Arthur's Knights II: The Secret of Merlin

aka: Arthur's Knights: Chapter II - The Secret of Merlin, Arthur's Knights: Rozdzial II - Tajemnica Merlina, Bradwen: Il Cavaliere di Re Artù, El Rey Arturo: El secreto de Merlín, König Artus: Merlins Geheimnis, Les Chevaliers d'Arthur: Chapitre II - Le Secret de Merlin

Moby ID: 4767

Critic Reviews add missing review

Average score: 62% (based on 11 ratings)

Player Reviews

Average score: 3.2 out of 5 (based on 6 ratings with 1 reviews)

Fairies and Dragons and Giants ... oh my!

The Good
The Arthur's Knight games are fantasy adventures based on the British legend of the Knights of the Round Table and King Arthur. This one begins where the first game, Tales of Chivalry, left off. It helps to have played the first game, but it's not absolutely necessary because the narrator updates you in the beginning.

Both the Arthur's Knights 1 and this one feature 2 totally separate games with different-looking characters and story lines set in the same basic locale. I liked playing two totally different games in one package. Play Bradwen, "King of the Atrebates and Knight of the Round Table", as a Christian knight whose conviction lies in his faith in one God and in the church and its teachings. Or, play him as a Celtic knight whose quests have him seeking out the guidance of Merlin, fairies and other mythical creatures. (I personally liked the Celtic game better.)

This game has many things that are better than the first in the series. These include:

Better voice acting - more expressive. (Bradwen's Squire adds somewhat of a comic element, 'tho you may find him annoying at times.)

Better conversation context and story telling.

Better music - especially when you accomplish something important

Better graphics in all of the locales (maybe because it's spring in this game and the other game was set mostly in winter).

In-game location maps!

Less travelling in between locations

Wonderful end-game videos In addition, the historical database provides insight into the known "facts" surrounding the characters. I'm not an expert on this subject at all, but the information appeared accurate to me. It is well-written and interesting to read. Whether there really was a Bradwen in the Knights of the Round Table they never say, though.

**The Bad**
The game is buggy, even with the patch installed. I experienced random system lock-ups often, but they never repeated themselves in the same place. This was frustrating to say the least, especially if I didn't remember to save every few minutes. (The lock-ups are supposedly related to DirectDraw, but I have DirectX9 (2 versions newer than what comes with the game) and still had problems. Disabling other software didn't seem to help either.) I still don't like using the keyboard to move around and still think riding the horse was unnecessary. They say in the manual that they used this to more accurately move the character. I say Bullsh**! Both games could have been point-and-click games easily. (I personally think they did it to lengthen the time it took to complete the games.) You must always start a new game from CD#1 no matter where you've saved last. Only ten save game slots could limit some players, although I personally thought it was plenty. The new maps are very helpful in determining where you are, but it would have been so nice to be able to actually use them for travel.

**The Bottom Line**
This game really surprised me. Even with the annoyances mentioned above, I enjoyed this game much more than the first one in the series. The story was told so well that I kept on playing - even while cursing under my breath whenever it froze. Many emotions are explored - love, hate, revenge, greed to name a few - and this is one reason you may like this game too. I say - skip Arthur's Knights 1 and play this one instead.

Windows · by Jeanne (75944) · 2003

Contributors to this Entry

Critic reviews added by Scaryfun, gukker, vedder, Jeanne, nyccrg, Wizo, Patrick Bregger, Emmanuel de Chezelles.