Highland Warriors - PC Games

With campaigns that take you through 400 years of Scottish history from the 9th century, the historical setting should have provided a key differentiator. While you will find key heroes such as William Wallace, Robert the Bruce and Edward Longshanks present, there is no sense of representing history.

With races that cast magic spells and the unit makeup being so inline with just about every other real time strategy game, it's a missed opportunity. The graphics are frequently a treat, with the whole world a detailed 3-D model. You can zoom right in on characters as they perform their daily tasks, or engage in battle and the buildings and scenery look impressive as you swoop along up close to the ground. It makes for some great moments, but in reality you need to zoom out to be able to control your characters and command the armies.

While zoomed out, the graphics are still impressive, but less so and some anomalies of the 3-D engine become apparent. Most obvious is the way that characters skate and glide across the terrain, in what looks like some bizarre kind of moon walking in reverse.

There are some nice touches, such as changing seasons, which affect your resource gathering and master craftsmen who can work more effectively than your standard peasants, but these efforts to spice up the strategy only serve to add an unnecessary level of micromanagement. Highland Warriors may be worth considering if you've been desperately waiting since Braveheart for an excuse to don your kilt and slap woad across your face again, but for the majority, there are better alternatives to be found. --Jason Weston