The first thing that needs to be realized before you give this title a chance, is that although the cover, and ad campaign seems to show it as a 3D battle title, there is a lot more town management and diplomatic intricacies involved. I spent a lot more time off the battlefield, negotiating screen after screen of army and economy options.

It isn't the management interface that is the problem; it's the fact that I don't recall William ever having to do any of this in the movie. Troop movements sure, but overall town management was left to the towns themselves. With all this in mind the player goes into the title expecting glorious bloody battles, and deep strategy.

My expectations were again let down. True, troop formations were available, and there were a few neat options that you could use in battle, but the overall sense of strategy just didn't seem to be there. The actual battles lack a lot of flair as compared to most games out there. Your polygon Scottish people run towards either another clan, or some Englishmen. They run into each other and the weapon clash sounds start up. Overused grunts and groans cheapen the experience, and the choppy movement caused by the mass of polygons makes navigating with the often-awkward camera control almost impossible. It is often easier to simply sit at the default camera angle and hope your side wins by numbers.

I do appreciate the fact that visual range is about as far as the army can see. It does however make it difficult to set up surprise attacks, but that is simply a restriction of the times. Another nice touch was the weather conditions. The thunderstorms are really nicely done, and it even snows on occasion.

Red Lemon really needed to just spend more time polishing this title up. Simple things like voice samples for men being used for female peasants, the blood on the battlefield being orange, and the near impossibility of enjoyable watching the battle scenes your army takes place in, really should have been addressed before release.

I love the story behind William Wallace; I don't even mind the management of town affairs the player is put through to progress through the game. I do, however, find it disappointing that the biggest selling point of this title was so poorly executed. Unless the 3D-battle play is really cleaned up in future patches, I really don't see the reason in picking this one up.