Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War

It's a nice WH40K title but lacks both graphical, sound and gameplay variety. For the most part it's quite repetitive and "samey" in terms of what you can do in each game. The AI is somewhat predictable but quite solid, it's fun in mass battles but becomes bit hecting having to control hundreads of units in turn based combat. There is a mod that adds voice to units, that alone would make the game 4.5/5 star game. Devs do add more sound, and please make the map bit more rich.

The marketing as "4X" games, while not outright misleading, might some people to expect something different. It is great at what it does, however. You do the usual stuff, laying down cities and claiming hexes, conquering stratigically siginificant tiles and such, unlock new research in a mechanics-wise relatively simple research tree, but the man focus is on tactics, not strategy. Here the game really shines. You build up your forces relatively quickly, have lots of unique units and factions, useful active abilities and also hero-like units. You will be in combat most of the time, and this is what the game is about. You spend most of your time thinking about were to position your units, what units to build, what units to use to counter the current opponent, not what obvious upgrade your city needs next. (Usually the number in the red).

I think Gladius had a few nice features, but as someone who has played a lot of 4X and turn based strategy I found myself constantly wondering why I felt so cramped and hobbled during play. The very limited sight and movement range of units coupled with the small map sizes (even the large maps felt tiny) just didn't give me that epic feel I got from games like Alpha Centauri, Dominions 5, or even Dawn of War (I know, that's an RTS). Buy it on sale if you're a big 40K fan, but otherwise I feel this game doesn't bring much to the table.

liked: * The program itself is fast; rare thesedays. * Artwork. * Maps. * Replay value. * Distinct factions. * Reversal of fortune; can go from winning to loosing to winning again. disliked: * Animations are too slow, no option to speed them up. * No campaign mode . * The occasional CTD. * Some factions missing. * City UI looks like its placeholder (simple black & white icons). * Some late-game balance issues with certain factions.

I'm not into WH40K. If I were, I would've given this another star as it would fill a certain need. This is basically a very Lite 4X. Forget about diplomacy, commerce and the like, The economic system is very basic and, maybe that's just me, but not being able to stack units makes combat somewhat less interesting, combat that is fairly run of the mill as far as the 4X genre is concerned. Usually, a 4X game will challenge you. Its the kind of game you play not to relax, but to stimulate your brain. Gladius instead offers a relatively relaxing game. You learn all the basics on your first game. As many have said, the base game is very drab...But then, I fail to see how a strategy player who is not a WH40K afficionado would be tempted to invest in the DLCs...in fact, the standard price is far more then I would pay for this, again, for I'm not a WH40K fan. Of course, I'm pretty happy with it seeing as it was on giveaway.