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Computer Times
Editors' Choice Game King’s Bounty: Armored Princess Reviewed by Angie Kibiloski
Last year I gave an Editor’s Choice to an awesome fantasy RPG called King’s Bounty: The Legend. Recently, 1C Company and Katauri Interactive put out the much anticipated sequel, King’s Bounty: Armored Princess (Retail $39.99). You can download it directly from the 1C Company Web site or from various gaming marketplace sites like Steam. This new title delivers all of the same great features of the original, with even more new and exciting content. This story picks up 10 years after the end of The Legend, with Endoria being overrun by evil demon hordes, controlled by the powerful Baal. Your world is on the brink of destruction, and you, as Princess Amelie, must venture to another world to find the famed knight Bill Gilbert, who is your only hope of saving everything you hold dear. In this new world, Teana, you will voyage to many different islands in search of strange and mystical stones that are prophesied to give the right person the power of the gods. Can you battle the scores of new enemies that will block your way to these stones? Can you find the whereabouts of your missing knight? Can you make it back to your own world and save it from the ultimate evil that threatens it? You’ll have to play to find out.
The beautiful graphics in Armored Princess are a match to The Legend, so you will feel very at home in this new environment. The lands you will quest through are colorful and vibrant, accented by the lovely instrumental soundtrack throughout the game. When you first enter the game, you get to customize your character by choosing if she is a Warrior, Mage, or Paladin. This choice will affect your talents in battle. As you enter Teana, you will meet one of the kings of the land, Frederick, who will gift you with one of the coolest aspects of this game, a pet baby dragon! You get to choose your pet out of a litter of cubs, each with a different color. Each color possesses a unique battle skill and brings you a point towards your Defense, Attack, etc. This little guy will be an important asset to you in every battle that you fight. He will start out with simple battle skills, but will progress to become an incredibly powerful asset. After you acquire and name your dragon, you are free to explore the world in your own time, in whatever order you wish. There are many islands to travel to, so you will by utilizing your sailing ship a great deal as well as riding your trusty stead around the land. Later in the game, you can turn your horse into a Pegasus and fly over the land! You might find yourself just flying around for the simple joy of being airborne. Once you unlock islands on the map, you can even fast travel between them in case you don’t want to take the time to manually go the distance. You’ll come into contact with many characters, some good, some not so good, who you will often speak with at length. Some of these people will give you helpful information about the quest for the stones, some will give you smaller quests to perform for them which will earn you money and other treasure, and some will challenge you to a fight. The majority of the foes you will face, who are not the boss characters, will not engage you in conversation. You will just be roaming around the world and come across an enemy in the path. As well as enemies and allies, you will also find treasure along the path. You may discover gold, magic runes, crystals, or spell scrolls. The spells will be useful in battle, the gold to purchase troops and equipment, and the crystals and runes will be used to upgrade your character’s skills. Your skill levels may also depend on the armor and artifacts which you acquire and wear. Some pieces give you certain advantages when you equip them. A strong metal shield might give you 1 point towards your Defense or a magical sword might provide 2 points towards your Attack against the undead. You can also gain a companion during your travels, called an armor-bearer. These men act much like the wives your character could gain in The Legend. Any equipment you equip for this armor-bearer goes towards you own Attack, Defense, etc, and their individual special skills can aid you as well. If you meet a new man along your journey who you think can be a better companion, dismiss the first and hire the new guy. But be warned, he won’t leave empty handed.
The mode of battle in both The Legend and Armored Princess is much more strategic than your average RPG. Instead of winning or losing based on how fast you can button push and hack your opponent to ribbons, combat is more like a game of chess. You have 5 troops of fighters, whose types will vary depending on which island you are on where different kinds of troops live and are therefore made available to you. Your opponent may have more or less troops than you. Both sets are on opposite sides of a honeycomb patterned battle field. Taking turns, you and your opponent direct each troop to attack one of the other’s troops. This will continue until either you or your opponent loses all of your troops. Each troop has a basic fighting move, and some have special skills that you can choose to have them perform instead of their basic attack. You will also be able to use a spell and your dragon once per turn, provided you have enough Mana points for the spells, and enough Rage points for your dragon. Your dragon is an asset that gives you a major advantage in combat over that which was available in the first game. He cannot be attacked by your enemy, but he can perform powerful attacks himself, as well as some cool defensive moves too, so he is the perfect addition to your army. Plus, he’s just gosh darn cute! When he isn’t executing one of his moves, he gets to hang out on the side of the battlefield, sitting underneath the apple tree that magically accompanies him everywhere, eating the apples, playing with his own pet snail, or using it as a pillow to get rest after fighting. SO adorable! One other addition to this game during battle, that the previous title didn’t have, is a troop’s ability to dodge an attack. You have nothing to do with this maneuver, and as far as I can tell it is random. Once in a while when you issue an attack, the enemy troop will dodge and you will miss! Of course, it also works the other way too, and I am quite thrilled when a nasty enemy misses my valiant troop. This adds another fun element to already exciting and challenging battles. Your battles will change slightly during the major combats with the 5 huge boss characters. These are giant creatures that crowd the screen with their size. Your dragon is too scared to fight these behemoths, so you’re on your own. Each boss also come with his own unique skills and fighting styles, so watch out for surprises.
I have been looking forward to this game from almost the moment I finished playing the first one. King’s Bounty: Armored Princess has lived up to all of my expectations, and has already provided many hours of enjoyment. Even now I can’t wait to get back to fighting the hordes of evil with my baby dragon by my side. Building your character, developing her skills as you level up (to an incredible Level 50 this time around), and discovering all the new spells and talents that can be learned, keeps this game interesting hour after hour. You will also delight in acquiring Medals for certain achievements in battle, which you can admire on your Hero screen. This RPG is exactly my speed. I get the fun of a real time adventure, as I roam the land and complete quests for the people I meet, and the stress free leisure of the tactical turn based fighting allows me to take my time and plan the most strategic moves. The pretty scenery makes even the simplest act of roaming around the world a pleasure, and the musical score draws you in and provides the perfect backdrop to a world filled with fantastical creatures and magic. The good people at 1C Company have impressed me once again, and I cannot wait to see what they will delight me with next. To learn even more about this awesome game, and for links to buy and download, visit the official site at http://kings-bounty.com.
Minimum System Requirements: Operating System: Windows XP/Vista Processor: 2.6GHz Memory: 1GB Video card: 128MB nVidia GeForce 6600 or equivalent Sound Card: DirectX-compatible soundcard Disk Space: 5.5GB
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