| System: PC |  |
| Dev: Rumble | |
| Pub: Rumble | |
| Release: March 5, 2013 | |
| Players: 1 (Social) | |
| Screen Resolution: 480p-1080p |
The PR team promoting the game provided Cheat Code Central about $20 worth of gems, and it was enough to make the game pretty easy—I opened almost all the loot chests I came across and paid for a convenience here and there. However, a large majority of the items I ended up using were found through the normal course of the game, not in the pay-to-open chests. In fact, many of the chests I paid to open didn't give me anything useful at all. It shouldn't be too hard to beat the game without paying if you're careful with your health, and the free gems will even let you open a nice chest once in a while.
When you've finished the game's roughly twenty-five levels, you can replay them at a higher difficulty in a search for "legendary" loot. It’s also fun to try out co-op at this point—I found the matchmaking system quite efficient, and the loot is all instanced so there’s no fighting over it. The developers promise plenty more content in the future, too. So those who play action-RPGs obsessively won't have any problem sinking tons of time into KingsRoad.
On a technical level, KingsRoad is fine for a Facebook game, though it won't turn any heads. The 3D graphics have a nice "realistic fantasy" look to them, but I experienced lots of screen tearing and herky-jerky camera panning, especially when I tried to play in full-screen mode. I also encountered a glitch that made some enemies in one level invisible (in Chrome but not Firefox). And sometimes the game seemed to hiccup when I clicked certain areas of the screen, or slowed down when there were too many enemies on screen. These are all problems that will hopefully be ironed out in the near future.
The sound, meanwhile, is quite nice. The effects have a satisfying punch to them, and the epic music fits the mood of the game. Of course, you slackers playing at work will probably turn the sound off anyway.
The bottom line is that if you like action RPGs, KingsRoad is a must-play. The worst that can happen is that you'll try it for free and hate it—and that's quite unlikely. The best that can happen is that you'll discover a nicely made title that costs you nothing you don't want to pay. That doesn't sound like a hard decision to me.
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By Robert VerBruggen Contributing Writer Date: March 5, 2013 |
Game Features:
