Computer Graphics Memory Disk Space Minimum: 386 VGA 600K 9 megs Max/Rec. 386SX+ 640x480x16 2 megs Control: Mouse, Keyboard Sound: None Reviewed version 1.01a on: 486DLC-33 w/4M RAM, mouse, SB Reviewer Recommends: A good sized disk cache will do wonders!
It has been oft-noted that one of the few weak points in SSG's award winning WARLORDS II (WL2) is the lack of scenarios (there are four). With the release of the WARLORDS II SCENARIO BUILDER (W2SB), SSG hopes to renew interest in their popular product.
The W2SB, as the title might imply, allows the user to custom build a WL2 scenario to nearly the same detail as the originals! There are a few missing features I'd really like to see, but more on those later. W2SB comes with an update to WL2 v1.11 (also available on InterNet), the program itself and several new scenarios to toy with. The installation was a real chore. After 2 wasted attempts to install, the program decided that now was the time to work and successfully copied itself to my hard drive. SSG has said that there are a few possibly defective diskettes in circulation and are working on the problem.
When W2SB is first loaded it becomes apparent that SSG has stuck with what works. The interface is nearly identical to that of WL2, making it not a chore, but rather a pleasure to work with (with one notable exception). W2SB is essentially divided into 3 parts: the map editor, the city editor and the armies editor. The map editor was perhaps the weakest of the three parts. The main window is the same size as in WL2, which is great in the game, but does not have a large enough viewing area for easy map construction. There is also an "Edit All Map" feature which squeezes the entire map into an unbelievably tiny space. The best results are obtained by using Edit All Map for a rough outline of what you want and then fine- tuning it in the main window. This may have been what SSG intended, but I personally find it a royal pain. Another map editing window of an intermediate size and zoom level would have no end of usefulness. You may draw the map elsewhere and import the .lbm .pcx or .bmp file, but I never tested this feature.
If you don't find the map editing interface daunting, you will find that underneath that it is quite useful and powerful. There are several graphic plates for each type of terrain to prevent it from appearing monotonous and for adding some flavour (the volcanoes are nice). It would be another royal pain to evenly distribute all the grass plates across your new land, but the terrain smoothing option will do this for you as well as rounding off the corners of plains, water and forest. My only complaint here is that the map window (again from WL2) only updates when you tell it to. I would prefer it to be continuously updated as I work to make things a bit easier. The placement of cities, ruins, sign-posts and temples was simple and intuitive with an edit button available for changing their contents and text.
The city editor is a simple drawing area where you define the appearance of the cities for each player. The editor was very simple, but well done. I have played with many cheap Shareware PCX editors in my day, and this contains a few features they could have used. First off, I am not an artist and I greatly appreciate a grid to work with. This is a common oversight when people with real talent try to create the program as they find it often unnecessary. Secondly, it shows you how your city will appear when shrunk to game size in the corner. I HATE having to exit and look at it and then go back into the program. These may seem to be obvious features, but they are commonly overlooked.
The armies editor was my favorite stop. Create and define up to 40 units to be used in your own army set! Army graphics are much smaller than the cities and are consequently easier to draw. A nice touch is the use of a "uniform" colour that will change to the colour of whatever side the unit belongs to. The side display shows how the unit will appear for every player (something that looks good with black or white can look really DISGUSTING for cyan!). After drawing the unit, there is a simple process for setting its movement, upkeep, cost and combat bonuses. You can also define if the unit is available from temples, or even exclusively from temples (nope, can't buy a dragon!). Also available under the army menu is the ability to edit the graphic of a unit at sea.
The W2SB also contains a useful tool for the lazier world builder. You can randomize the names of all your cities, ruins and signs. SSG thought twice about this and also offered the feature of randomizing all your UNNAMED cities, ruins and signs so you don't lose what little work you have done!
Lastly, W2SB allows you to make your own magic items (you're of course restricted to the abilties of the originals: combat, command, gold and movement bonuses and the fly bonus). You can define the monsters fought in the ruins, change the default hero names and create a scenario description. This nicely fills out your scenario with several "personal" touches to it. However, there are a few things missing here....
Where is the shield editor? Every side has its own unique shield and I'm stuck using the predefined ones! Also, some ability to edit the terrain graphics would be a great addition to the package. This reminds me, along with W2SB you get a second set of terrain plates: MUD! Blah! This looks awful in my opinion. Don't use it unless it will really add to your scenario (Warthogs II?). Lastly, there is a bug in all of this. Just one, mind you, but an annoying one nonetheless. When playing WL2, if one of your units receives a medal the game will crash trying to find a nonexistent file. I've heard that SSG is working on this and we will probably see a free patch in the near future.
To sum it all up, the WARLORDS 2 SCENARIO BUILDER is a slick product. It will allow you to create an entire (almost) new world to play WarLords II in. Play in the future, on another planet, whatever, this program will allow you to do it. It potentially turns WL2 into one of the greatest multi-player strategy games of all time! There is now no end to WL2's replay value. However, you still might not want to run out and buy this immediately. The v1.11 patch to WL2 is available for free and allows you to play the scenarios created by others at no cost to yourself. So if you're not the creative type, don't bother! To you creative people: I await your scenarios! The warlords_ii directory has already been created at wuarchive so upload those suckers.
This review is Copyright (C) 1994 by Charles Greig for Game Bytes Magazine. All rights reserved.