Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat

Nothing I can do but watch the game crash when the first battle starts. Tried everything, got no help from GOG support! Beware!

Game crashes before mision loads

I remember when this came out and everyone was banging on about command and conquer which wasn't on PS1 at them time and this was so I thought Id give it a go as I fancied some strategy stuff. Turns out this was far superior for me. They story is great.very high difficulty level and completely new take on the strategy game. Being able to hire different units that fight differently depending on their enemy and being able to hire wizards that can single handily turn the tide of the battle. I also purchased the sequel Dark Omen which is also awesome. Please GOG, get Space Hulk Vengeance of the blood angels next, been trying for years to get that to work on windows 7 and I really wanna play it.

Shadow of the Horned Rat was the first video game set in the main Warhammer Fantasy world, and actually set out to replicate the board game itself (albeit in a real time format). The fact that it replicated the board game so well was and remains the overarching reason why this is an essential purchase for anyone with even the most remote interest in Warhammer Fantasy. The core gameplay should be familiar to those who have played the tabletop game. Before each mission you choose which of your units you are going to take with you, which due to the difficulty (more on that later) is a genuinely difficult choice. You then place your units before getting down to some fighting. As noted above, the battles are real time and not turn based, but the pace of the battles is sufficiently slow that you have plenty of time to make the tactical decisions that you would make during the tabletop game. And indeed, getting your tactics right is essential, because the game is very difficult. I'm sure that would turn many people away, but personally I always found that the difficulty level made things so much more satisfying when you get them right, so I struggle to rate it is a negative. Possibly the best feature of the game, though, is that these battles are all tied together in an epic campaign, which stretches out in a way that you always wanted your tabletop games to, but they never somehow never did. The player is faced with regular decisions as to which path to take, with genuine risks and rewards at each turn. By the end, if you make it that far, you'll have an army which genuinely feels like its yours, and that level of immersion always has been rarer than it should be with strategy games. Ultimately, it's not a perfect game, but it's one that captures the spirit of the tabletop game like few others have since. It's also aged well enough that despite its dated look, the features that make the game so compelling still shine bright. On that basis, I can only recommend it.

Crashes at the Prepare for Battle Screen. Every. Single. Time.