Well, I’ve gotten the
opportunity to play quite a few new RTS games lately, all of which have had me
doing everything from wiping out alien civilizations to playing historic battles
and looking to expand and conquer empires. Well, it’s nice to get back to
medieval fantasy times once more in the latest RTS that I’ve sat down and run
through called Kohan II: Kings of War … the latest entry to the RTS market by
Timegate and Global Star Software.
Kohan II opens up with a
cool scene in which a human army is seizing a stronghold owned by the dark and
demonic Shadow forces who have ravaged the lands (end of the first game I would
presume since I never actually got to sit down and play it). Well, a hero’s work
is never truly done, especially when a sequel is made, and Kohan II picks up
with attacks by bandit hordes becoming more and more frequent. Lo and behold, it
appears that the dark world of the Shadow is at it again, and you of course pick
up the role of an awaken Kohan hero and rally the people to head out into battle
once more to vanquish the darkness and restore peace to the land.
In typical RTS format,
players can expect to manage resources and recruit heroes to do their bidding.
The way that K2 does this though is pretty unique in itself, since there are six
different races to select from (human, undead, shadow, haroun, druaga, and gauri)
and each one will rely on different variations of resources to bring out more
troops or add new buildings to their encampments to help increase stockpiles or
do new research into bigger and better troops or armaments. In addition, there
are different factions that you can elect to put your people into, each one
adding different unique strengths like advanced sight or better production to
help in building strategy.
With the six unique races
also comes a variety of troops to use and command or unlock as you upgrade and
add new structures to your encampment, which really helps out in customizing
gameplay and the armies that you wish to control. For example, the human races
will get foot soldiers for swordsmen, or men on horseback for cavalry, while the
undead forces will use zombies and ghouls to represent footmen or cavalry. This
also plays in variation to siege weapons if you are attempting to destroy a wall
or claim an enemy town, since you can have things like catapults or big
Leviathan creatures that will take care of this for you. It depends on what race
you select, but it’s nice to have in there to make your army unique.
Another thing that K2
does to help set itself apart from some other RTS titles is to give you full
control over units by simply selecting the main commander. If you have an outfit
that consists of say four swordsmen and two archers, it can be a little tough
trying to drag and select or pick all of them if they happen to be a bit
scattered … so it makes it a lot easier to simply click on the commander to
rally them all back together and send them out as one unit. Have no fear though
… you can select and move multiple armies by left clicking and dragging, but as
long as the commanders are selected in the shaded area that you have made their
armies will tag along with them.
One of the biggest things
about K2 that really makes this game enjoyable (but may wind up being
frustrating for others) is the fact that the game really does use and emphasize
some actual strategy versus just marching a big group of things across the field
and trying to kill everyone. Using woods or entrenching will give defensive
bonuses, and the enemy AI will attempt to do the same thing as well even on the
normal difficulty level. There were many times where a bad decision that I made
caused me to get flanked shortly after suffering heavy losses and costing me the
game, and it really forced me to try and play a little smarter rather than just
coming out and using brute force tactics. While this is a good thing for many
people, gamers who may not be really RTS savvy may just find that to be too
difficult.
Graphically, Kohan II
does a great job in representing the medieval fantasy world that it was designed
to portray. The game is bright and colorful, and whether at a distance or
zooming in close units were well animated and looked great either in or out of
battle. Whenever characters converse with one another, a picture window will
also appear in the bottom of the screen (similar to Warcraft III) to help add
some life to the people involved. There were also some neat effects added in
like sparks flying off of clashing weapons or cloud shadows rolling over the
terrain … and even some animal herds like rams or sheep will occasionally run by
to add a dash of neutral wildlife to the war conflicted landscape.
The sound in K2 was also
pretty decent, with a good musical score that emphasized the timeframe involved
and some good weapon clashing and clanking. The voiceovers were there to help
move the story along of course, but at times seemed a little too scripted or
read off and it was hard to really listen to them and get into what was being
said.
Overall, Kohan II
provides a good medieval RTS title that fans of the sword and sorcery games will
more than likely appreciate. Gamers who don’t have a lot of previous RTS playing
experience may find it to be a little difficult as they progress due to the AI
and the tactical part of the game, but it still deserves a look anyways if you
like good sized army battles complete with flying fireballs, arrows, and the
occasional demonic horde involvement. Overall I enjoyed K2, and I’ll probably go
and try to find the first one at some point here in the next couple of weeks.
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Gameplay: 8.4
While there is
resource management present, the game has simplified it to building and
upgrading structures to help keep it simple and balance between that and action.
The unit selection is also much simpler since you can click on the commander
versus having to drag around each person. While this may seem like it takes some
individuality out of it since units cannot be used one at a time, it makes it
easier to move and keep track of what is going on out on the field.
Graphics: 8.6
The world and
everything in it is very colorful, and the battles (which can contain probably
well into 100 or more troops) are well animated and look great. There are also
some good additions that were added in looks wise, like collapsing walls or
cloud shadows moving over the land.
Sound: 8.2
The music has a
good medieval tone to it, and helps set the game up well. There are voiceovers,
but they do tend to sound very scripted at times and were hard to really get
into. The battle scenes did a good job though, and players will get to hear all
of the clanging and clashing of troops as they clash in battle.
Difficulty: Hard
While strategy
veterans may not find this game to be as difficult as “Hard”, players that are a
little newer to the RTS world may find it to be a little difficult due to the
good AI and strategy tactics that are emphasized like entrenching and flanking.
Concept: 8.4
While RTS games
have obviously been done before,
K2
does a good job in offering what makes them fun while keeping all of the areas
involved in a good balance to help with overall enjoyment.
Multiplayer: N/A
Players who are tired of always going up against the
computer can get online and play with many different factions warring with each
other at one time. I was not able to actually play an online game though, since
either all games were booked up or no one else was on to join when I created
one.
Overall: 8.5
While it’s hard
to say that this is something brand new, it is an RTS title that has its own
unique presentation and good emphasis on what these games are supposed to do,
which is be strategic. RTS fans looking for a good title to get into will have
fun with Kohan II, and newer players will get a kick out of it, but may find it
a little frustrating at first.
