Battle Realms is a fantasy RTS game inspired by kung-fu movies and Japanese mythology. In the game you assume the role of the hero Kenji as you develop a village of peasants into a clan of highly specialized warriors. You must defend their village against barbarians, evil magicians and deadly ninja. Although the basic gameplay of Battle Realms revolves around three elements: resources, units, and power-ups, the game puts the focus of gameplay especially on the battlefield. Instead of producing a new soldier unit (they're automatically produced), you train your peasants to become various different warriors, for example Spearman can be sent to the archery to become Dragon Warriors. Battle Realms not only plays different, but its visual style is pretty unique as well - seems that units and building are pretty influenced from traditional Asian architecture and dress style.
Battle Realms features detailed 3D environments (dense forests, rugged cliffs, sandy beaches, terraced rice fields, crashing waterfalls,), realistic weather effects, Zen Masters - heroes that grow and develop as the player progresses, an innovative resource system (for example: water can make rice grow faster, but rice and water feed both soldiers and horses, while horses are required to train cavalry), Unit Alchemy system for training new soldiers, an unique battle gear system to advance the abilities of your warriors, power of Yin or Yang to upgrade your soldiers, or save the power for your Zen Masters, Advanced Combat Engagement AI for both the enemy and your own forces allows units to intelligently react to terrain and distance in combat situations, up to 8 opponents in fast-paced multiplayer action.
Battle Realms is definitely big step away from the old RTS and presents gamers the quality they deserve. Liquid entertainment really outdid itself with this game and it's only their first title! Any gamer who wants to have hours of enjoyment should go to buy this one for Christmas! Download playable demo (98MB).