Always loved the Warlords series since the first one. Simplistic fun gameplay that any RTS fan or fan of fantasy action games will enjoy. Glad to see the inclusion of new races and expansion on the Beneril lore as well.
PROS:
-While not much of a story(grrr age of darkness is coming and everyone is going to war!) the game doesn't really need an overly complex story. Beneril is your typical bare bones fantasy setting with humans, orcs, undead, magic, knights, and elves. It doesn't have any unnecessary hooks to it, no sci-fi elements, no forced in 'chosen one' elements or anything that will take you out of the immersion of the land. It's just you and your army against the world. It has that classic Warcraft 2 feel to it which I enjoyed, as I'm a nerd about these things that likes to get sucked into the fantasy element of these types of games.
- Fast fun gameplay choose your unit and choose where to deploy them and watch them go. Each race has a "special power" and a unique unit to them with certain strengths and weaknesses. For example, the wood elf race has a focus on powerful ranged units while the undead race has an focus on 'zerg rushing' and overpowering with numbers. The gameplay is simplistic, but surprisingly doesn't get as boring as you'd quickly think.
- Support for 2players, and difficulty modes for players who want a challenge.
CONS:
- Unless you're a big warlords fan once you beat the game once or twice you'll fine little reason to come back again. There are two unlockable races that you get for beating the game once or twice and challenges but that's it. Some of the extra modes require you beat the game 5 or 7 times to unlock them but you would probably have moved on a long time ago by then. Once you beat it, there really isn't much reason to come back to the game.
- Due to the map and their positioning, some races fare better at defending than others. Orcs of the South, wood elves, and high elves for example have kingdoms at the very ends of the map that allows them to leave those kingdoms defenseless while guarding all their border kingdoms. While races with kingdoms in the middle of the map like the undead, demons, and ice trolls are constantly getting invaded.
- Hard to see the units with the new animation and art style, I liked it when they were blob people because they had character and you could check out how the different units of races looked. Now all you can really see is the faint outline of them along with their races color.
In all a fun game, but will lose your attention 97% of the time after the first playthrough.