If there’s one thing that video game developers are putting a lot of focus on, it has to be their time spent on trying to develop the perfect console real-time strategy title. Electronic Arts has published Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth II and two Command & Conquer 3 titles on the Xbox 360, while there’s also Sega’s Universe at War, the PC port of Supreme Commander, and many Xbox Live Arcade strategy games thrown in the mix. In fact, the genre has several releases set in the future with Microsoft’s Halo Wars, Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s EndWar, Sega’s Stormrise and a few other sleeper picks.

With so much devotion from publishers and developers on the genre, is there room for the Warhammer franchise? At first, your answer may be “yes,” but when the results are so drudgingly bad, you’ll think otherwise.

Let’s start off with the controls since that’s the biggest factor for console RTS titles – they’re atrocious. Warhammer: Battle March basically rips the controls right out of Warhammer: Mark of Chaos and has you playing at a fervent pace trying to keep up with gamepad input for your units. There were too many encounters where maneuvering the units to the correct spot was like trying to teach an elephant how to do a back flip (I’d say nearly impossible).

Actions such as grouping units, selecting your hero, and activating items involve complicated button combinations through the triggers and bumpers. This decisively determines the fate of your soldiers on the battlefield if you can’t properly hit the right buttons in order to keep up with fast-paced ongoing battles. There’ll be many times where you leave your units open for attack without being able to counterattack – but you shouldn’t worry too much as the enemy AI is on a novice difficulty level.

What about the game campaign? Be prepared for a straightforward campaign where you lead your armies to the next battle only stopping to get reinforcements and heal from time to time. You’ll also be able to get your soldiers blessed at temples throughout the game world and buy new gear such as swords and banners, but there are very few activities to participate in.

The story begins with an opening cinematic where a set of Empire troops are ambushed by Chaos warriors – ultimately, this is the only impressive storytelling there is within the game. Overall, there are three campaigns to play through which show the invasion from the North based on the three separate factions: The Hordes of Chaos who are invading, the Empire who must defend their land, and the Greenskin tribes which consists of orcs and goblins that are caught in the middle. While I don’t know the personal rulebook behind the tabletop game, I’d say the game faithfully recreates many of the units and characters found from the universe.

There isn’t much strategy behind the combat, so you shouldn’t worry about how tactical you are when leading an assault on the enemy. The basic objectives usually include a certain number of defend, attack, and rescue missions that are too simple for a die-hard strategy fan such as myself. Every mission will be introduced with a generic text scroll letting you know the past and present of the storyline which leaves much to be desired. So in effect, if you are looking for something more gratifying for your strategy-loving self, Warhammer: Battle March clearly isn’t the answer.

The technical department of Warhammer: Battle March also suffers from below average results. While the units within the game at times look great, the environments essentially weight down the ship since they are bland and devoid of detail. As for the audio, it doesn’t put up a good fight to keep your attention outside of the game’s soundtrack. The voice-acting, sound effects and the rest of the audio fail to keep up with the superb soundtrack. You’d have to consider yourself lucky if you aren’t sleeping by the end of a 30-minute session with the game.

A cookie-cutter RTS, Warhammer: Battle March isn’t satisfying enough to warrant a purchase over quality titles such as LOTR: Battle for Middle-Earth II or the Command & Conquer 3 releases. If you must play Battle March, it’s suggested that you pick up and play the PC version over the 360 – it’ll better serve your needs for the RTS genre. The only thing the 360 version offers that I can attest for is the Xbox Live capabilities, though I haven’t met enough people on XBL to say if there are enough quality opponents to play with.

Gameplay: 6.3
There are moments of greatness here behind all the clunky combat.

Graphics: 6.0
If you overlook the environments, the game looks impressive for an RTS.

Sound: 6.5
The soundtrack is worth the admission alone.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
The combat makes it hard to successfully lead your troops around the battlefield.

Concept: 6.0
There’s nothing innovative or original here; a run-of-the-mill RTS with a table-top license attached to it.

Multiplayer: 6.2
Up to four players can play against one another online, but good luck finding quality opponents to test your skills.

Overall: 5.8
Marred by the controls, Warhammer: Battle March could’ve been something truly impressive with how upbeat the battles are. But in the end, it turns out that Battle March is much more of a wallflower than the prom king at the big dance.