BirthME, Doulas

Command regiments of cavalry, infantry and archers as well as wizards, war machines and huge monsters in your role as a mercenary army captain, tasked with wiping the hordes of darkness from the face of the map.The game's introduction shows the resurrection of an evil undead King in lands far to the South of the Empire. You can hide behind them and even flatten some of them, but it would've I been sooooo cool to plant a cannon on some battlements and watch your foe blindly walk into a couple of fat fiery balls of metal.Unfortunately, Dark Omen disappoints in exactly the same department as SOTHR. Screenshots from

New units, including allied Elven and Dwarf units, can also be added at certain points in the campaign, often as rewards for successful completion of critical missions. The entire battlefield can be viewed from overhead, but only the enemy units visible to your units can be seen. But because of the way the combat engine is built you often find yourself firing into the middle of a fight and risking your own men as well as the enemy.
As the campaign matures, your army will grow in numbers and in experience, the latter making your troops better fighters. 2009 Dark Omen is the … To progress to the later missions you can't afford to lose a single unit. The graphics, with the exception of an occasional surprisingly nice polygonal landscape, aren't worthy of a 16-bit title, let alone the PlayStation. Thankfully my fears were largely unfounded, because the developers have taken all the best features of SOTHR and enhanced them, while also cutting out the crap that got in the way - which leaves us with a lean, mean, fantasy fighting machine... well, sort of.Set a while after the first game, Dark Omen sees you reprising the role of Morgan Bernhardt, the mercenary leader of the Grudgebringers. Simulation

Terrain and elevation must be taken into consideration for attack and defence. Rhythm

Strength in numbers seems to be the key to a lot of fights, and you soon find that the biggest problem with the game appears when you lose a few men. On one hand we had a real-time strategy game with innovative 3D graphics and an involving storyline; on the other, a control method as fiddly as drinking beer from a thimble. Easy to read status bars inform you of reload/recharge time for your units. Once you learn how to use the 3D terrain to outflank your enemy and outmaneuver them, you'll find that Dark Omen isn't too hard to learn (despite looking very complex.) Due to the fact there is no resource management throughout (apart from picking which units to send into battle), all that you have to worry about is moving your troops in a sensible fashion and annihilating anything that gives you a funny look.As far as this story line goes, it is pretty much the kind of thing you'd expect.

Without hardware acceleration, the graphics are a bit messy, although I have to confess that I played the game for more than four hours before realising I'd turned 3D acceleration off - which just shows how engrossed I was. Audio feedback to your commands is always a benefit and Required: Windows 95, Pentium 120, 16 MB RAM, 32 MB free hard disk space, DirectX 5.0 supported PCI video card with 2 MB RAM, 4X CD-ROM drive, DirectX 5.0 supported sound card, mouseRecommended: Pentium 166 or higher, 32 MB RAM, 8X CD-ROM drive, 265 MB free hard disk spaceElectronic Arts has done well in documenting the game.
Terrain and elevation must be taken into consideration for attack and defence. Banners above each of the units keep you informed of the type of units in the battle.After each battle, audio and video clips update you on the story line. For sound, DO offers bare-bones music and dialogue bites that are repeated more often than "Score!" Command regiments of cavalry, infantry and archers as well as wizards, war machines and huge monsters challenge you in your role as a mercenary army captain, tasked with wiping the hordes of darkness from the face of the map. The audio starts but nothing else happens.

Action Do you lead with your cavalry or attempt to lure the enemy into the crossfire of your archers?