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King Arthur II: The Role-Playing Wargame Review for PC

King Arthur II: The Role-Playing Wargame Review for PC

King Arthur’s New Quest

The idea behind the King Arthur franchise is to take everything that nerdy old school PC gamers like, throw it in a blender, and add some modern production values. The latest entry, King Arthur II: The Role-Playing Wargame, just about pulls it off. The game is solid in many ways—and some aspects are downright fantastic—but an overall lack of polish and fine-tuning makes the experience feel flat.

The first game in the series, released in 2009, told the basic story of Arthurian legend, complete with Excalibur and the Holy Grail. Even then, the developers weren’t completely faithful to the established story, but in this sequel, they branch out on a path entirely their own. As you begin King Arthur II, the king is ill, the kingdom is being overrun by refugees, and there are murmurs of strange supernatural happenings. Soon enough, you find yourself struggling in a world dominated by various factions. The Holy Grail has been destroyed, and evil forces are taking hold.

King Arthur II: The Role-Playing Wargame Screenshot

As you begin your journey, what’s most impressive is how the developers combined real-time strategy with other game elements—without ending up with yet another Total War clone.

Each turn you take represents one of the four seasons. In the spring, summer, and fall, you’re free to move about the world map—which is twice as big as the map from the previous game—and take on missions. These missions can result in anything from diplomatic wrangling to huge battles, but they typically start by offering players a treat that’s rare in modern games: a text-based story. The game’s narrator reads the adventure to you—his tone of voice indicates that it’s bedtime and you’re five years old, unfortunately—and you’re asked to make decisions. Do you trust the shady character who asks you to parlay with him unarmed, or insist on bringing your sword? Do you take a path through the woods, or take a small group and sneak through the dense trees undetected? The way you approach each situation affects not only the mission you’re playing, but also the overall storyline and your position in a morality system (you can be Christian or pagan, as well as a friendly or oppressive ruler). In some cases, playing a text mission deftly can help you avoid a battle entirely.

Other times, of course, battle will be inevitable. Especially on lower difficulties, you can often get away with using the auto-battle feature, but otherwise, you’ll need to deploy and control numerous units as they fight to the death. The battle system here isn’t particularly innovative—in this area, and this area alone, King Arthur II brings to mind the words “Total War ripoff”—but it does depart from the original King Arthur in numerous ways. For instance, there are flying units that are immune to many attacks, you’ll face huge bosses, and you can periodically cast spells to hobble enemy units. You’ll also fight to control parts of the map that give you stat bonuses. But other than that, it’s fairly basic: Place your guys on the map and then have them attack the enemy in a way that makes sense given the territory, your advantages and disadvantages relative to the enemy and your play style.

King Arthur II: The Role-Playing Wargame Screenshot

Every four turns, winter comes around. This means that you can no longer move about the world map, but the game doesn’t freeze entirely. Instead, this is a time for you to progress through King Arthur II’s various skill trees. Each individual unit gains experience in battle, and these points can be spent on various upgrades, including HP and damage. (This means that you’ll want to think twice before sending units into suicide missions, of course.) You can also research numerous technologies and improve the various towns you’ve captured.

So, what’s the problem? For starters, it’s worth noting that the King Arthur franchise itself is designed for a very limited audience. The reason no one makes text adventures any more is that most people find them boring, and text is such a big part of this game that if you don’t like it, you might as well stay away. Similarly, the winter turns can put you to sleep, as they require you to pore over each aspect of your kingdom and click various improvements. If you saw previews of this game and immediately thought “King Arthur + fantasy RTS = action-packed awesomeness!!”—well, think again.

King Arthur II: The Role-Playing Wargame Screenshot

But even accepting the basic premise of the franchise, I found King Arthur II to lack polish in various ways, and as a result it felt flat. Here’s just one small example: From the very first screens, you’ll notice that the text doesn’t always match the narration coming out of your speakers. It’s just a word here or there, and it’s probably just the result of a voice actor taking a few liberties with his assignment. But you have to ask yourself: Given all the effort that the developers put into King Arthur II, was it too much for them to ask one employee to listen through the voice acting and re-type any text that didn’t match?

There are more significant issues as well. The pathfinding can be sketchy at times, you’ll run into various glitches (some more serious than others), and the frame rate drops when there’s a lot happening on screen. Moving the camera around the battlefield never feels natural, even though the basic WASD controls are fine—it’s hard to say, but I think the problem is that by default the camera should be zoomed out just a tad more than it is. While the tutorial is quite detailed when it comes to turn-based gameplay—it circles all the icons you have to click—the developers basically abandon you when your first battle starts. You can read through some basics on how to control the action, but newcomers might want more strategy tips. (Fortunately, the game offers four different difficulty levels, and the “casual” setting should accommodate new players as they learn the ropes.)

King Arthur II: The Role-Playing Wargame Screenshot

These issues are rather surprising in light of the immense effort that Neocore put into other elements of the package. The graphics are terrific—they capture not only the changing seasons, but also the overall feel of a once-great land beset by a horrible force. The story is a marvel as well, and the opportunity to play in different ways will ensure that players don’t stop after the first time they finish the game. There are also plenty of side quests, which will also expand play time.

But any video game is judged by how well it hooks the player—the best strategy titles cause players to become obsessed with their various systems, and to lose sleep playing late into the night. To the contrary, in King Arthur II, I found myself skipping battles whenever I could, and I stayed up late playing only because I had to write this review. That doesn’t mean there’s nothing to enjoy about this title, and, as they say, your mileage may vary. Only one thing is for certain: If you buy this game, you will spend a lot of time being read to.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 4.3 Graphics
The game looks great, but the frame rate isn’t steady. 3.1 Control
They work for the most part, but I found the camera controls a little cumbersome during battles. 2.7 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The narration is annoying, and the music and sound effects are unremarkable. 3.7 Play Value
With different ways to play and plenty of side quests, the developers offer hours of entertainment, but the lack of polish makes the experience feel flat. 3.3 Overall Rating – Fair
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.

Review Rating Legend
0.1 – 1.9 = Avoid 2.5 – 2.9 = Average 3.5 – 3.9 = Good 4.5 – 4.9 = Must Buy
2.0 – 2.4 = Poor 3.0 – 3.4 = Fair 4.0 – 4.4 = Great 5.0 = The Best

Game Features:

  • Dark fantasy setting. King Arthur is now the Maimed King, trying to mend a land torn asunder as he strives to heal himself.
  • Intense boss fights, where the hero’s forces are pitted against unique and terrifying foes.
  • Lose yourself in a stunning story that unfolds over a huge 3D campaign map featuring knightly quests and other special events.
  • Wide range of camera control options, revised animations, and an extensive tutorial creating a more accessible and visually stunning experience.
  • Experience huge real-time battles featuring thousands of soldiers and flying fantasy monsters.
  • Battle enemies who employ unique war tactics and cast fantastic spells.
  • Your choices will unlock special content, spells, and units with plenty of new and unique possibilities.
  • Lead major heroes who possess extraordinary powers.

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