Backed by EA and licensed from Games Workshop, this sword and sorcery challenger to the highly-competitive genre of multiplayer RPGs drew high expectations. This hype is not entirely baseless due to the massive success of the Warhammer 40,000 PC strategy franchise.
As the title sounds, this game is all about multiplayer online gaming and while it could be played solo, the fun is definitely framed in networking and party quests.
With just a few days after its release, this makes it difficult to give the definitive word on how solid the online experience will be as the MMO titles take time to mature and content will always change.
Many of the beta players complained of lag and I am sure I wasn't alone in having some frustrations before I could run the full game on my PC. I resorted to finding a player-submitted update patcher and installing the 200MB of updates - all in the lieu of a patch which arrived the next day for beleaguered NZ/AU Warhammer standard edition purchasers.
The interface is very detailed and RPG players will make good use of the resolution and view distance, the engine so far works well although the frame rate is variable but in the end it's the quests that will determine how satisfied you are with only one or two failing to complete.
And in the end it's only early days yet, and it's going to have be totally satisfying to lure gamers from the massively popular World of Warcraft which boasts 10 million paying subscribers. I'm definitely giving it a chance.
Warhammer designer Mark Jacobs, asked in an interview why people would switch says that all online games have an expiry date. "One of the things that certain games have done - and we won't mention names - is that they're trying to go back to an old school, we-want-people-to-work-harder-to-level (style of gameplay) and make it less fun. No, we're not going to do that. We want you to have fun in our game."
One popular US multiplayer gamer was surprised at the suggestion that WoW may expire saying that there is no sign WoW is declining, especially as a huge expansion for it is coming out soon and "it appears to be at the height of its health so far."
The game's creative director predicts in an interview that Warhammer will get a million subscribers within the year, and then eventually three million.
You take on roles as dwarves, warriors and elves and others, siding with either the 'Empire' faction or as a member of 'Chaos.' There are 20 classes, four less than in the original game.
In familiar fantasy game style, you get assigned quests to get rewards and loot to buy better weapons, armour or spells, which gives you a tougher monster in the next mission.
Online in teams, you can get control of areas and claim them for either faction. Realm vs realm gameplay is a drawcard for this game, whereas solo players will find endless options for creating and refining items a more worthwhile pursuit.
The graphics, while not groundbreaking, do a great job of bringing a fantasy tabletop strategy game to life. The environments are deliberately darker than those of WoW.