In Wrath Unleashed, powerful beings called Overlords fight for supremacy as they struggle to become gods and maintain dominance. The four Overlords and their respective mythological armies are divided among the factions of Light and Darkness and further subdivided into Chaos and Order categories. Each is also keyed to one of four elements; fire, water, earth and wind. The Overlords take the shape of humans, and the legions of units under their control are derived from various mythological creatures.

The strategic portion of the game plays like a game of chess. The floating battlefields are mapped out with a hexagonal grid which is populated with a number of your own units, enemy units and various structures. The map can be rotated, scaled and repositioned at will, though the game takes place strictly on a 2-dimensional plane. Wrath Unleashed allows the movement of only one unit per turn, so the flow is more similar to chess or checkers than your typical tactical strategy title. The goal of each map is to defeat the rival Overlord, which can be accomplished in a variety of ways depending on the specific map.

Defeating enemy units or the Overlord, or capturing and maintaining a certain number of temples are probably the most common scenarios. At the start of each turn, you may either move a unit or have one of your magical units cast a spell. Movement of course depends on the type of character; large characters move less units, flying characters can move over gaps, others can pass through adjacent units which may be in the way, etc. Depending on the number of magic structures which are under control, your army will build up magic points after every turn. Those magic points can then be utilized as offensive (Wrath, Summon Elemental) spells or defensive (Teleport, Heal, Resurrect, Bind) spells, for example. To engage an enemy unit in battle, you simply move your unit to the same tile which an enemy is currently occupying. That leads us to the action/fighting aspect of the game.

The battles take place in real-time in the guise of a 3d fighter or beat-em-up. When choosing (or being chosen) to engage an enemy creature, you are dropped into a fighting arena which is conveniently stocked with various environmental hazards and encircled with energy barriers. The arena’s elemental type, which corresponds with the tile the battle was initiated on, will provide either an immediate advantage or disadvantage depending on which Overlord you choose.

The fighting controls are fairly straightforward. The 4 face buttons control light attacks, heavy attacks, light magic and heavy magic. The right trigger is for block/dodge, and the left unleashes a special magic attack. The attacks and magic attacks can be chained together to form some devastating combos, but more often than not the fights degenerate into some form of button mashing. A few light magic attacks followed up by a light/heavy attack combo and then a heavy magic attack will take down most enemies fairly quickly. Don’t expect a Virtua Fighter or Tekken level of control, because the gameplay is far too clunky. Though I suppose it is somewhat appropriate for huge mythological beasts. The set of creatures commanded by each Overlord are all very similar to one another, and besides some palette swaps and minor cosmetic changes, there is not a huge advantage in choosing one over the other. Nearly all of the like creatures (Fire Unicorn and Water Unicorn for example) have mostly the same set of attacks with maybe a few small modifications to magic spells and abilities.

Visually, Wrath Unleashed falls into the "average" category. The overworld maps are on the simple side as are the icons representing the units. The battle scenes are much more interesting, but even they are really not pushing the Xbox or PlayStation 2 to any extremes. The voiceovers and soundtrack are quite forgettable as well.

What I find most surprising about the game is the distinct lack of replay value. There are a very small number of maps available to play on; with only a dozen single player maps and another 13 multiplayer maps. After playing through the Campaign/Story mode, which should only take even a novice gamer a few hours or so, you are left with not much else to do. The multiplayer mode supports up to 4 players, though the total lack of any online play or functionality is a mystery. There is also no real sense of progress or continuity while playing the game. One match has nothing to do with the other, and your units never gain experience, level up or learn new skills.

Wrath Unleashed could have been fleshed out in so many obvious ways, but unfortunately it just comes across as feeling incomplete and average at best. Recommended only for those seeking a simple console strategy game or maybe a quick rental.