Every now and then a strategy game comes along that really sort of jumps out and grabs my attention. While I enjoy RTS titles, I’m really more of a fan of turn based strategy titles. One that I really enjoyed and got into a while back was Disciples II: Dark Prophecy, and for anyone who has not played it … let me say that it was well worth the venture when you selected from one of four armies (Mountain Dwarves, Humans, Undead, and Demonic Hordes) and played through a variety of single or story based missions looking to lead your army to victory. There have been a couple of new expansions to come out for D2, both of which revolved around clans found in the previous title, but the newest release called Rise of the Elves instead is a standalone expansion that takes the pointy eared forest dwellers and adds them into the chaotic and war torn mix.

In brief summary of the whole Disciples II experience for anyone who may be new to the series, the original title (see http://www.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r14700.htm for the D2 review) had you gathering gold at the beginning of each turn (generated by how much land you controlled) and using it to hire champions and soldiers to fight as individual units in a turn based battlefield. In addition, gold is also used to buy structures to add to your main fortress which allows for such things as leveled up characters to go down one path or the other (archers may become longbow men or may chuck the bow out the window in exchange for magic properties, depending on which structure you choose). The map is over when the objectives are complete or your army dies … which ever comes first.

In similar fashion to the original D2 game, Rise of the Elves allows you to select the original armies from D2 or of course the new elven race and select from either playing through the saga (story mode) or simply doing single player missions. Overall, the goal remains the same … convert as much land as possible over to your side, slay opposing forces, kill monsters or creatures that act aggressively or get in your way, and ultimately claim conquest on the battlefield. Everything is simple point and click style gameplay and you can probably play through 99.9% of it without even touching the keyboard (except putting your name in), and while the manual and tutorials give you a very brief overview of the game and don’t really go out of their way to help figure out what’s going on, it’s not too hard to figure out after a short period of playing.

The first thing that D2 fans will probably see when playing Rise of the Elves is the neat new characters that they get to play with. While the elves follow a pretty standard program that we’ve all been used to, which is basically that they are nature lovers and revolve around dryads, druids, and other seemingly “less offensive” fighters … don’t let that fool you. These elves are here to kick some butt, and the new classes can be pretty destructive in their own right. Sure, you have the oracles that heal by using the power of nature, but you will also be fighting alongside Centaurs that wield gargantuan maces and Channellers that can call vicious bolts of lightning down from the sky to shred an enemy army quickly. The sages (who are responsible for planting the rods in the ground that convert the land to your side and help draw more income) can even summon out truant armies during a battle to not only fight and act as a shield … but also to overpower and wipe out his enemies.

While the overall concept to Rise of the Elves overall may not be anything new and D2 veterans will basically see the same action as they’ve seen before, the new elf class is very well balanced and really adds to the whole strategy element of the game. In typical D2 fashion, the champions that you can summon and use all have various attack ranges or strengths and weaknesses, and part of success or failure in combat and many times overall winning or losing can come down to how well you have your armies built. If your champion is a caster, and your henchmen are casters, you may be able to get the drop on a few groups of melee fighters … but run up against a group of casters that contain some melee fighters and you could quickly get turned to dust. The first few times I played there was a bit of saving and loading going on as I kept trying different angles or dropping off characters at a captured castle in order to change leaders.

Graphically, Rise of the Elves looks fantastic. Honestly there’s not a whole lot of animation going on throughout most of the game since it’s turn based, but the spells that you can use through scrolls or cast in battle have some really snazzy effects and lighting to them. Everything in the environment is lush, detailed, and very, very gorgeous, and the characters themselves (when you get up close and personal in a battle) all have a hand drawn and painted look to them which really wound up adding to the gameplay for me … even if they don’t do a whole lot of moving around in the process.

The sound to Rise of the Elves was also pretty top notch in my opinion, and I was especially impressed with the voiceovers and the storylines found throughout the game. The story was really interesting, and the narration that accompanied it was done very well. The music, while looped tracks, was also a very good orchestrated style who’s dark overtones really added to the warring nature of the game overall.

For anyone who has not played Disciples II but likes strategy titles, I would definitely recommend checking Rise of the Elves out since it’s the expansion plus the original armies for the same price. It’s a fun game that’s loaded with hours of gameplay and replay value (especially thanks to the level editor and online availability) and I’ve wound up playing way past my bedtime on numerous occasions simply due to the fact that time got away from me. If you are a veteran of the D2 series, Rise of the Elves adds in a cool new army to play with and hours of gameplay for the new missions, and while there’s nothing new or revolutionary that really seemed to go on, that can be a good thing. Definitely check it out.

Gameplay: 8.3
Everything in Disciples 2 is turn based movement and combat, so everything is simple point and click style. Even combat can be resolved with a simple button press when the fight begins. While brand new players may find themselves doing some saving / loading due to getting wiped out over a mistake or whatnot, the overall game is pretty simple to figure out and within an hour players will be building structures, leveling up armies, and moving out to crush opponents.

Graphics: 8.8
Beautiful. There’s not a whole lot of animation that will really get your attention, but the hand drawn characters and the amazingly lush backgrounds will definitely make for an enjoyable playtime. In addition, the lighting and spell effects also turned out to be really nifty and added to the look and feel of the game as well.

Sound: 8.9
While the music tracks are looped, they are very well done and definitely stood out to me as enhancing the scenario and overall enjoyment of the game.  In addition, the stories behind all of the different factions were very well done, and the voiceovers that accompanied them were much more top notch than what I’ve grown used to with a lot of other games out there.

Difficulty: Medium
Word to the wise … save often. The controls are easy point and click stuff and not too hard to figure out, especially for TBS fans, but much like a game of chess one wrong move can quickly turn the tables either in or against your favor, and learning all of the ins and outs and enemy stiles can take a little time.

Concept: 8.4
While there’s not a lot that was done in the overall gameplay that any D2 fan can’t say hasn’t been done before, the new army added in a cool new storyline to play through and army to play with, and the new characters are really nifty.

Multiplayer: 8.9
Rise of the Elves contains play options for LAN, internet, or “hotseat” (where two people play on the same PC), and this score reflects the hotseat play only. I couldn’t find anyone online to play with during the review (if anyone would like to play Rise of the Elves online, shoot me an e-mail at s.kuvin@insightbb.com and I’ll be happy to play with ya).

Overall: 8.8
As I stated before, veterans to the D3 series won’t walk away saying “wow that was really different”, but in the gaming world that’s not necessarily bad either. If you enjoy D2 and are looking for something new, this is a great one to pick up. If you enjoy turn based strategy but haven’t played D2 yet, this is a good buy to get the base game plus the expansions in one shot, and while you may have to do a couple of restarts along the way, it is very fun and addicting to play with and you may not mind overall.