King Arthur: The Role-playing Wargame II Preview

Destructoid has another preview for Neocore and Paradox’s sequel to King Arthur: The Role-playing Wargame, and they certainly seem to be intrigued by the title. Here’s a sampling:

To say that this game is deep would be an understatement, but to say it is complicated would be doing it a disservice. I admit to struggling when it comes to fully understanding the many layers of strategy that befall most games in the real-time field, but King Arthur II feels different. Perhaps it’s the fact that only the battles are performed on the fly that makes this game a little easier to swallow.

When the call to arms finally arises, King Arthur II’s improved engine lends itself to creating some truly impressive visual flairs. Rich textures, dynamic lighting, and atmospheric effects help create a believable fantasy world where men fight monsters. Battles typically unfold similarly to what one expects from a large-scale war game. The proper management of units to counterattack enemy transgression and the map manipulation — to unearth strategic ambushes — are the basics to combat. Maps also contain certain points of interest that, when captured, imbue beneficial enhancements to the captor’s army.

To broaden the scope of each, battle flying units have also been introduced to combat. This adds a second level of combat to each battle and helps create a more strategic environment. Units like archers become even more important, as they are typically the only units that can take on the enemies flying units free of harm’s way. These flying units, along with the rest of the Fomorian race, are a sight to behold thanks to some fantastically dark fantasy art design. The mix between medieval knights and demons doesn’t get any more epic than in King Arthur II’s huge full-scale wars.