Sets the bar for all new RTS'
First off the numerous bugs in the game means that any computer that is not fully compatible with the software will crash - thats a fact. Even if your computer can handle much more graphic intesive games eg: Age of Empires III it wont neccessarily be able to support this game. I had to download many patches before i could even start up the game succesfully then there were the regular crashes. But luckily or not the company made a auto-save which saves every half hour or something so if your really into it and loose track of time and BANG you've got a crash you'll be able to reload back to a not too distance place in your game. All the bugs are probably from the switch of makers that the game went through and as it seems it never recovered. The end result a great idea trapped inside a poorly presented and buggy body.
The gameplay itself is quite good once you get over the crashes. The idea of hero mode is awesome but poorly produced but the good news is hopefully other game makers will pick up this idea and add it to a better game. Naval combat is another really great thing offering revoloutionary way of battling it out on the seas. Men onboard are actually shown onboard and they interact while on the ships like archers will fire and swordsmen will attack others when the ships get close enough. You can even see men rowing and the other fantastic thing about naval combat is the ability to ram into another ship destroying it and sending it's troops into the air then once the hit the water they can even swim to safety or you can pick em off with your archers. But yes this is a great part of the game that should definately be built up on by other companies. The land combat is really the same old stuff where you have a bunch of men who look the same hacking at a group of other men who are dressed different with a minor strength difference. The combat is still rock-paper-scissors kind of stuff where cavarly beat archers, archer beat melee troops and melee troops beat cavarly. So really the battles can get tiresome until you zoom in there yourself and slash the enemy to bits.
The civilizations are; Persia, Rome, Greece and Egypt which is really the usual for the ancient style of RTS. I think they should've mixed it up a bit possibly by adding more civilizations from the east like the Yamato and stuff. But they decided not and this leaves you with 4 civilizations that are pretty much the same both in combat and in inferstructure.
The AI is hard when you want it to be but generally doesn't act right. Like on level 8 hardness for example the AI wont build a massive city and fork out an impossible amount of troops they will have a small settlement then capture all the outposts at which they build a few military buildings then as almost by accident they come into you and just have their primal instinct to capture all outposts rather then defend and destroy. So if you had a small town you could hide and never be found by their explorers set on random or something.
The campaigns are truly amazing works of art that the game creators surely made just to show off the full power of the hero mode. With fantastic land and sea battles and worlds packed with heaps of enemies it truly lets you use the hero mode to its full potential. It also comes with detailed cinematics explaining the story way better then any historical teacher could. but with all this excitement the two 20 or so scenario long campaigns can be over quite quick and leave you wanting more. The random map game type is fairly the smae old stuff and doesnt let you use your hero as much as you'd like to sometimes and after a while the crashes get to you and you go "why bother?!"
The graphics are not all that better from Stainless Steel's previous works which shows their inability to advance with the rest of the market which leaves the game feeling 2-4 years older then it is. Although it does have the ability to let you zoom right up to things which lets you see the sky and hills in the distance which are clearly just screens set around the world's boarders. The water is i think the only thing they must've advanced because is almost worthy of Age of Empires 3.
The sound is normal to any other RTS with the clanging of swords and screams as you approach enemies as a hero. The music is basic with a few memorable ones but nothing really worth paying extra attention to.
So basically this game is a shot in the foot for the developers who have released fantastic ideas but because of poor quality they lost money and now their rivals will be richer.
Now add the hero mode, naval combat from this game with perhaps the realism and family tree of ROME:total war then with the graphics of Age of Empires 3 with the multiple ages of Rise of Nations and perhaps make every unit unique and be able to interact better aka: block attack and dodge. And that will be the best game ever! Now how come i ain't a game developer?!