Out of all of the RPG and RPG style games out there, the top-down, three-quarter (or isometric)  titles like Diablo or Icewind Dale always stuck out as my favorites. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good round of WoW or Gothic 2 with a third-person camera, but I always got into the wider viewpoint and more precise control that I felt personally those top down kinds of games had. So … KnightShift Director’s Cut got released on the PC, and I decided that it was right up my alley even though I haven’t played any prior releases of it and decided I’d give it a run. All being said and done, I thoroughly am enjoying it … and to top it all off it’s a good, light-hearted romp through a mostly serious RPG gaming world of leveling up.

KnightShift follows the story of Prince John as he is brought back into the world by one of his loyal subjects, Gallas, after being tossed into a dark void by the evil Voldimor (don’t quote me on the spelling of these names, I’m just doing the “spell as it sounds” thing here). The prince then sets off on a quest (and a brief tutorial) to reunite his loyal subjects and warriors who are currently in hiding and once again restore peace to the land. Along the way he will also meet some friends, both new and old, who will help him along on his journey.

KS plays out like most top-down RPG style games, with the left click moving the character from place to place, selecting a target or enemy to attack, or accessing inventories and quest logs and the like. Also, everything listed above is hotkeyed along with special abilities or items, so using things on the fly is a cinch. Each part of the story mode is divided up into a number of quests (20 missions with hundreds of quests) to run, which range from destroying enemies, running escorts, or even silly things like leading cows to a pasture (sounds like the right job for a hero, eh?), and weapons and armor are all upgradeable and will change the characters appearance as they are swapped out or changed. In addition, the story itself is rather amusing, and the game takes more of a Monty Python viewpoint on interactions with funny sayings and some hilarious dialogue or silly ranting rather than everything being extremely serious.

Now … lets say that you’re not really in the mood to go on a big questing RPG and instead want to play just an RPG title that offers more of a hack-and-slash perspective. No worries … KS has you covered. Rather than campaigning, you can jump into RPG mode and select from classes like barbarians, archers, priests, mages, etc … do a little customization on colors and such … and off you go into a straight RPG world consisting mostly of hacking and slashing or completing small tasks for gold or items that can be saved and carried over into other missions or online with other players. The control scheme is set up the same as the story mode, so thankfully you can just hop right in without a whole lot of new stuff to learn.

OK, now lets say for the sake of argument that you don’t really want to play a story-based game, nor do you want to play an RPG, but you’d rather play an RTS title. Fear not, KS has you covered there as well. You can select to get into RTS skirmishes either against computer opponents or against other players online. Probably the biggest concern that I had here was in the fact of how the controls were going to work, but it turned out I was concerned for nothing. The control scheme easily adapts to the RTS environment, with everything being simple left mouse clicks and ballooned explanations of buildings or units to help you plan out your strategy and attacks. In addition, there’s not a lot of resource management here to worry about, and everything is based off creating cows and producing enough milk to grow and maintain your army, as well as build better and more upgraded units.

As you can see, KS offers quite a bit for your buck, and really there’s not a whole lot that I can say was bad about the game. It doesn’t have a deep, detailed story to it like Diablo that’s going to keep you hanging on, nor is the RTS or RPG portions of the game as detailed as some other titles, but it is a solid gaming experience that is sure to keep fans of both RTS and RPG games happy and smiling at its lighthearted and somewhat silly approach to the genre. If you’re looking for a new game to occupy your sword swinging arm or magic casting, then this is one that you should definitely check out. It’s worth it.

Gameplay: 9.0
The controls and gameplay to KS were solid, and everything is simple point and click to make it easy to figure out. Transitioning from one style to the next is a breeze thanks to a good control scheme, and while it’s not as deep as a lot of other games, there is character upgrading and a good interface which makes it simple and fun to play. In addition, there is also a game world editor included for you creative types to mess with, too.

Graphics: 8.9 
The graphics in KS were done well, with some good detailing, lighting, and effect animations. The world looks good and is presented in a colorful, 3-D format, so adventuring is easy on the eyes as well as the controls. There are also a bunch of different monsters, creatures, and characters to interact with.

Sound: 7.8
The music to KS was decent, but sounded a tad bit generic in certain spots and got a little repetitive in places as it changed while walking to fighting, etc. The voices were good, and characters will make amusing little statements when told to do something like “Can’t you do it yourself” and such, although they do tend to repeat them over and over again. 

Difficulty: Medium
There are three difficulty levels to choose from, and thanks to the simple game controls you can tackle harder missions and such when you feel ready to do so. The game is easy to get into and figure out in any mode that you choose to play in thankfully.  

Concept: 8.9 
While the presentation of SR2 is simple and may even look a little outdated, it’s got a ton of stuff to enjoy and enough to keep you occupied for a while. The developers did a great job of mixing multiple styles together and ultimately came out with a well balanced game that works well on just about every front.

Multiplayer: N/A
KS has multiplayer for both RPG and RTS games, but there was never anyone on when I tried to get online and play it.  

Overall: 9.0
As I stated before, I can’t really think of anything too negative or bad to say about KnightShift. Again, it may not be as deep as some other games, but it does a great job in its presentation, gameplay options, and the fact that it offers a TON of replayability thanks not only to the multiple game styles, but the different characters, being able to upgrade them, and the online element of it as well. If you like these kinds of games and are looking for something to offer good gameplay and some laughs, check out KnightShift.