Chariots of War review (PC)

Building an army in Chariots of War isn't all that interesting either, at least after you've done it once or twice. The unit types aren't diverse enough to represent the dozens of civilizations featured in the game. Some are restricted--such as the Medjay skirmishers and the Sea Peoples warband--but even these "unique" units are confined only to specific groups of nations. The Medjays are available to all the Nubian affiliations, the Sea Peoples are open to all tribal groups, and so on. There isn't nearly as much variety as you might hope for, especially since the game is billed as an epic clash between dozens of ancient civilizations.

Combat isn't everything in Chariots of War, although you might be able to call it the only thing. While resource collection is necessary, at least five of the nine different resource types are directly related to the production of military units, and all nine are gathered automatically as soon as you build the appropriate structures--though at least the resource model takes geography into account. For instance, wood and horses are both scarce and highly valuable resources in the game, as they were in the Near East at the time.

All resources are uncommon enough that trade and diplomacy are essential. This also nicely captures historical reality, as goods were traded all across the Near East in antiquity, and diplomatic relations were crucial to keeping people supplied with food and frankincense. But the game's trade and diplomatic interfaces are both inadequate. Neither feature is covered in the tutorial--though the tutorial itself isn't really helpful anyway--which suggests that these interfaces were tossed in at the last minute. Trade is essentially a spreadsheet that accounts for purchases and sales. Diplomacy involves sending an ambassador to a neighboring state, whereupon you gain some useless information about its attitude toward you and learn the identity of its worst enemy. Since your relationship with foreign powers is all about military capability and posture, it's hard to see the point of bothering with diplomacy at all, outside of standard trading.

Finally, the production values are low in Chariots of War. The game's dated 2D graphics make city development a lifeless chore, and the battlefield graphics feature choppy animations that make your troops look they're goose-stepping, Highland dancing, or performing some strange combination of the two. The game's sound is sparse, consisting mainly of foreign-sounding grunts from armies and generic music that sounds like something from a late-night movie with togas and Steve Reeves. And there is no multiplayer support whatsoever, online or off. You're stuck with the solo campaigns.

Add all this up and you have a game that improves upon Legion with more breadth, but still has a number of problems. Chariots of War may be an improvement on Legion, and it may focus on an often-neglected part of history in the early Near East civilizations, but there are better options out there if you enjoy historical strategy games like these.