Act: Warblade [by EMV Software]

Game Review:  Warblade
Release: November 2, 2004
Genre: Action
Developer: EMV Software
System Requirements: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, PIII 300MHz, 8MB Gfx card, 64 MB RAM, DirectX 8.1
Players: 1
Price: $20.00
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Ah, another Space Invaders spin-off. But – trust me, this one is better than most such titles that I’ve played over the years.

Warblade is a simple science fiction shoot’em’up, where your ship is constrained to the bottom of the screen, and you fire at a swarm of enemies at the top of a vertically scrolling star field, while moving left and right to dodge incoming fire. So far, so not good, you might think, considering that this game idea has been around for nearly thirty years.

But what sets Warblade apart from the broad spectrum of Space Invaders clones is the way the game flows across your screen, from the very first swarm of aliens in level one to the countless waves of fast-moving enemies in level 93 (which is, after two weeks of testing, the farthest I ever got).

The aliens move beautifully, in both symmetric and chaotic patterns – it’s quite a challenge to get them all, especially in the bonus levels. Sometimes, long lines of enemies wind their way onto the screen, intertwining and forming a dense weave of doom while you are frantically trying to catch that missing “R” letter that will award you an extra life, while dodging a stream of bullets and bonuses that you don’t want. After level 25, the game just turns into a symphonic orgy of wonderfully choreographed mayhem – you have to see it to appreciate it!

What!? Bonus items that hurt? Yes, there are some pick-ups that are undesirable – for example the single shot or double shot weapons, if you already have a much better one; or skulls that downgrade your ship while the game mocks you by flashing the message “sucker” at you. Or the dull “Memory Station” bonus level, if a few seconds later, you could have had the chance to earn 5000 credits flying through the “Meteor Storm” stage. There are some more, but you should find out yourself, because Warblade offers a huge variety of weapons, bonus items, rank markers and secrets.

Another feature that makes Warblade special is its inbuilt support for user customizations; you can pick your own choice of background music from your personal collection of MP3s, MODs, MIDIs, etc. This game uses the fmod audio library, which supports countless music formats. Warblade even manages – somewhat useless – password protected user profiles, in case you share the computer with someone else, or would like to keep your personal stats and scores pure when you let a friend play for a bit.

Graphics: 7
Hmm. While much of the graphic work in the game looks pretty plain, the stars and sprites are quite blurry, there are other moments where the graphics shine, such as the special effects in the explosions. The hyperjump sequence, is pretty cool, and shows how you can do a lot with a little there is an overall feeling that the graphics could be a little bit better. There’s a ‘secret’ alternate graphics mode, where explosions don’t try to be realistic (and instead look like 80’s coin-op arcade game explosions), and I believe the game looks much better that way.

Sound: 7
As with the graphics, the game uses many different sound effects of varying quality, some are just poor (like the single shot sound), and some are excellent (such as the enemy shots in time trial mode). The music is a small collection of nice, synthetic tunes, and they endow the game with a certain retro-feel.

Game Play: 8
This is a very, very demanding game, with lots of difficult decisions to make and very harsh punishments for the careless pilot. Your ship will be downgraded in all four power levels whenever you die – weapon spread, bullet count, speed, and bonus-effect duration. A single enemy projectile will kill you (though collisions between yourself and aliens are ignored), and if that happens to you twice in one of the higher levels, chances are that you won’t have enough firepower to destroy all opposition before your time runs out and an ugly UFO starts firing homing missiles at you. Warblade offers several types of bonus levels, including a high-speed run through a meteor storm and a pair-matching card game in the style of Memory™. Beginners should definitely create a new user profile and check the “Easy Profile” box, it makes the first dozen games or so much more enjoyable.

Options: 8
You get more options than you could ask for, and in fact – who needs those options in a game that is best if played for a little while to kill some time, and then left alone again? Anyway, there are lots of bonus items, combos, and many ways to customize the game for the arcade fan.

Value: 6
This is where Warblade disappoints. For twenty dollars, you can at least expect better, more polished graphics, if not outright awesome artwork and a professional grade soundtrack. Just compare it to Void War and Jets’n’Guns, which have both been reviewed here on GameTunnel – Warblade’s production value shrivels in comparison to other games that can be obtained for the same price.  However, if you were to look at the sheer amount of time that you can enjoy this game, there is certainly some value to be had here, so overall the game comes in at even for the course in the value category.

Concept: 7
Space Invaders is an ancient game concept, and it doesn’t take much effort on a game designer’s part to develop a concept for a Space Invaders clone. It’s still a very good remake and contains some interesting surprises.

Fun: 8
Depending on how you look at it, Warblade requires you to be a little masochistic to find it rewarding. No continue or credit system, sparse extra lives and expensive heavy weapons in a shop – premises that one could consider “frustrating”. But this is not so, because Warblade is a traditional, purebred arcade game, and your motivation will come from the wish to finally beat this game, to prove for yourself that the boss at the end of level 25 is not beyond your abilities to beat, to complete bonus level 45 with a flawless 80 of 80 aliens destroyed. It’s also a great high-score hunting game, and you can adapt your playing style for either long-term survival or maximum scores – my personal high score is a whopping 66,290,195 points. Ha, try to beat that!

Overall: 7
Warblade is not an immediate eye-catcher. It doesn’t sound good, doesn’t blow you away after the first twenty minutes, and its hardly a new star on the horizon of arcade gaming. But it will grow on you, relentlessly, with every beautifully arranged wave of aliens that you blow to smithereens. For retro arcade fans, it’s definitely a game to check out and consider..
Added: February 3rd 2005
Reviewer: Moritz Voss
Score:
Hits: 4859
Language: english