Rival Realms Demo

Enter the world of Rival Realms, where Diablo meets Command & Conquer, and the phrase "Magic and Mayhem" doesn't even come close to explaining what goes on...

Rival Realms, developed by Activ Pub studios of Romania and published by Digital Integration in the UK, is a new style, real-time tactical strategy game which takes place in a heroic fantasy environment.

Rival Realms is a world of knights and wizards, mercenaries and thieves, where armies of Pegas Riders roam the wilderness and armadas of warships patrol the high seas in search of wealth and adventure. There are three races (not just the obligatory two) to choose from: the versatile Humans, the magical Elves and the belligerent Greenskins as you take your armies onwards to victory across a fantasy backdrop of mythical beasts, unexplored worlds and uncharted waters.

With absorbing gameplay, an easy to use interface, in-depth tutorials, three immersive campaigns, a comprehensive level editor, internet/network play for up to eight players and, a first for any RTS, the complete tailoring of all individual troops (not just the hero), Rival Realms offers gamers everything they've always loved in an RTS and adds a lot more of what they've always wanted.

Rival Realms features everything that's great about RTS games: an enthralling plot; a wide variety of characters; excellent AI; gut-wrenching battles; bags of visual appeal, a user-friendly interface and, best of all, total replayability. But what really sets this game apart is the detail and level of game-play on offer; rather than simply charging troops headlong into battle, gamers are encouraged to think about such things as strategies of attack and defence, troop experience and the basic economics of war - troops need feeding, you know!

Adding a much needed twist to the RTS genre, Rival Realms is the first game to offer you the chance to build up armies whose troops all have their own individual characteristics. Every single one of your, and your opponents', troops gains 'personal experience' in battle, and can advance up to a maximum of five experience levels - this way they live longer and their hits are stronger and more accurate. What's more, each member of your troops has his own individual inventory.

More than fifty different items are available to players including magical and skill artifacts, spell scrolls, potions, keys, bombs, resources and bonuses. Another first is that troops can also exchange artifacts and potions between themselves!

At the end of a victorious quest, you can even save your best troops in libraries, building up your own elite death squads. Then, at the beginning of future quests, you can hire your favourite heroes, and even change their names and identification colour. These features allow a small army of experienced and well equipped troops to defeat armies numerically superior. This troops feature is also available in multiplayer so that you can pitch your elite squads against your mates in the ultimate head to head.

With all your troops constantly developing and able to collect artifacts which influence your troops attributes in various ways from extra damage capability to increasing your characters speed of attack, Rival Realms takes on an RPG-like quality. The campaigns also feature quests which must be completed before you can advance to the next level.

Rival Realms has an easy to use point and click interface. Players can make homogeneous selection groups which allows them to receive common orders. There is also a 'Multiple Selection Tool' and a 'Shortcut Tool' which allows an easier management of troops, which means that, in the heat of battle, when panic takes hold, 'hot keys' can be used as shortcuts to trigger specifically grouped troops to action.

Magic is a favourite of all fantasy RTS players and no game would be complete without it. Rival Realms features loads of magical mayhem with wizardry specific to the race and spellcaster! Most of the attack spells can be pre-set as "default weapon". For instance, select several wizards and pre-set one of them to the 'Frozen Breath' spell and the others to the 'Fire Ball' spell: in combat, your 'Fire Ball' wizards will attack enemies that are immobilised by your 'Frozen Breath' wizard.

Spell casting uses mana, which eventually restores in time, but mana can also be stored in potions: all spellcasters use these automatically in battle, so there's none of the hassle of opting out of battles just to recoup energy! The magic isn't just confined to Wizards, there are also Druids and Firemasters who can weild this mighty power. What's more there are a whole host of magical artifacts and skill enhancers which players can also pick up, including the Crown of Titans and the Necklace of Dragons.

In Rival Realms players are also encouraged to think about such things as resource management. The progress of each race in the game depends upon the successful management of the three resources needed to support a war: gold, wood and food. Failure to build up enough reserves will impact heavily on the outcome of the war.