|
| |
|
Review by: Nemorian
|
|
Reviewers Score:
3 / 10
|
Posted: August 13, 2008 |
Title: The Dark Legions
System: PC
Genre: RTS
Difficulty: Medium
Score: 3/10
Graphics 4/10
Nothing spectacular about the graphics, but not much to complain about
either. You can usually tell one unit and building from another with a
glance, so they take care of what's important. Though the units look
rather blocky, it's not too noticable when you're zoomed out as far as
possible so you can get a better idea of what exactly is going on, or
where things are. The minimap doesn't help at all in that aspect. The only
thing it's really useful for is to let you know when you're under attack,
but it only offers a general location.
Sound 3/10
Axes against trees, picks on rock, birds chirping, wind gusting through
the battlefield stifiled by the clanging of steel and groans of soldiers
as they're cut down... expect to hear this myriad of sound a lot, because
you won't be hearing much else. There's not the slightest trace ambient
music, even in the opening screens. If a good soundtrack (or one at all,
for that matter) is important to you in a game, don't look here.
Storyline 2/10
Evil guy takes over, oracle tells evil guy of a kid that will grow up and
end his rule, evil guy has said kid and his family slaughtered, kid's
brother survives, grows up and begins a rebellion for revenge. There's the
plot in a nutshell. I honestly don't know what else to say about it, it
only seems to be there for a weak way to explain how you get from one
battle to the next.
Gameplay 4/10
The gameplay is like any other RTS. You have slaves collect resources
(gold, lumber and stone) and construct buildings. Train troops, research
upgrades for the units and buildings, build a wall or two to slow down
enemy movement...it's all pretty basic. Battle's automatic, so you don't
have to bother with that unless you're attacking something specific. Not
that it matters much, it seems like your opponent always has you
outnumbered and outmatched, so skirmishes tend to end quickly, and usually
in the defender's favor.
Units are pretty average. Soldiers can best archers, archers are good
against cavalry, cavalry tops soldiers, and siege weapons are really the
only thing that can put a scratch in buildings. Clerics can heal your
troops, and do minor damage from a distance once the right spell is
researched. There are probably other advanced units, but I honestly
couldn't stay interested long enough to find any.
During the story missions, you're given other objectives to finish the
level than just totally crushing the enemy. In one you have to build three
ports to get to the next level, but there's an enemy base along the
shoreline, so you're stuck taking them out anyway. Another mission
requires you to simply destroy the enemy castle, which is dead center of
their territory, so you end up cleaving through a mountain of troops
before you even get close to it anyway. It tries for variation, but it
just feels like one long killing spree.
Replay Value 2/10
If you do manage to play through the story missions, I doubt you'd want to
again. There is a random game option, which allows you to set certain
criteria such as map size, resource amount, general map layout (if there
are rivers, islands, ect), if there are teams and how many opponents you
have (1-7). While it can keep things interesting, and rather hectic, (8
players on a small, island map especially), it gets dull after a while.
Especially since they're all AI.That's right... no multiplayer option
here, which leaves things being repetitive with the opponents usually
sticking to the same old, predictable tactics.
Overall 3/10
All in all, it's a below average RTS. If you're a fan of the genre, go
ahead and give it a shot. You might find something to like. To everyone
else, I suggest you avoid this one. |
|
| |
|
