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Game Information
- Platform: Windows NT / 98 / 2000 / Me / XP
- BBFC Rating:
- Media: Video Game
- Item Quantity: 1
Frequently Bought Together
Product Features
- Play as the monarch of one of four unique civilizations, each with its own combat strategies
- Command vast armies of skeletal archers, undead foot soldiers, magic-casting wizards and dragon riders
- Campaign through 3D environments that include lush forests, marshes, rolling hills and swamps
- Lay siege to castles and cities filled with wandering monsters and magical life forms
- Hardware support provides enhanced graphics and special effects
Product details
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Product Description
Manufacturer's Description
Massive armies will clash. Forests and cities will burn. Tremendous magical forces will level entire castles in the blink of an eye.
In these epic quests, four sibling monarchs are locked in a massive campaign to rule the land of Darien. Build your legions of armies, hone your magic skills and gather your resources to wage war on an epic field of battle.
The balance of power lies here in your hands.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
I bought this title after reading a recommendation on C4 Teletext's excellent 'Gamecentral' pages. With a budget price of £4.99 I gathered I couldn't go too far wrong anyway!
With me being a complete novice in terms of PC gaming, I half expected a complicated dice roll-a-thon with odd characters and a difficult gaming interface. Instead, after a straightforward installation I was surprised to be greeted with a fantastic set of tutorial missions that serve to introduce you to the various monsters/races and their strengths/weaknesses. The control system is an absolute doddle to pick up, and within just a few minutes I was clicking away with my mouse and wreaking havoc with Dark Masons, Mage Towers, Caged Demons and Flying Drakes!
If fantasy is your thing, buy this immediately. If you enjoy real-time strategy titles, buy this immediately. If you want an immersive, atmospheric, challenging, long-lasting PC game for a couple of quid...yep, you guessed it, buy this immediately!
In summary: a fantastic game for newcomers and genre veterans alike, at a great price too!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
I bought TA: Kingdoms because I was so impressed with the quality of the original Total Annihilation: if Cavedog had made the original so well, why couldn't they do the same in a fantasy setting?
And overall they did OK. The game's as good quality and balanced as ever. But there are a few niggles that I annoy me. It took me a while to get used to the slower pace of a Kingdoms game, and the AI could be annoying sometimes: close combat units have a habit of standing still when being shot by a unit outside of their vision range.
The campaign has a good storyline - although the ending's a bit unsatisfying if you don't get the expansion - and does a good job of gradually introducing you to the units. It switches between all four factions, so you're adept with all four by the end and you see the war from each different perspective. A voiceover tells you the next advance in the storyline before each mission - why, for example, you're only controlling one Hunter and you're looking for Stone Giants in one of Zhon's missions - but sometimes the plot slows down and you're just given a "the war carried on" or "the war escalated, it was now total war etc."
The gameplay is satisfying, although I found I had to increase the game speed for it to go fast enough. The four factions are well balanced - unless you're playing as Veruna, the sea specialists, on a land map - and vary from each other quite a bit. Veruna have the best navy; Zhon specialise in guerrila tactics, with moving creatures for barracks; Taros have the Undead, slow and feeble but with a lot of powerful magic users; Aramon have expensive but strong infantry.
It's a solid game, but I'd personally prefer the original Total Annihilation any day.
And overall they did OK. The game's as good quality and balanced as ever. But there are a few niggles that I annoy me. It took me a while to get used to the slower pace of a Kingdoms game, and the AI could be annoying sometimes: close combat units have a habit of standing still when being shot by a unit outside of their vision range.
The campaign has a good storyline - although the ending's a bit unsatisfying if you don't get the expansion - and does a good job of gradually introducing you to the units. It switches between all four factions, so you're adept with all four by the end and you see the war from each different perspective. A voiceover tells you the next advance in the storyline before each mission - why, for example, you're only controlling one Hunter and you're looking for Stone Giants in one of Zhon's missions - but sometimes the plot slows down and you're just given a "the war carried on" or "the war escalated, it was now total war etc."
The gameplay is satisfying, although I found I had to increase the game speed for it to go fast enough. The four factions are well balanced - unless you're playing as Veruna, the sea specialists, on a land map - and vary from each other quite a bit. Veruna have the best navy; Zhon specialise in guerrila tactics, with moving creatures for barracks; Taros have the Undead, slow and feeble but with a lot of powerful magic users; Aramon have expensive but strong infantry.
It's a solid game, but I'd personally prefer the original Total Annihilation any day.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Fun:
I bought this game years ago and played it to death for months - I loved the random maps, competing against two or three AI opponents.
Recently, I had the nostalgic urge to play the game again and tried to install it on my PC, which I bought this year; it wouldn't work as I had the Windows 95/98 version! (there may be some trickery that could get it to work, but I couldn't be bothered...)
I decided to buy the XP version and must say it's well worth the measly £4.99. I soon sank back into the great atmosphere and gameplay. I was also quite surprised at how good the graphics and AI are (and also with a modern PC, the game is like lightning!).So what if you can't zoom in and out of the action and change camera angles - who actually does this in games where it's available anyway; I know I don't.
I think this game holds it's own against lots of more modern RTS games and I would heartily recommend it.
Recently, I had the nostalgic urge to play the game again and tried to install it on my PC, which I bought this year; it wouldn't work as I had the Windows 95/98 version! (there may be some trickery that could get it to work, but I couldn't be bothered...)
I decided to buy the XP version and must say it's well worth the measly £4.99. I soon sank back into the great atmosphere and gameplay. I was also quite surprised at how good the graphics and AI are (and also with a modern PC, the game is like lightning!).So what if you can't zoom in and out of the action and change camera angles - who actually does this in games where it's available anyway; I know I don't.
I think this game holds it's own against lots of more modern RTS games and I would heartily recommend it.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Expert
I have been playing this game for years over gamespy and can tell you that it is definetly not a slow paced game - just probably depends on gaming style. Read more
Published on 28 Feb 2006
One of the most underrated strategy games on the market
First of all, it helps if your a TA fan.
Second it helps if you can delve into a fantasy/mythical world. Read more
Second it helps if you can delve into a fantasy/mythical world. Read more
Published on 9 Aug 2005 by Joe Dickens
Kingdoms Review
It's a good game, with a great story and truly epic feeling. Just too bad you can't choose your alliance -the game does that-
and the graphics are not as up to scratch as one... Read more
and the graphics are not as up to scratch as one... Read more
Published on 14 May 2005 by "anubast2005"
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