Warhammer absolutely nails the Warhammer world in both how it looks and how the inhabitants behave.
DateTime:7/8/2009 5:21:12 PM

The cover of the old "Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Core Rulebook" dubs the setting as "A Grim World of Perilous Adventure." This is not high fantasy with talking dragons; Warhammer has always had a gritty realism to accompany its fantastical creatures. It's like 15th-century Prussia, but with magic. WAR captures this perfectly: Walking into Altdorf, the capital of The Empire, you get the feeling that the rich are rich and the poor are destitute, clinging to their faith in Sigmar. The Orcs act like soccer hooligans and the Dwarfs like Scottish highlanders. The Chaos capitol, The Inevitable City, is just what Warhammer fans might have thought a Tzeentch city would look like: bizarre, terrifying and twisted. If you love the Warhammer lore, Warhammer Online will push all the right buttons -- even more than the miniatures game -- as you travel to locations that you had only read about.

This is aided by the graphics and art direction. It's not bright and colorful and happy -- it's muted and often dingy. But it fits. The only complaint with the visuals is with the combat animation of the characters: A sword will come down and miss but still cause damage, or a spell effect might not appear, or an arrow won't release from a bow. The combat looks on the sloppy side at times, and needs to get cleaned up.