Battle Worlds: Kronos Review

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Rolling back the years, there was a time when turn based/real time strategy games were really popular. Whether it was Panzer General, Battle Isle, Command & Conquer, Age of Empires and Total Annihilation (Who remembers that one?) there were a series of titles to play with. Personally I was more of a RTS fan, the Command & Conquer series was a personal favourite. The first Command & Conquer was ported over to PS1, whilst it remained close to it’s core values, playing with a PS1 controller was not as easy as playing a keyboard and mouse. Battle Worlds: Kronos was funded by a Kickstarter campaign where the idea was to make a turn based strategy game for today’s market. People who backed the campaign were able to test it and feedback to the developers. The idea behind the Battle Worlds: Kronos was to build a game for experienced players, which in regards to turn based strategy games that means Battle Worlds: Kronos is going to be one world that is very hard to conquer!

For the uninitiated, Battle Worlds: Kronos is a turn based hexagonal strategy game. You and your opponent take turns to move your units and attack enemy units/buildings. Each unit can move a number of spaces which is highlighted by hexagons, once you have moved you can then perform another action, for example attacking the enemy. The basic plot concerns itself with a war that has broken out amongst the Houses of the world, this is meant to appoint a new emperor as the last emperor of Kronos died. When a faction is able to capture all the holy temples then a new emperor can be crowned.

Battle Worlds Kronos Review Screenshot 2

The first thing you’ll find with Battle Worlds: Kronos, is the presentation, some development has been put into this side of the game as the story is told through various excellent cut scenes, it feels almost like a Command & Conquer game in terms of these visuals. When you get into the playing part of Battle Worlds: Kronos you’re met with a reasonably detailed map with easily identifiable units. You receive a message at the start of your campaign advising that Battle Worlds: Kronos is a challenging game, but it advises that whilst you will lose many units there will come a time when you will become experienced enough not to lose a single unit. It’s a way of disguising the fact there are no difficulty levels, Battle Worlds: Kronos plays one way and that’s a very hard way.

Battle Worlds: Kronos is a methodical game, you need to plan a few steps ahead otherwise your units will get surrounded by multiple enemy units. Each unit has it’s advantages/disadvantages, some are able to counter attack i.e. when they get hit they hit back. There is a tutorial which is not the easiest to find, although that may be what Battle Worlds: Kronos is aiming for, it hasn’t been designed for the novice player. There’s a lot of reading to be done in Battle Worlds: Kronos, it’s how it explains the story, bear in mind there is a lot of dialogue, add that to an already slow-paced game and you have a less than pedestrian paced experience, but that is what has been asked for and is exactly what should be expected from a turn based strategy game. The enemy has a lot more units than you, this will be the main reason why you die, in some cases the enemy see you and actively pursue you so you need to be very careful when moving around.

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There’s a campaign mode which is a series of missions interspersed with cut scenes. Additionally there is a single play mode which plays like a set of challenge maps. Unfortunately that is all to play, a game like Battle Worlds: Kronos needs a multiplayer function to add more layers to it, to make it more entertaining. As much as anyone enjoys beating AI opponents, there’s nothing like beating a human. In this kind of genre the multiplayer battles would last days and weeks but there’s no point talking about a function that hasn’t been implemented. It’s a real shame Battle Worlds: Kronos is limited in this way.

Battle Worlds: Kronos is a very strategic and tactical game, so if you have plenty of time on your hands and want to play an up to date turn based hexagonal then this may be the game for you. It’s a reasonable attempt at the genre but Battle Worlds: Kronos is not an easy game, you will lose many a campaign and if you’re someone who likes that kind of challenge then you’ll find it worth the many hours you put into it. The lack of a multiplayer element is quite shocking, hopefully there will be an update that adds it. The slick presentation helps Battle Worlds: Kronos come across as an approachable game but once you’re in you’ll be there for a very long time.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Sony Playstation 4 code was provided to Bonus Stage for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to press@4gn.co.uk.

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Battle Worlds: Kronos Review
  • Gameplay - 6/10
    6/10
  • Graphics - 6/10
    6/10
  • Sound - 6/10
    6/10
  • Replay Value - 6/10
    6/10
0/10
User Review
0/10 (0 votes)
Overall
6/10

Summary

The slick presentation helps Battle Worlds: Kronos come across as an approachable game but once you’re in you’ll be there for a very long time.


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