King’s Bounty: The Legend Review

IGN brings us their opinion of King’s Bounty: The Legend, advising us not to “overlook this under-the-radar RPG” and giving it a score of 8.1/10. Graphics and presentation pull down a high-end gameplay score:

You’re going to be spending a lot of time in combat and, fortunately, that’s a good thing. The turn-based battling system in King’s Bounty is fantastic. At its core, the combat is simple, yet extremely deep. Like Might and Magic, skirmishes take place on flat, small, hex grids. While your chosen hero will not participate directly in battle, you’ll be able to utilize summons and spells to turn the tides of war. Your army typically starts out on the left side of the grid, while your enemies are situated on the right. Each character type is allowed to move a certain number of spaces. Think of it like chess.

In addition, certain classes have different advantages. Archers can kill enemies from a distance, mages can cast defensive/offensive spells, robbers can teleport, knights excel at melee attacks, and so forth. To add to the depth, all of these classes have the ability to learn new, specialized skills. However, having more and stronger troops will not always ensure victory. It is also important to keep track of the terrain. Your surroundings will favor certain unit types over others. Demons have a higher defense on lava levels, the undead get a morale boost for fighting in cemeteries and so on. Tactically, levels with narrow passageways will funnel melee units into a potential death trap. Then there are also the grids that have obstacles like bee nests, which attack either side indiscriminately. Conversely, the battlefield sometimes has chests filled with gold, items, and spells. Having to factor all of this with the enemy’s ability to counter attack provides a lot situational obstacles to overcome. While the combat is simple, there’s something here for the micromanager in all of us.