Reviewed: January 18, 2002
Reviewed by: Richard Cross
Publisher
Strategy First
Developer
TimeGate
Released: November 8, 2001
Genre: Strategy
Players: 8
ESRB: Everyone
9
7
8
8
8.0
System Requirements
As most of you know by now, Strategy First and TimeGate Studios released an excellent product called Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns less than one year ago. The release of this great title introduced those of us that play Real-Time Strategy games to the fantasy world called Khaldun. The original Kohan was very detailed in the history of the land and of the race of beings, called Kohan, which inhabit it. The original title had some new and unique features that you didn’t see in other strategy games. Once I received the first title in the series I ceased to communicate with my wife, kids, and family, until I had finished the entire campaign.
There must have been quite a demand for the original Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns because Strategy First and TimeGate Studios decided to release a prequel to the series called Kohan: Ahriman’s Gift in less than one year’s time. I was looking forward to playing and reviewing this title to see what they had added and improved from the original release. To my surprise, the gameplay is still pretty much the same as the original. Of course there have been some interface tweaks and a few new units added to the mix, but overall this title looks and plays just like the original.
But even with the new units and a other minor changes, there is just not enough here to justify this title as being a stand-alone product. The additions and tweaks would have made for an excellent twenty dollar expansion pack, so I don’t really understand the reasoning behind making this a stand-alone package. I believe this title would have been flying off the shelves at the local retail stores if it were being sold as an expansion pack, but I for one would not spend another forty to fifty dollars on three new campaigns, some new units, and a few interface and gameplay tweaks.
This is the list of new features as detailed on the retail box. Keep in mind that these are additions to all of the features that already exist in the original title Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns.
- Over 25 new immortal heroes with new abilities
- Over 30 new units including the new faction specific Elite Priests and War Mages
- Over 35 new spells and technologies to be discovered
- Three new campaigns featuring over 25 challenging missions
- New insights into the history of the people and the places of Khaldun
- Over 35 multi-player deathmatch and scenario maps
- Random terrain generation system that includes snow covered terrain
As you can see from this list, most of these items are usually included in an expansion pack of some sort and rarely made into an entirely new game. I did enjoy learning more of the history of Khaldun and playing with the new units and terrains, but this title just didn’t pull me into the world of Khaldun like the original did.
The gameplay of Ahriman’s Gift takes after the tried and true gameplay of the original. Each graphical unit icon on the screen represents a much larger group of that specific unit in the game. That is to say that you could have a group of fifty soldiers all represented by a single icon.
The gameplay is fast and furious and with each new mission comes a very good audio description of the objectives of the mission and also some history of the mission. I like the way that TimeGate Studios approached the audio portion of the game. They were able to use the audio in the game to really immerse the player into the action. The audio is much more than just the clanging of swords and the screams of battle. The scenes between missions are very well executed and really immerse the player into the storyline. It makes you feel like part of the game.
The one feature that I would have liked to have seen improved from the first game is the ability to commission multiple companies at one time. If this feature is in this game I was unable to find it. It would really speed the creation of companies if you could create them in groups, provided you have the funds to do so. This is the only example of micro-management that I could find in the entire game. The rest of the game is rock solid in its gameplay and is very enjoyable.
As I mentioned before, the game’s graphics haven’t really been modified from the original version. Yes, there are more units in this game, and the graphical icons representing these units are magnificently detailed, but overall there just doesn’t seem to be that much improvement over Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns.
One important thing to mention here is the fact that this game is fairly light on the hardware requirements. One of the review machines that I used for this game was a Pentium-3 450MHz with an older TNT2 based video chipset. The game ran flawlessly on this machine and the video card handled everything the game could throw at it without a slowdown.
The sound in this title is definitely better than the original. The voice-over implementation in the original game was so limited that I had to disable it in the options menu. The voice-overs that you hear when giving your army commands is much more detailed in this new version than the few commands that you got in the original.
The standard sounds of swords clashing and units dying ever so slowly are every bit as good as the original game. The new units offer their own new sound effects. The overall sound effects for this game are very good and keep you coming back for more.
The ability to replay this game is really unlimited and no two missions will ever be the same. The game includes a total of five campaigns, two of which are tutorial missions. There are an additional forty maps that are included and several of these maps are for tournament play.
Also included in this game are the random map generator and a level editor. If you tire of the original maps included in the game, just run the level editor and create your own in a few short steps.
There are quite a few options for multi-player in this game. There is the traditional way of playing on a local network with a standard TCP/IP connection, and there are the Internet options.
There are several options for Internet play and I would recommend this type of multi-player experience over playing with your friends on a local network. The Internet play is hosted by GameSpy using the GameSpy Arcade software. If you don’t have this software, you can download it for free from the internet. Some of the options for internet play include Internet Bloodbath and Internet Conquer.
The implementation of GameSpy into this game is one of the best multi-player features that I have seen in some time. There is always someone to play on the GameSpy network. I’ve logged on to GameSpy at 3am a few times to find a worthy opponent. There are a huge amount of options for multi-player and you would have to play Kohan: Ahriman’s Gift for quite some time to use them all.
Kohan: Ahriman’s Gift is a very good game that builds upon the original and adds some new units, multi-player options, and interface tweaks. I believe that it could have been an excellent expansion pack rather than the decent stand-alone game that it is. Those of you that have the original Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns will enjoy this title and the new features it offers. Those of you that don’t have either title can purchase Kohan: Ahriman’s Gift and bypass the original. The only features that you will be missing are the original campaigns.
This game is a great purchase for those of you that like RTS games. The story line is strong and has a very detailed background. This game is one of a kind and ranks up near the top with other games like Age of Empires and Command & Conquer.