Heroes of Might and Magic clone? Or beautiful revival of the original King's Bounty in DOS era?
When I first heard of King's Bounty: The Legend, I thought it as HoMM clone but with real time adventure map. Not until I did research about it and found out that the original KB (1990) inspired the very existence of HoMM series (started in 1995), even though Might and Magic (the RPG adventure game, started in 1986) existed long before that.
It's unjustified to call KB:TL as HoMM clone, since this is a revival of the original classic that spawn it all. Just like Dune 2 (1992) as the great grandfather of RTS. Nonetheless, Katauri effort in reviving a classic is worth a praise. Now let's get into the review shall we?
The graphic in this game is amazingly beautiful. The details of creating a living environment is noteworthy, from the skeletal mess on the wall that fort to live trying to grab you during your training against a necromancer, to red squirrel climbing a pine tree and leap to another in Kordar wilderness. While this happen in adventure mode, details and eye candy in battle mode isn't neglected. The scale, the atmosphere of the blend quite well.
The real time aspect in adventure mode may be a turn off for those who new to KB (the original had real time too in this mode), with their first experience of the game stumbling or being chased by stronger mob. You could in fact pause the game with space while taking your time examining the environment. Eventually, you'll get used to it. The battle mode is pretty much the same as HoMM. You get Rage points in addition to the usual Mana points. Rage is basically summon spell that can change the tide of battle. This is quite useful for Warrior class who spend more of it's skill on Might skill tree (Rage use this).
The storyline and dialogues may not be the strong point, but I can tolerate it. If you confuse about the main story, you just need to look up on your objectives screen and look up at the crown icon. That is your main quest. Doing side quests yield benefit rewards as mobs in next continent will get progressively harder. As most players found it rather hard rushing the game rather than leveling up more by clearing the last continent before moving to another.
The minus of this point is the lack of multiplayer, hotseat even custom scenario options. This game is designed to be single player only, unless Katauri will add those in their next patch/expansion. Bugs are there but quite minor and doesn't hamper gameplay experience at all.
In my view, Katauri has done excellent remake of the game. Newcomer like me thoroughly enjoying this, as hopefully those who familiar with the original will.
If you like or looking for an alternative to HoMM and Disciples, you should give this game a try. Even though it may not look perfect, but it's a beautiful game so far.