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Video Games Live debuting theme from Might and Magic Heroes 6
Though Black Hole's upcoming strategy title Might and Magic Heroes 6 won't see the light of day until next March, a bit of its soundtrack will go public later this week: Video Games Live will play a selection from the game's score during its December 17 show in Paris, France.
Metareview - Warhammer: Mark of Chaos
Still smarting from the disappointing Mage Knight Apocalypse, Namco Bandai really needed a hit with Warhammer: Mark of Chaos. Adding to the pressure was the success of THQ's Warhammer series (the excellent Dawn of War), and competition from other fantasy-themed strategy titles such as Battle for Middle-earth II and Heroes V. The good news is that Hungarian developer Black Hole Entertainment delivered the dark and gritty aesthetics of the Warhammer universe, and the scores reflect their efforts. However, like many publishers of late, Namco Bandai may have compromised quality assurance to stay within the all-important holiday launch window. IGN (80/100) enjoyed the game's deep customization and attention to detail: "The visuals in general are very good. All of the unit models are finely crafted pieces of art. The modeling is great and the textures on top are excellent. They do some nice things with lighting and heat shimmer effects that make magic come alive. All of this comes with a price. The framerate can drop substantially in large battles." 1UP (70/100) is holding out for the first patch: "It's a real mess sorting things out when you get into scrums where unit overlap turns organized regiments into brawling blobs. In short, you get plenty of detail under the hood, but too few helpful barometers. It's hard not to fall under Mark of Chaos' 'almost-there' spell. Prize-winning? No, but certainly promising...if we can hold our breath for fixes." Game Informer (68/100) thinks the combat system could use some tweaking: "Lacking any sort of base-building or resource-gathering, Mark of Chaos has to get by on the RTS combat that makes up the majority of the gameplay. Unfortunately, the battles fail to distinguish themselves in any meaningful way from what we've seen in the genre for years. Hero duels (no armies allowed) invariably go to the person who spent more points in their 'dueling' skill tree – which, of course, gimps them in terms of leading an army."
Warhammer: Mark of Chaos new media
Not to be outdone by its futuristic cousin, Warhammer: Mark of Chaosis sporting some updated media of its own. Namco Bandai's revival of the classic strategy franchise has a new video over at GameTrailers. And in case you missed the E3 trailer, it's worth checking out just for the Final Fantasy-quality cinematics.GameSpot is also serving up seven new Chaos screens and a designer diary from award-winning composer Jeremy Soule (of Neverwinter Nights and KoTOR fame).See also: Joystiq E3 impressions - Warhammer: Mark of Chaos
