 |
| | Gameplay
Sound
| | Graphics
Value
 |
| |
| | Publisher: Freeverse  Genre: Strategy & War | | | Min OS X: 10.3 CPU: G4 RAM: 256 MB Graphics: 32 MB VRAM |
| |
|
Today, military combat is deadly as always, people die in combat by the thousands. Yet, in our current age of modern warfare, killing is somewhat… dare I say… impersonal. One soldier pushes a button and another soldier dies miles away in a ball of flame and debris. The order to press said button is given in real-time by a soldier who is often safely miles away from all other affected parties. Death is swift and battlefield communication is instantaneous. Such was not the case for Roman soldiers as they marched into battle time and time again. Combat in the year 211 B.C. took cunning, intense planning and a great deal of brute force. With the lack of technologically based communication devices (remember, Maxius didn’t shout “HOLD THE LINE! STAY WITH ME!” into a walkie-talkie as he lead his cavalry into the breach), a general and his captains spent much of their time organizing troop placement and planning for things that couldn’t be adjusted mid-battle. A group of poorly placed archers could spell disaster for even the most seasoned Roman legions. Indeed, ancient military combat was a completely different experience, one that we Mac game geeks could only know through history books and the Internets… until now. Recently, the crew at Freeverse Software released Legion Arena, a strategy title of epic proportions… sort of. Gameplay: Bring on the Elephants Let me just say right now that Legion Arena is a solid game. It features 100 historically accurate combat scenarios, a simple to learn point-and-click user-interface, RPG style unit upgrades, real-time combat and an interesting combat engine in which soldier morale plays a key role in one’s military success. However, multiplayer support is fairly flakey and the game’s visuals won’t draw an unexpected tear to anyone’s eye. So, when one considers Legion Arena, one must consider what one wants most in a strategy game.Legion Arena begins with a comprehensive tutorial campaign that should give even the most novice strategy gamers a quick handle on things. After said intro campaign, players then tackle the full-fledged Roman and Celtic campaigns. The game’s “story” unfolds by way of well-voiced narrated clips set against a world map and various still images of ancient Rome. The story is basically a history lesson, placing the player in the role of an up and coming general in the midst of the ancient world’s greatest military conflicts. While interesting and often informative, I never felt compelled to keep playing simply because I couldn’t wait to see where the story might go next. Legion Arena isn’t that sort of game, it’s not the next WarCraft. In Legion Arena, gameplay takes precedence over creative single-player story-telling. Personally, I play games to forget about reality, if only for a few hours. Still, history buffs should be pleased with Legion Arena’s single-player framework. The game is primarily mouse-based, however there are a few required keyboard shortcuts for players to learn. For instance, if one’s mouse lacks a scroll-wheel, the keyboard is used to zoom in and out on the battlefield. The keyboard is also used to rotate the game’s camera and pause the action when necessary. Before each battle, players are presented with the Army Camp screen. At the Army Camp, players can view their existing squads of soldiers, recruit new squads, upgrade equipment and attributes, tend to those wounded in battle and last, but most certainly not least, one can customize troop uniforms. An army that looks good feels good. Men that feel good desire to live. Thus, a well-dressed army with good self-esteem and a fierce will to live is virtually unstoppable. Of course, as far as actual gameplay goes, uniform customization is a good way for players to organize their squads. For instance, I dress my elite archers in black and purple, which allows me to quickly identify and deploy them where needed on a crowded battlefield.
|
|
