Review by Pot_Head_Cow

"A game with potential, but ruined by a host of balancing problems and a shoddy network."

Warrock is a first person shooter based on two fractions; the Derberans and the National Independence Union (known as the NIU) who are fighting against the Derberan's dictatorship. The storyline plays no role in the game and the only time it comes into reference is when reading the 'Mission Debriefing', which is shown at the start of each game while the map is loading to pass time. To put it short, Warrock offers no storyline and is mindless shooting. This would be fine if it weren't for some major flaws.

I would first like to point out the incompetence of the administration. The game is ran by a corporation called 'Dream Execution' and hosted on the K2 Network servers. The only thing Dream Execution cares about is making money. The FAMAS (a very popular high-level Assault Rifle) costs 33,000 Dinars (Warrock's and Iraq's currency) for 30 days, which happens to be the only option available. However, no matter what, you only get 100 or so Dinars per game. This means that if you spend 30 minutes on a large map where each team has 200 lives, you may rack up 400XP, but you're still only getting 125 dinars. This, in turn, means that you need to play 330 games to afford this rifle. However, conveniently, Warrock has a premium marketplace where you can obtain Dinar (for cash, of course). Also, all new releases from this point benefit only people willing to pay for the 5th weapon slot (where the majority of Premium weapons fit). Most of the newer guns that are coming out for premium users are hyper powered and completely blow away the competition.

Now, you'd think with all these people pouring money from their wallet the game would be well moderated and top notch, correct? Wrong. DE has managed to under staff the game in every aspect. There is no report system, so the only way to report a harasser is by emailing the company and providing your own evidence. This presents a problem, mainly because every player on Warrock is abusive. If you kill someone, be prepared to face their wrath over the chat system. I recommend not giving away your race or religion, or brace to have everything you hold dear torn apart. In addition to abuse, the game has a democratic approach to crowd control. Any player can start a vote-kick, which players can easily contribute to in order to kick you out of the match and be banned from that room for 5 minutes.

I've already stated that DE only wants your money and that they could care less if a player is harassing you to hell and back, but that isn't all. Scripts are publicly available to anyone who wishes to Google search two magic words. In fact, they are so wide spread that almost every room in the game will have someone jumping a hundred feet in the air and shooting at you with zero recoil and zero bullet spread. Beyond that, the democratic approach to kicking players is often negated infamously with a type of script known as "Anti-Kick." Buyers' remorse is the key words here, as premium players who are paying 15 bucks (or more, if they need some extra Dinars) are unable to play due to the wide spread effects of script kiddies.

I may also want to note the lack of any character customization. There are 5 classes in the game, and each person is identical to the next. You are also unable to swap guns. Meaning, if you're a sniper you can't have an assault rifle. If you're someone that likes to dress your character and spend hours contemplating the perfect backpack to take on your adventures, you're not the type that will enjoy Warrock. Players are also able to swap classes when they die, so should you be the stealthy assassin lurking in the hills and pick the head off a wandering warrior, be prepared for them to spawn as a sniper to hunt you down.

Those are the notable problems, but let's focus on the features for a second.

Warrock has three different types of combat maps:
The most popular type is Close Quarter Combat with fighting between 8 or 16 players (evenly divided between NIU and Derberans) on maps housing nothing but your own guns and any support another player can provide. If you die in CQC, you are dead until the next round. A CQC game is won by a team winning either a single round, 3 rounds, 5 rounds, 7 rounds (which is default), or 9 rounds. A round is won by keeping at least a single person alive for 2 minutes 30 seconds (NIU), planting a bomb and keeping it armed for 45 seconds (Derberans), or killing everyone on the enemy team (both). It is notable that NIU always disarm bombs and Derberans always plant them.

Urban Ops has the same numbers, but on slightly larger maps. UO maps feature some vehicles (Tanks, Jeeps, and Helicopters). Also on these maps are bases that can be captured and will be tossed from team to team by standing near the base's flag. Bases can contain racks of ammo boxes and medical boxes which can heal and refit a player who is worn from combat. Urban Op games are won by a team killing a number of people on the enemy team. There is no bomb planting or disarming in Urban Ops. The number of kills needed is set at the start of the game, and ranges from 30 to 300.

Finally, we have our largest maps - Battle Groups. BG maps are very large and contain Tanks, Jeeps, Helicopters, Bombers, and Fighter Jets. In a battle group map, there can be 8, 16, or 32 players. These maps are also the most likely to crash your client due to high packet usage. BG games feature the same style of victory as the Urban Op games, but have a lot more bases. It is advantageous to have these bases due to the fact that if a team is stuck in their biggest base, they become fodder for helicopters and snipers.

There are also two types of secondary game modes for Close Quarter Combat maps: Free for All and Deathmatch. Deathmatch is the EXACT same thing as the Urban Ops and Battle Group games, but they are on much smaller maps. Free for All is won by a single player getting either 10, 15, 20, 25, or 30 kills before anybody else. FFA games can feature 8 players on a regular CQC map or 16 players in the Urban Ops maps. Both of the aforementioned game styles are found on the Close Quarter Combat game listings and both are only able to be created by premium players, but playable by all players.

It is worth mentioning a positive thing about Warrock and that is the number of weapons available. The types of guns are sorted by Sniper Rifles, Sub Machine Guns, Heavy Weapons, and Assault Rifles. There is also a shotgun which is not listed under any type and only found under the 'All' category. Most of the superior weapons fit in the 5th weapon slot, which is obtainable only by buying Gold Premium for $15 or another type of Premium for $10 or $5 and then buying the 5th slot with your Dinars in the item store. Weapons are also restricted by level. A lot of basic weapons are available at Level 1, some stronger weapons at level 6, much better and tactical weapons at level 11, powerful weapons (such as the Mini-chaingun and the Tank-mounts) at level 16, and the almighty MP7A1 at level 21, which is a submachine gun that fires at the rate of an Uzi but packs a much bigger punch and a clip size to boot. If you have the money, you can experiment and find the gun that suits your style.

I hope now you know everything that Warrock has to offer. Thanks for reading.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10 | Originally Posted: 03/18/08, Updated 03/19/08

Game Release: War Rock (US, 02/07/07)


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