Four Realms exist in the world of Wrath: Light Order, Light Chaos, Dark Order, and Dark Chaos. In a classic video gaming cliché, it’s light versus dark in a battle to control the world. In the game’s introduction you are introduced to the four gods, each controlling one of the realms mentioned above. The guys are trying to show how big of a man they are, and it seems that the women of this world like their clothes skimpy and not leaving much to imagination with g-strings and thin spiral tops holding back the goods from public view.

Starting the game you are presented with a few different modes to progress through. The Battle mode allows for one or more players to battle on a map of your choosing. The meat of the game is presented in the Campaign mode which allows you to choose one of the four realms and progress through the story mode. You will eventually play with all of the realms and the gods they are represented by. Also included is the much appreciated tutorial that allows you to get a feel for the game. This training mission is very well done, explaining the different tile sets and structures you will find on each map and what you need to do in order to win a match.

Each map is composed of any number of hexagonal pieces, with each piece possessing different attributes. For example, if the hexagon is labeled “plains,” the Dark Order creatures have the primary advantage with minimal damage taken and the ability to receive magical energy faster than any other realm. The main portion of the game consists of you moving your creatures all around the map in order to take over structures located on select tiles. Buildings such as citadels, temples, mana wats, gates, nexus points, and magic amplifiers liter the map as well as a few special campaign dependent buildings. Your success, in the campaign mode, will be reliant on controlling specific buildings that the objectives call for. In order to capture these buildings you will need to battle.

Much like a rousing game of chess, when two pieces occupy the same space, a “battle,” of sorts, will occur, and where chess battles are won by the initiating piece, Wrath allows you to take both pieces into an area and duke it out. The problem with this mode is that the gamer quickly figures out that battles are nothing more than button-mashing-fests over a battleground littered with more hazards than you would find in a robot wars competition. The battles contain no strategy whatsoever, and the victor is usually the creature who avoids all the hazards and gets the most cheap shots thanks to the clunky versus controls.

The characters themselves are nothing to get excited about mainly because they are the same for nearly every realm with only a few cosmetic changes to the textures grafted onto the same model. The beauty of traditional fighting games such as Soul Caliber II or real-time strategy games is that that the characters present something unique, whereas Wrath’s characters, aside from a few special moves unique to particular character, don’t differ in any aspect from the next realm except for looks.

As for how the game looks, you won’t be blown away by any fancy effects, but, then again, you won’t be calling the game ugly. Simply put, the developers seemed to do what they needed to get by. The same can be said for the game’s sound. Aside from the main voiceover, each character is represented by derivative lines to further along an already flat, tired story, and the music is adequate for the game’s needs.

As a whole, the game is hard to get into because of the constant changing up of brainy strategy that can’t compare to other tactical offerings, and button smashing battles that nullifies the strategy element if you aren’t any good at traditional fighting games. The game shows promise in theory, but unfortunately, theory didn’t translate well to a fun, engrossing gaming experience. It’s a tremendous shame that The Collective didn’t decide to go all out with the strategy element of the game and not pursue the need to be completely different. Sometimes the safe bet is the way to go. Next time I see scantily clad females commanding hordes of unicorns sporting blood red eyes in my front yard I’m sure I’ll remember and cherish the experience, but by just playing Wrath: Unleashed I don’t think I’ll remember the experience a month from now.