Credentials: I have every shield from the human campaign minus 3 from the premium-only level and every shield from the first two countries of the undead campaign, plus assorted shields from the third.
First, let's get the review out of the way...
Graphics: 9/10 They're solid. The cartoony look contrasts nicely with the part where you're killing people and stealing their souls. Base 10/10, -1 point because I was hoping for the 8-bit look Necronator 1 had and didn't get it.
Sounds/Music: 8/10 Decent. There's nothing wrong at all with the sounds, shouts, and music, although it's all ultimately forgettable. Base 7/10, +1 because the Spartan King's shout is epic.
Story: 4/10 Meh. This is one of those games where the story exists merely to give you a reason to go raze towns to the ground. It's nice to see different factions' takes on things, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the upcoming campaigns have to offer. Base 3/10, +1 because each faction does something different and it's just barely enough to make it not totally boring.
Gameplay: 1/10 Don't hurt me yet, this will be explained. The concept is fine for a RTS game. The units all have their own strengths and weaknesses, heroes each have their own niche, and the enemies are varied enough to keep things interesting. The problems come in the technicalities of the way the game appears to be programmed, which will be elaborated on in the guide portion of this post. Base 10/10, -9 because of stuff I'll go into detail about later.
Total score: Graphics = 10 points (9/10) Audio = 10 points (8/10) Story = 10 points (4/10) Gameplay = 70 points (7/70) Total = 28/100 = 2.8
I have every shield from the first 2 kingdoms. Haven't attempted the third kingdom's maps on anything higher than Easy just yet.
At this point, it seems like you don't even need to bother with the Forest Golem, or any heroes for that matter. I'm sure running Santa Claus or someone like that will make dealing with the grenadiers in the later levels though. The problem I see with it is that, up to this point, I've won every level by setting the speed to 2x and spamming one unit the whole time. Archer Cavalries are freaking amazing in this campaign compared to others, so make use of them. The best part is you start with archers for free, so at 2 shields you get what's possibly the best elf unit available. I haven't tried out the grenadiers or regular cavalry yet, so wait for info on those.
One thing I did notice: Elf militias are GOOD. Far better than any other army's militia thus far. They're amazing to the point where you can defend your castle from just about anything besides a near-full-health hero just by spamming them. Of course, enemy grenadiers will own them in the later levels, but you really shouldn't be using militias in the third kingdom, regardless of how amazing the Elf militias are...
My current setup is Archer Cavalry/Militia/Swordsman/Spearman/Knight/Knight Cavalry. I haven't attempted anything in the third kingdom on a difficulty higher than Easy, but this setup has won me everything up to this point. Archer Cavalry and Militia get most of the spotlight, with the heavier soldiers stepping up if I have grenadiers to kill. Often times I'm focusing on the enemy's main force and all of a sudden the battle ends because my guys randomly decided to flank the enemy and hit their spawn point directly.
This is the easiest campaign as far as I can tell, with the Undead campaign still ranking as the hardest. In order of difficulty: Human Premium Island = Undead > Human > Orc > Elf.
@s9b1: One of three ways. Either unlock Jack Frost for free and use him, clear more maps until it lets you unlock a regular hero for 8 shields, or buy premium and spend more than $4.99 on it to get Darth Vader for 0 shields.
On the elf campaign,I just mow em down with the elf archers and have a squad of either elf militia or elf swordsman to hold the enemies off.I would, at least,upgrade damage first.
what I said about Vader isn't true THE BEST HERO IS FOREST GOLEM he does twice the damage of vader and has more health plus he can he himself and allies he can take out any other hero with ultimate weapon and divine shield the only way to take him out is by spamming units near the base
Easiest campaign yet. I was right when I said that the dragon hero would be the best one. Start the campaign by maxing food and gold and then unlock the Firestarter and start every map by summoning him. He will utterly destroy everything single-handedly. Just make sure to have a second force running around somewhere just in case the enemy runs their guys around your Firestarter. Minus potential enemy Hero involvement which I haven't experienced yet, there's no way the AI will ever take the Firestarter down.
115/119 medals earned this way. Just spam militia until you get set up for a Firestarter, then use him for everything.
Here's hoping that the Majaphrat (or whatever they're called) campaign is harder than the past few have been... in order of hardest to easiest: Human Premium Island > Undead Campaign > Human Campaign > Orc Campaign > Elf Campaign > Dragon Campaign.
Meh, I loved this game. By coincidence I did Elves first, then Dragons and then Orcs all on hard and loved figuring out how to spend and respend my shields to win every map. So I didn't know that the Human campaign (Forgotten Kingdom)and the Undead campaign (haven't tried this one) have-non premium maps which are impossible to win without a premium account. I have just wasted ages trying to figure out how to beat Forgotten Kindom before getting premium and hitting the premium towns. I think the premium thing is fine, but tell us for god sake..
By the way, on Forgotten Kindom the first enemy castle only has two hit points. You can take it out with a basic spell in the first five seconds (or you can let it send you some weaker units to get some gold first).
To the original poster, Archlordpie: I don't think your criticisms of gameplay are at all fair. We don't have to be proud of having better strategic thinking than a free computer program. The developer isn't on a multi-million dollar budget. He has compensated for the AI limitations sensibly and perfectly. The way the computer acts and the advantages it is given make the challenge perfect and hard to beat on difficult settings. If it had the same limitations or the limitations you suggest then the fun challenge would be lose.
The way things are, we need to observe, learn that we are going to have big problems if we lose key locations and adapt our human strategy. It's great.
The pathfinding in this game is awful and very problematic. If you want to take points off for this then that's understandable. But for me its a great ultra low budget game. The only thing that loses points for me is the sneaky use of premium maps without notification. Maybe that drops it to a 6/10 but i think 3/10 because of your criticisms is a bit harsh.
