers create epic battles between the Cimmerian and Viking forces in an age long battle. The initial feeling I had upon receiving it was that huge battles being fought out on a computer screen would absorb me for hours on end. At first, this feeling was achieved, but then I realized the horrible thought put in the AI. The first part of the game, the campaign, did not leave anything out I had hoped. Little Viking men running here and there under control of one leader/hero or another was what I expected and what I got. Even occasionally, a bear or ogre appeared out of the woods for a fresh fight. So, not too bad. It reminded me a lot of Warcraft and the missions with Prince Kael'thas (still play that game). During the campaign, the camera view was at first cool. Getting to look all around the battlefield and zoom in with the click of a button was all neat and exciting. However, when you start to do huge skirmishes called sieges with thousands of units, the camera reaches its annoying stage. It's pretty pointless to zoom in on one unit while 50,000 more are doing the same thing. Anyway, on to my favorite part, the skirmishes!

Skirmishes

A skirmish is just a “small” battle that usually isn't something like D-Day. However, Besieger takes this word to a whole new meaning. In this game, battles are epic events that last more than just 2 minutes and are earth-changing when they happen. Needless to say, the cost of a battle is immense, and the need for a strong economy arises to fill this problem. A vast amount of structures and units can be created throughout Besieger, allowing for a large amount of versatility during any situation.

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Buildings like armories and barracks are present, each with their own unique task that can help win a battle. There are other variants on how to play single player, but none really compare to this skirmish style of mass war. Battle, with its minimal amount of units and structures is fun, artifice with the woman has it's good points, but nothing is better than to throw molten rocks at enemy castles nonstop. Too bad Besieger has flaws that make it seem like its throwing rocks at you.

Nobody Likes Flaws

What causes me to say this is that although Besieger brings the idea of massive combat to the PC, it has multiple problems that should have been solved before release. For one, the lack of a fresh idea other than a large amount of units at one time doesn't distinguish this game from any other RPG's out there. I could just as easily pick up the extinct Age of Empires and create my own epic battle if I wanted to. Also, the camera becomes terrible later on in the game. The zoom doesn't go far enough out to be effective in stronghold scenarios, and in campaigns, the ever-rotating camera gets on my nerves all too often. Unit graphics leave much to be desired, while their contrasting environment is gorgeous. A pretty tree and a boxy Viking don't make for a happy gamer. However, what takes the cake is the AI. Multiple times I sent units to rally at an area and they were stopped by themselves. Units seem to have a problem staying in order and formation while moving, and this can greatly slow down the game. It wouldn't be so bad if you had to move 10 men manually, but when you're trying to save yourself from a massive onslaught, a bunch of men crowded in an area doesn't help. So while my men look like idiots, I'll be pretending to have fun.