WarBreeds (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.0 stars Good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 6.6 (3.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Scott Krol
• Reviewed on: 05/05/1998
• Updated on: 05/02/2000
• Released on: 03/31/1998
• Originally published on GameSpot: WarBreeds (PC) Review

There's nothing new under the sun. Nowhere is that statement more evident than in the games industry. Almost every game put out is a sequel or a clone or an expansion to another game. So if you're a budding new game designer the question should not be how you're going to bring something totally new to the genre, but rather how you're going to bring something fresh to the genre. Red Orb Entertainment's WarBreeds is a well-intentioned stab at doing exactly that with real-time strategy games. It comes close to the mark but, unfortunately, it misses.

On an alien world a race called the Yedda has learned the secret of bioengineering, creating structures out of living materials. In conjunction with this knowledge, it also learned of the process of manipulating DNA to form other living creatures. Three slave groups were then created. Still not content (and obviously never having seen Jurassic Park), a small group of Yedda attempts to create a new being, which is meant to fulfill an ancient prophecy. Quicker than you can say "Frankenstein" the new creature turns on its creators, and soon the Yedda race falls. The game opens with the three slave races vying for power along with this new race.

Even with four races, WarBreeds only includes two actual campaigns, though all the races make an appearance. The campaigns are not dynamic (something that hopefully will one day cross over into RTS from flight sims), but several times you can choose between two scenarios. This does give at least some limited replayability. The majority of the scenarios is standard fare; build a base and then wipe out the enemy base. A few scenarios force you to attack with a set amount of units, though these end up being more disappointing than refreshing. One such scenario gives you two units to wipe out a specific enemy structure. Your creatures are invisible as long as they aren't in combat, which means the hardest thing about the mission is finding the structure. With no real challenge, the mission is over in under five minutes.

While the missions aren't particularly unique, the rest of WarBreeds is. Graphically the units, structures, and terrain are all well done and, for the first time, an alien landscape actually looks like an alien landscape. Where WarBreeds truly differs from other real-time strategy games, though, is the actual gameplay. Since Westwood's Dune II, there's been a basic formula of including two types of resources that are harvested by a unit that has the intelligence of a box of rocks. In WarBreeds there's essentially a single resource, cropland. There are two types of crops, but both are grown in the same way. A shaman (your basic builder) plants the crops on terrain that supports the flora. The crops then grow and spread themselves to the limit of this special terrain. The shaman can then build a refinery, a structure that harnesses power from the crops. Once power is being collected, the shaman can then go about building other structures. These structures include psi towers (which control how many units you can have), relays (which extend the power zone), and gene labs (where units are built). As the game progresses, more structures can be built, which vary from defensive units to upgraded basic structures.

Units are created at the gene lab. A basic unit consists of a body that houses several mounts. Each mount can lodge a different weapon or special ability (such as healing or longer sight). Thus building a unit is more akin to building a 'Mech in BattleTech than popping out mini-gunners in Red Alert. While at first the variety of weapons and abilities available is limited, more and more become available as time goes on. When a unit dies it slowly dissolves away. Before it's completely gone, though, a shaman can collect its DNA, which eventually translates into combining enemy weapons onto your own creatures.

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