The map screen, suffers from a lack of auto notation feature found in most of the more recent RPG games. It was no longer possible to just overwhelm enemy units but careful tactics became much more important. The transition from the powerful units in the tutorial to the simple peasant hordes and basic swordsman units you actually start the game with was a tough transition. ![]() During the tutorial section you are given an overwhelmingly powerful group of army units and sent forth do complete some simple battles. In fact the tutorial skips right over many features of the game including the map screen, the quest log and any use of tactics. This would have been a useful feature to have learned in the tutorial section of the game. If you outdistance an enemy group they will give up the chase and return to their map position. If they are to strong you can attempt to avoid them or run away. Fortunately, you can pause the game by hitting space and right click on an enemy unit in view to get a view of your relative strengths. If you get into a fight with a superior foe you can retreat, leaving all your army units behind to be destroyed and begin again at King Marks castle. The first map you start on has a very high percentage of “impossible” and “overwhelming” encounters. The game can be unreasonably hard and if you aren’t familiar with this type of game there is no shame to set the difficulty to easy. This frustrated me several times during the game since I was unable to use clever tactics to avoid a more powerful foe. Unfortunately, the layouts of each world screen forces you into following paths in order to reach specific locations there is no cutting cross country to save time or to reach your destination. The isometric view can be rotated to let you see around buildings and obstacles which is handy at times. The world is very colorful and pleasing although the graphics do look a bit dated. Battle then takes place in initiative order for each unit on the battlefield. When you encounter an enemy unit the game shifts into a hex field battleground where each of your various units, along with the enemies, are broken out onto separate sides of the grid. This phase of the game looks a lot like Diablo as you wander the countryside visiting various buildings and underground locations and getting into trouble. ![]() As his newest leader you are given charge of several army units and sent forth into the kingdom to combat the recent increase in monsters, bandits and general badness that has befallen the kingdom. You start the game as a recent graduate into the ranks of the good king Mark. KB:TL is a world saving RPG at its core with a mix of tactical combat thrown in. But this time will be well worth your effort as the gameplay, especially during the combat screens, is where KB:TL is at its best. While you will be up and playing in moments the game does hide a level of complexity beneath its colorful surface and it will take you some time to truly master the gameplay. OK maybe not WoW-omg-my-gf-left-me-and-I-have-no-job-and-think-something-dead-is-rotting-under-my-desk-level addiction, but I do recall thinking, gee whiz, this sure is almost as addictive as World of Warcraft.Ģ.Kings Bounty: The Legend is a deceptively simple game. It isn’t really fair that I am writing this review, because I am already a huge fan of the franchise, and have experienced WoW-level addiction to earlier installments in the series. ![]() Before I get into my review of 1C’s latest expansion to the venerable and much beloved King’s Bounty series, I must make two disclaimers:ġ.
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