Land of Legends

Looks can be deceiving. For example, you can take a game that has the look of an archaic title, underscored with decent orchestral-sounding music but with gameplay mechanics that are aging, albeit gracefully. At first glance, this might be a title you would bypass.

But take another look at Shrapnel Games’ Land of Legends and you will see the true measure of the title. This is a turn-based game with minor resource management that puts the emphasis squarely on tactics.

It is not the type of game you will be jumping up and down about, rushing through with your eyes popping from the terrific graphical elements. Rather this is a game you will consider each move carefully.

The game comes with a gentle set of tutorials that work through the basics; then you are treated to a game that has eight races, beginning with elf, and four campaign scenarios per race. Only the first campaign for the elf is unlocked, and there are two difficulty settings.

Each scenario has terms of victory. The game can also be easily played in a windowed mode rather than full screen.  The game begins simply enough, but the challenge ramps up as you progress.

To understand the depth of the game, one must understand the basics. During the campaign you generate units within your capitol and move them out into the mapboard.

Each unit has a movement value and can move a set amount of spaces during a given turn. When they have used all their movement and such, they are spent and must wait the next turn. Terrain also comes into play, and there is a movement cost associated with some terrain types. Two factors come into play when attacking an enemy city. There is the Influence exerted by your units and the Resistance of the city being attacked. Each unit has a numerical value that determines its amount of Influence and each attacked unit has a numerical value representing its Resistance. To conquer a city, you move forces onto it on the map, and with each passing turn, the city’s resistance is lowered by the Influence numbers. Get that number to zero and the city is conquered.

Each unit also carries a skill value that determines its ability points, in terms of damage output or – in the case of priests – healing ability. And there is an armor value as well. Units also have action abilities, displayed on the action cards, and passive abilities as well as status effects. Some of the action abilities have status effects attributed or attached to them. The status effects can, for example, impair movement.

A unit’s combat effectiveness is determined, in a large part, to the weapon equipped. Some weapons have longer ranges than others. Damage output is also affected by any movement that may have been incurred prior to attacking.

Of course, the game is really not that easy, and you will engage in battles with enemy forces. Terrain can play a factor, and you will want to conquer enemy cities or capitols to generate more income, which in turn will help you bolster your army by allowing you to purchase new units.

The game excels at strategy, and you can use units to run interference for others. Sacrificing a unit to buy time to get off more powerful attacks is well with the purview of the tactics, and – depending on enemy hit points – you can also move and attack. Remember, movement reduces the amount of damage you do, so stringing together the two in a thoughtful way can be advantageous.

There are six phases during a turn – the units all achieve unspent status, all cities owned during a player’s turn earn income, players in the proximity of a city or fountain receive healing, influence is applied against the resistance of occupied cities, and then you get to the main movement/combat/spellcasting phase, followed by end turn and expiration of all status effects.

Each campaign ends with an overview that breaks down various items like the number of cities owned, income, units lost and the like.

The humor in the text type is very obvious. The sound does consist of solid musical elements, but that is about all aside from the occasional combat control.

The graphics are very antiquated, but the game is about content, not necessarily the graphics. There are two multiplayer modes, one is the skirmish mode that can be played against another player on the same machine (or against computer AI); the other is online against another player over the Internet.

While the game lacks the graphical quality we are used to nowadays, it does have a progressive difficulty challenge and is akin to the solid chess-like turn-based titles Shrapnel is known for.

Gameplay: 7.0
Some of the earlier missions feel very short and serve mostly as tutorials for the harder ones following. Load times are incidental and the games controls are very easy to understand.

Graphics: 5.0
Serviceable, but the graphical elements are what one would have seen on an Amiga system oh-so-many years ago.

Sound: 6.0
The full-bodied musical score is nice enough, but the other sounds of this game are merely so-so.

Difficulty: Medium
The game starts a little slow but warms up nicely as you progress and playing against another human is always a nice challenge. 

Concept: 6.5
The mission scenarios seem a little simplistic early on, and the graphics belong on a game 10 years ago, or more. The sound is minimal. The game really has a decent flow but it is far from innovative.

Multiplayer: 7.0
The game’s multiplayer is a lot more challenging than single player, and can be intriguingly enjoyable.

Overall: 7.0
Toss out the antiquated graphics and sound and look at the bare bones of the game and you will find a challenging turn-based title that has strong tactical elements.