Medieval Real-Time Strategy With Clever AI
The Dark Legions is a surprisingly polished RTS game developed from a "lone wolf" developer--Marcell Baranyai did almost everything, from its 3D engine to its graphics and sound design, a pretty amazing effort.
Innovative it is not, particularly; fans of Warcraft and Age of Empires will find it familiar, and easy to pick up and play. There's the usual resource extraction, building construction, and combat you'd expect in an RTS title. Where Dark Legions shines, however, is in its AI--computer opponents have some tricks up their sleeves (like sending slaves behind your lines to extract resources near your camp before you exploit them) that you haven't seen before.
If you're in the mood for an RTS fix, this game may be just the ticket--and at a reasonable price.
The Developer Says
The Dark Legions is a 3d real-time strategy game in the medieval ages. You can command your army and build your empire through story driven missions. Or you can prove your strength against computer players, on randomly generated missions.
Reviews
"It is a rare class of game that demands so much of my time it detracts from work, food and sleep. I expect that The Dark Legions will be keeping me going for some time after this review has been published, and what better recommendation can you want?"
- 94%, Bytten
Awards
2007 Ernie Award, Bytten
Our Review
Dark Reasons to Like Dark Legions
Submitted by DrJ on Thu, 2007-03-01 21:23. The WordBy Dr. J.
The legions under Theodoric’s command were striking a major blow, deep within enemy territory. As the guard tower disintegrated into a dust heap, the catapults began to creak toward the evil one’s keep. Suddenly, Theodoric sensed something wrong. He had left a stout garrison behind to guard his own keep and he could have sworn that no major force could have managed to sneak by him. Yet, as assuredly as he believed the current battle was his, something was wrong back “home.”
BLOOD DIFFUSION: The artificial opponent in Dark Legions is sneaky enough that, while the good guys made a foray into enemy territory, slaves built a barracks “behind the lines” on the site of this bloody melee.
The “something wrong” described in this after-battle report from Theodoric’s perspective was that a couple of slaves (deemed too unimportant to attack as they slipped through Theodoric’s heroic troops) managed to get past the main thrust of the attack and build a barracks behind the attack. By the time yours truly (Theodoric’s supposed alter ego) realized what was happening, that barracks behind my forces was churning out advanced troops that were decimating the large garrison I had left behind. I don’t ever remember experiencing anything like this. I remember finding structures I wasn’t expecting in Starcraft, but I don’t remember the AI overtly building “behind my lines.” Truth be told, Dark Legions became ever so much more interesting when I realized how diabolical my artificial opponent could be.
In all fairness, my preference is not toward so-called “real-time” strategy games. I consider them ill-named since they are certainly “compressed-time” strategy games where frenzied hordes come at you faster than “real-time” and I will be up-front that I tend to focus on one portion of the battle or scenario and forget to keep building and reinforcing while I’m pursuing my tactical objective.