The Mighty Sultan
15-11-2004, 23:57
What a surprise this game has turned out to be. I think that many were expecting a sort of sequal to Age of Kings and Stronghold. Certainly, my initial impressions were negative: The battles were old fashioned and and crude, and the sieges lacked depth and excitement. That left a complex diplomatic empire building game that apeared to be a copy of the Total War games.
After an hour of frowning and muttering about the gameplay, I started to enjoy the character interaction, the way the battles were perfectly paced and slotted seamlessly into the main game. I loved the World View map: My God, it's so huge and complex! I loved the clean, easy-to-use interface, and I couldn't believe how simple it was to move from complete beginer to using all of the games many tools for empire building. I couldn't pull myself away from the PC!
I'm stunned at the level of dynamic gameplay. There are very few games that feel quite as 'alive'as this one does. The realtime element is a stroke of genius, and must have been Hell on Earth to code. I can't believe the game works as well as it does. It's hugely ambitious and very rewarding to play!
The graphics are very nice, but not the best 2d that's out there (Celtic Kings/ The punic Wars are nicer, for example), and a few more frames of animation would be welcome, but I split hairs. It moves thing's on from Stronhold Crusader. The lack of a town 'zoom' (the ability to zoom in on your towns at any point in the game to check on upgrades and work-in-progress, for example) is a pity, and should be addressed in any expansion or sequal, but towns grow from wooden forts into multi-walled citadels on the World map, and this in it's self is a lovely touch.
Sound is generally great!. The music is typical for a Central/Eastern European game i.e. superb. I'd love to hear seperate tunes for West, East and Middle Eastern areas (there is a bit of this I know), as well as a bit more ambient music in World View, but again I'm splitting hairs! It's up there with Anno 1503.
As for game play additions, well, many opinions have been voiced so far, but what I'd love to see in future are seasons. Seeing the world turn white, or shrowded in rain or sandstorms would be great, as well as the changing colours of the year. Harvests are vital today, and meant life and death back then! I'd also love to see some random events like famines, bad harvests, storms and epidemics. The middle ages had some cracking social and agricultural disasters that nearly wiped out western civilisation! Let's get some of this in the game!
The battles are fine really. Just complex enough without competing with the main game (With Total war it's usually one or the other). The sieges suffer from the usual 'what's the point?' problem but things are nearly there. Making the main doors much stronger will really help, as will putting a gate on the keep, if only for reasons of dramatic tension!
Overall then, this game has been a really nice surprise.I'm not sure what I was expecting but this has far exceeded my hopes. Incredibley I've had more fun playing Knights of Honour than I have from the mighty Rome:Total War. Is there higher praise?
After an hour of frowning and muttering about the gameplay, I started to enjoy the character interaction, the way the battles were perfectly paced and slotted seamlessly into the main game. I loved the World View map: My God, it's so huge and complex! I loved the clean, easy-to-use interface, and I couldn't believe how simple it was to move from complete beginer to using all of the games many tools for empire building. I couldn't pull myself away from the PC!
I'm stunned at the level of dynamic gameplay. There are very few games that feel quite as 'alive'as this one does. The realtime element is a stroke of genius, and must have been Hell on Earth to code. I can't believe the game works as well as it does. It's hugely ambitious and very rewarding to play!
The graphics are very nice, but not the best 2d that's out there (Celtic Kings/ The punic Wars are nicer, for example), and a few more frames of animation would be welcome, but I split hairs. It moves thing's on from Stronhold Crusader. The lack of a town 'zoom' (the ability to zoom in on your towns at any point in the game to check on upgrades and work-in-progress, for example) is a pity, and should be addressed in any expansion or sequal, but towns grow from wooden forts into multi-walled citadels on the World map, and this in it's self is a lovely touch.
Sound is generally great!. The music is typical for a Central/Eastern European game i.e. superb. I'd love to hear seperate tunes for West, East and Middle Eastern areas (there is a bit of this I know), as well as a bit more ambient music in World View, but again I'm splitting hairs! It's up there with Anno 1503.
As for game play additions, well, many opinions have been voiced so far, but what I'd love to see in future are seasons. Seeing the world turn white, or shrowded in rain or sandstorms would be great, as well as the changing colours of the year. Harvests are vital today, and meant life and death back then! I'd also love to see some random events like famines, bad harvests, storms and epidemics. The middle ages had some cracking social and agricultural disasters that nearly wiped out western civilisation! Let's get some of this in the game!
The battles are fine really. Just complex enough without competing with the main game (With Total war it's usually one or the other). The sieges suffer from the usual 'what's the point?' problem but things are nearly there. Making the main doors much stronger will really help, as will putting a gate on the keep, if only for reasons of dramatic tension!
Overall then, this game has been a really nice surprise.I'm not sure what I was expecting but this has far exceeded my hopes. Incredibley I've had more fun playing Knights of Honour than I have from the mighty Rome:Total War. Is there higher praise?