Str: World Fables [by EST Games]

Game Review: World Fables
Release Date: November 2004
Developer: EST Games
Genre: Strategy > RTS
System Requirements: Windows 98/NT/2000/XP, 700MHz CPU, 128 MB Ram, 32 MB Video Card
Players: 1-8 (LAN)
Price: NA
Website: http://www.worldfables.de/

EDITOR's Note: World Fables was released in the United States in November of 2004 and was available for only a couple of weeks before the company publishing it in the US decided to go another direction (ultimately belly up).  No other US company has picked up this game (it is available in Germany), which is somewhat to be expected due to some rather 'adult' (meaning very juvenile) themes throughout the game and the fact that the game is dealing with children's characters further complicating what many would call the decision in poor taste.  We reviewed this game in December with one of only a few of the copies of the game that made it to the US market and have been awaiting it being released in the US before publishing our review.  However, at this point we don't expect to ever see it on these shores and so we're posting the review anyway.  If at some time things change we hope to be able to add links to this review of where you can pick up a copy online.

Mix together Warcraft 3 and some of your more popular fairy tales and you have the unique RTS: World Fables. World Fables features both a single player campaign and multiplayer, though there aren‘t servers to log into and find online games, which takes away from the multiplayer option. The general idea is you choose one of four groups to lead to victory: the gingerbread men, the 3 little pigs, Humpty Dumpty, or Red Riding Hood. There are unique units and buildings for each of the groups. You start with a main champion based on the group you chose (ie, if you choose red riding hood, she will actually be a powerful unit that you can do some butt kicking with), and you also get to choose a pet out of 3 that are available (a giant rock monster, a dragon, and a witch-doctor type character). You can also find special characters hidden on various levels throughout the game like Jack Frost and the muffin man. All of these special characters can gain experience to level up and increase their abilities. Their experience carries over between battles throughout your campaign, which is a bit different from other RTS games where you have to re-level up your heros every time you start a new battle. These characters also have magical abilities that range from summoning creatures, such as sheep, to do battle for you, to large scale attack spells like an ice bombardment. The general idea of the game is to gather supplies and build up your army and their abilities faster then your enemies and to conquer them.

Despite the seemingly child-like theme of fairy-tale creatures, World Fables is more of a when-fairy-tales-go-bad type of world. The game has dark overtones of language and themes including a continual background theme focused on sex. It is definitely not a 'kid’s game' or a game for those who don't like to see this type of material on their screen.

GRAPHICS: 9
World Fables is a colorfully rich 3D game. There are tons of unique models for each group, from gingerbread men with flame throwers to pigs that man mini-guns, to buildings that you see constructed before your very eyes. All of these models are well animated, complete with great looking particle effects. There are different types of terrain throughout the game including forest, snow, and desert landscapes. All of these environments are rich and full of life, with trees that sway in the wind, and even cute little NPC characters like my favorite: waddling penguins. Even subtleties such as time-of-day effects, shadows, weather, and fog effects have been included the game and they look great. I think about the only place World Fables falls short of being polished is in the menus where the graphics go from great to mediocre and unfitting. But since very little time is spent in this part of the game, this hardly detracts from a great looking game.

SOUND: 10
The background music in World Fables is fantastic. It really sets the mood fitting the imaginative environment of World Fables where any story book creature could come and attack you. Despite the repetitive nature of music in an RTS game, I never found myself having to turn the music off. The sound effects are great as well; the characters all have unique sayings and sound very professional. Furthermore, all of the battle sound effects sound great, its like you‘re truly in middle of a massive battle. I would like to hear more voice sounds, but I feel the same about most big budget RTS games, so I can hardly hold it against World Fables.

Concept: 5
Unfortunately, this is where World Fables really falls short, though some people may disagree with me here. The only thing that sets World Fables apart from other RTS games is the fairy-tale theme. Aside from that it really plays like a watered down version of Warcraft 3. Don’t get me wrong, World Fables plays great and has a variety of unique units in it‘s own right, but as someone who’s played through many RTs games, World Fables simply didn’t show me anything in the gameplay that I’ve not seen and played before.

I think where World Fables really missed the mark is the audience they’re aiming for. If they had kept it more of a child themed game rather then an adult themed game, then I think it would have made more sense. The RTS market has been saturated in the past with great games, and I think most adults who like RTS style games have played these simply bigger and better games. I think the novelty of using fairy tale units wears off pretty quick for an adult where it might not for a child.

GAME PLAY: 6
I found myself getting frustrated the longer I played World Fables, as it runs into a variety of problems that other RTS games simply don’t have. Pathing, for example, is a major problem in World Fables, you never know if your units will actually end up in the place you told them to go. This stems from the fact you can’t put your units into formations; when you move several units to a new location, they all try to stand on the same spot, which leads to lots of wandering around and sometimes mass chaos depending on how many units you’ve selected. This is even worse when doing battle as your confused units will often get destroyed before they can figure out how to get to the character they are supposed to kill.

The AI also falls short as I found I could destroy half of an enemie’s city before many of their defensive units showed up.

Probably the most frustrating thing in the game though, is the number of hard crashes I ran into. Unfortunately, the game crashed more frequently the further I got into the campaigns I played. I played about half-way through the game using two different campaigns, and both times crashing became so extensive that I had to abandon the campaign.

Overall, World Fables has a rather limited number of levels, and regardless of which campaign you choose, you ultimately play through the same levels, which makes the 50 hours of gameplay a little misleading.

VALUE: 6
Once again, the game plays great, but with all the problems I ran into, World Fables inspired me to bust out one of my old RTS games like Age of Mythologies, rather than making me want to play World Fables anymore. The novelty of fairy tale creatures doesn’t make up for the frustrating gameplay, and I’d be more apt to spend my money on an RTS that came out years ago.

FUN: 8
The parts of World Fables I did play were fun. Frustrations aside, I’ve also felt the building up of units and destroying the bad guys before they get to you to be a fun idea. World Fables does it well, with unique units that are fun and really come to life; I almost took it personally when I allowed Little Red Riding Hood to get taken down on one occasion. I was excited to find and unlock new characters in the game so that I could see what they could do and hear the funny things they’d say.

There is some variety in the missions; you may have to go save Hansel and Gretel, or defend the lady-in-the-shoe’s home, but for the most part it’s all about taking down the bad guys before they can get you, which because of the well designed levels World Fables boasts, doesn’t become old or tedious.

OVERALL: 8
World Fables is a good 3D RTS game with great graphics and sound, but to make a mark in the RTS market, fresh and unique gameplay is required. It’s a great game but it’s a bit behind the times with its target audience. I’m interested in what EST Games is planning to do in the future, because I think they have the potential to make great games.
Added: August 20th 2005
Reviewer: Bryce Carroll
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