Majesty 2

Tired of the same old base building RTS mechanics?  Majesty 2 resurrects an old classic and blows RTS trends out of the water with a great fantasy setting and an interesting twist on the genre.  Our review is apologetically, long overdue, but we get down and dirty in Ardania to defend the throne.

The Story

Majesty 2 unfolds half a century later than the original.  The lands have been united, enemies vanquished and all has become overtly boring in Ardania.  So much so, that the current King Leonard has decided to summon a demon to break the boredom and paint himself the hero as well as adding worth to his fame and treasure chests.  In a surprising twist, this plan has blown up in King Leonard’s face as the Archdemon has won bringing peril to the land of Ardania once again.  All hope was lost, until you, the potential true heir was found.  The fate of Ardania rests in your hands, if you can battle back the mosters overtaking the land, lay waste to the conspirators threatening the throne and ultimately banish the Archdemon back from whence he came.

The Gameplay

This is the juicy meat that sets this RTS apart from the rest in satisfying bites of new gameplay.  Instead of directly controlling Ardania’s waning forces, you take the direct role of the new heir and use your wealth and power to establish new towns, economies and mercenaries.  That’s right, your forces are heroes for hire that you can animate by placing reward flags across each map, tantalizing heroes with coin purses dangled in front of them for exploration or monster slaying.  In addition, you can place Fear flags that will make your low level, newer heroes avoid certain areas with higher level enemies that will easily cleave the flesh of your heroes from their bones.  You start by building guilds to recruit different heroes-rouges, mages, warriors and rangers at the start of the game, with more races, such as elves and dwarves, available later.  After, you must balance your economy to provide new items and upgrades for your heroes to keep them bringing their newfound treasure back into your pocket, and keeping the cashflow circling for you to reward their efforts as you pull their strings.  In addition, you may choose one hero at the end of each mission that can be recruited in later missions via a Hall of Lords that you can construct.  You can place Exploration, Attack, Defend and Fear flags to keep you heroes motivated, and foreign enemies are not the only threat you will encounter.  As your town grows, it’s sewer needs grow proportionately.  This open your town up to an unstoppable threat of rats, and later, Ratmen.  In addition, when your first hero falls in battle, a cemetery is erected in your town, which becomes a source of unending undead foes.  This poses the first of the balancing issues in the game.  Often, you can become easily snuffed out between the outside enemies and those emerging from the sewers and graves within, as you scurry to allow your characters to level up and afford the necessary upgrades.  It’s a vicious cycle that you are more often than not the victim of.  In addition, the further you progress, the tougher the odds get tipped against you.  For example, should you lose a level 20 hero, good luck raising a new one to that lofty height with the higher level chacters making quick work of the newbies.  Add to that the fact that only some hero types seem effective in combination, or on certain levels, and the frustration of defense towers that continue to raise in price with each one built, and you have a terrible mechanic that requires more money from you than you can frequently produce.  As the game progresses, you gain the option of allowing heroes to party up at an Inn, but be careful who you pair together.  Balancing is extremely important, and not all heroes get along-dwarves and elves are mortal enemies, and do not function well together.  The micromanagement and strategy can be a welcome challenge, but becomes a fantastical frustration when you watch a couple hours work crumble because choices you made early on in the match could not be undone later.  For example, focus on rogues and warriors, only to find an hour in that you needed mages and rangers, and your attempts to raise those new level 1 types up will be thwarted by the level 15 enemies spewing from your gates and sewers.

The Verdict

Majesty 2 offers a fun, addicting gameplay not found in competing games in the genre.  The difficulty gets ramped up pretty quickly in the 16 level campaign, and the human opponents via online multiplayer are equally as unforgiving.  It was tough to come up with an accurate rating because, on the one hand, Majesty 2 does something many games haven’t tried before and on the other, the balancing issues, inability to change the difficulty and small campaign can definitely be a thorn in the side.  Balance issues aside, you owe it to yourself to check out this welcome twist in the stale RTS genre.  Ardania should be a sought after destination on any strategy gamer’s conquest chart.