Reviewed: April 8, 2002
Reviewed by: Richard Cross
Publisher
Strategy First
Developer
Strategy First
Released: January 23, 2002
Genre: Strategy
Players: 4
ESRB: Teen
8
9
8
10
9.1
System Requirements
As many of you know, turn-based strategy games go back many, many years. Actually, turn-based strategy games existed before the newer real-time games ever did. Many of you may have even played these types of games at one point or another if you have a long history in computer gaming.
The most popular turn-based games that you may have heard of and may have even played in recent years are the original Disciples: Sacred Lands, Heroes of Might and Magic, and Age of Wonders. This new Disciples title even has similarities to Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns, another popular real-time strategy game from Strategy First.
Disciples II: Dark Prophecy picks up ten years after the first left off. The beautiful land that the four races inhabited in the first game of the series has been ravaged and war-torn to the point that not much is left. Each of the four races has taken severe damage and very large numbers of casualties during this long war. Now, with not much remaining (emotionally and physically), you must decide which of the four races you want to play, and begin the long road of recovery and rebuilding to become the dominant race over the three remaining factions. The storyline and history of each of these clans is very well documented in the user manual that comes with the game and makes for very interesting reading.
In Disciples 2: Dark Prophecy, you select which of the four factions that you would like to be. You can pick from the Empire, the Mountain Clans, the Undead Hordes, or the Legions of the Damned. As the names somewhat imply, the Empire Clan is of human decent, the Mountain Clans are of dwarven decent, and the Legion of the Damned are of demonic decent.
Once you have chosen a clan you must begin building your armies and conquering the opposing forces. Along with destroying the enemy, you have to build new structures within your city, take control of resources for mana and gold production, and explore the map. You take control of certain resources by planting rods next to the resource and over time these rods extend the amount of land that you own. This game will really keep you busy from the very beginning, so busy in fact, that you will likely lose track of time and keep saying “just one more turn, just one more turn”.
I actually had to read the manual to understand where to begin. The interface is a bit different than other games that I’ve played and it does have a small learning curve. I did find the hotkey section in the manual very useful. The use of hotkeys allows you to get from one place to another within the game very quickly by just the touch of a key.
The first thing that you will want to do once you have started this game is to familiarize yourself with the user interface and the graphical menus. The overview map is very similar to other games that feature the top-down map view (i.e.: Command and Conquer). Your parties consist of fighters, healers, and mages, and can be created with a leader that specializes in any of the three types.
As you travel through the map you will come across many different creatures and races and you may choose to battle them or to create an alliance with them. The battle screen is one of the best that I have ever seen in a turn-based game. This is where this game really shines. It may not be real-time action, but the animations and graphics are top notch.
I began playing this game one evening after the kids went to bed around 9:00pm. I thought I would just play a little bit and then crash. I was shocked and stunned when I looked at the clock and it said 1:00am!! Like I said before, this game will have you saying “just one more turn, just one more turn”.
The gameplay within Disciples is very good. It won’t take you long to get your parties created and out exploring. The game is turn-based, so your units all have limited spaces of movement. Once you are finished with your movement and any other structure building or unit healing that you want to do, you must end your turn and wait for the next turn. One thing that you should be aware of is that once you have finished your turn and are “sleeping”, the opposition can attack your position and catch your troops off guard.
The game includes bonuses for certain actions taken during your turn, so if you use a protection potion or another potion or scroll, the benefits last the entire day, that is to say an entire 24 hours. With this benefit you still have some defensive capabilities and will, in some instances, defeat the enemy that is attacking.
The game can be played in campaign mode and quest mode. A quest is basically the same as a single mission. Each quest has its own objectives and is a shorter gaming experience then campaign mode.
The main feature of the game that really caught my eye is the attention to detail that has been designed into the game’s graphics. We are talking top-notch graphics, the kind that you don’t see in most of the RTS games today. The artwork was done by Patrick Lambert, the same artist that did the graphics in the original game. My hat is off to Patrick for a job well done. Many pale in comparison to the work that you have done on this title. Keep up the good work and a big “thank you” to Strategy First and Infogrames for allowing the gaming community to view such wonderful works of art.
Each of the character classes has their own animation and as you progress through the ranks with your characters they each get a new set of animations. The animations themselves are visually stunning and as you play you can’t wait to get your characters to the next level so that you can admire the new animations.
The menus are well designed, and the user interface is very intuitive. As I said before, the use of hotkeys will make your life much easier in getting from one menu to the next within the game.
One of my few complaints also happens to fall within this category. The graphics of the character icons themselves tend to get lost in the sea of color on the main overview screen. You are able to identify your units by turning on their banners, but this only shows you how many groups of units you have and not the one that you have selected. If you use the tab key to toggle through your parties, it will center on your units, but it doesn’t highlight them enough to show you exactly where they are. This feature could be cleaned up and would really help speed up the game.
This is actually the first game that I have ever used headphones with. Normally I would use headphones to drown out the outside noises so that I could hear the game as I played. This is the first time that I have used headphones to actually enhance the gaming experience! Without the use of headphones you can miss out on the behind-the-scenes activity like the wild animals, running water from the waterfalls, and many of the other ambient background effects. Each area of the map has its own specialized sound effects.
The voice acting within the game is another story. This is where I need to deduct some review points. The characters within the game all respond with their appropriate voices. The problem here is that they only say that one phrase each time you select them. For example, the fighter units respond to every mouse selection with “Who shall suffer?” This gets very repetitive after a while of hearing it. They could have improved this area of the game to offer more of a variety of phrases.
This game will likely get and keep your attention for at least the length of one campaign. If you thoroughly enjoy turn-based games then you may eventually play the entire game. Each campaign will take many hours to complete, and due to the nature of the game each time will be different. With four full campaigns and so many of the single player missions, you will be pulled into this game for many days and weeks to come.
Strategy First has done it again with its ability to support GameSpy Arcade. This feature alone opens up the doors for you to find an opponent on the Internet any time of the day or night. The game supports modem, LAN, and Internet play, with the ability to have up to four people playing at the same time. With support for co-operative and deathmatch modes, the multiplayer features of this game are excellent.
The only drawback of playing any turn-based game with other people is the fact that you have to wait for your turn! This could mean a wait of a few seconds up to several minutes for you to be able to counter your opponent’s movements.
In summary, Disciples 2: Dark Prophecy is one of the best, if not the best, turn-based strategy games that I have ever played. With its beautiful looks and engaging gameplay, you will be hard-pressed to find another game with the depth and exciting gameplay that this one offers. If you enjoy playing turn-based strategy games, then this is one that you need to add to your collection. Once again, Strategy First has come through with an excellent blend of graphics, sound, and gameplay in a package that is easy to learn and play, I would highly recommend that you pick up this title.