King's Bounty

The Good
No matter how much I play this game, and no matter how maps and continents don't change and everything's the same, it's just so plain addictive and likable it's probably the only game I ever regretted for being this short. Sometimes, I just love seeing a game so great in design, so addictive in gameplay, so cute in its storyline, yet above all simple, simple, and simple!

You start easily with low money, small army that can hardly be called an army, and a bounty to collect. There are 25 different unit type in total and yet it's more than enough. You have five units per each territory, for example you can recruit Militia, Archers, Pikemen, Cavalry, and Knights at the king's castle. You can recruit Sprites, Elves, Druids, Ogres, and Dragons (or was it Gnomes, not sure anymore) in the forests, and so on. Many times it will happen you can recruit more than available, on the other hand, when you recruit too much, you'll soon find yourself in a position of not being able to give them the necessary salary and you'll lose part of your army.

But it's all fun as you cannot die, when you do, you just start anew, but with everything as it was. For example, the final contract will be too powerful to defeat in single attack as it has like 150 dragons which you cannot afford to have yourself. So couple of attempts might do the trick. All in all, it's easily possible to outwit your opponents and get all the contracts before you retrieve the king's sceptre.

The Bad
Really, this game is simple and hence doesn't give much of the no-good stuff, since those few it does provide with are all the good. No HOMM game was ever this addictive, or maybe I'm just getting old, I dunno.

The Bottom Line
Simple -- you won't have trouble figuring what to do, how to do, where to do, or when to do, from exploration to battle interface, the game is almost like guiding you in its simplicity.

Addictive -- you fight, you win, and you level up and can recruit even more powerful armies, with advantage to discover new continents where you can recruit armies that can obliterate those on earlier maps, and as the time is running out, you simply can't get enough of the fighting, and soon there will be no army you cannot defeat, that's where the real fun starts.

Fun -- there is no just simple fighting to it, there are strategies, there are tricks, and there are stuff to take into consideration, for example, if you have ghosts in your army, the more they kill the more they multiply and if they go above the number you can recruit they will turn against you. Some units can shoot from afar, some can fly, and some can move quickly. You can outwit your opponents by using your boat and drive them away from the treasure they're protecting and then circle around them to steal it right in front of their noses.

This is game that has a special meaning for me, sort of like Panzer General, people just seem to miss classics like this while they take pleasure in vast numbers of aftershock clones which, no doubt, may be good, but just don't have what it takes to be a classic. I still can't believe how I can love something so simple like this when I take great pleasure in games with cutting-edge technology in graphics and effects, but it holds a great meaning for me, this game, that is.

The Good
Often thought of as the predecessor to HOMM, this is a misleading as in many ways Kings Bounty is different, and some ways it is superior. I've always found HOMM a pleasant but rather aimless and meandering gaming experience - pleasant to dip into but not truly 'addictive'. Although Kings Bounty is very simple, its simplicity, and the way in which the player accumulates leadership points makes for more compelling gameplay. There are also a few nice game elements missing from HOMM. For example to progress and win 'Kings Bounty', the player has to find and besiege castles overrun by treacherous warlords.

The Bad
I bought this on e-bay and played it for the first time in 2004. It felt like a truly retro gaming experience. The game was on 5.25 disks and the graphics were blocky and pixellated, which was fine. There was virtually no sound, however, and I missed the sumptuous and kitch classical music of HOMM.

The Bottom Line
Worth seeking out. Buying an old PC and playing this on it is definitely a better way of spending £30 than buying the latest of the endless HOMM upgrades and spinoffs.

The Good
Everything. The gameplay is so simple and rewarding you forget the time. The tactical battles are challenging and a fun diversion from the RPG-like quest. Simple economics, army building, and character development round out a classic game that inspired a new genre of strategy games.

The Bad
Hardly anything. Probably the only detraction is the need to tactically battle every monster that attacks you. It would have been nice to have an auto-resolve option.

The Bottom Line
Pick this game up if you are looking for rewarding gameplay in a fantasy setting. It combines elements of role-playing, strategy, and problem solving into a well written package.

The Good
At the time this game was released, it was, to my knowledge, the only one of its kind. No other games let you amass armies of ogres and demons to stomp on other armies of ogres and demons. Most other games still had these creatures solely as enemies.

The various bad guys you had to destroy all had unique features as I recall - like what types of monsters they dealt with, etc. It gave them something of a "personality" which made it more fun to storm their castles.

The Bad
The battlefields were small, and aside from an occasional fallen log or bog, there wasn't much to impede the progress of troops. The tactical nature of the battles was, therefore, pretty much moot. (This is actually a problem that I think has proceeded into all the Heroes of Might and Magic games, though to lessening degrees with each release).

That's really my only complaint.

The Bottom Line
A fun game on it's own, but also very important to note as the precursor to the Heroes of Might and Magic series. A lot of the elements that appear in later games are also right here. If you're a fan of those games, you owe it yourself to at least take a look.

The Good
King's Bountry started the Heroes of Might and Magic series. We have it to thank for the timeless classic Heroes II that so many of us played until our drives or CDs broke, Heroes III, the pinnacle of the series which is indescribably excellent, and the very different but entertaining-in-its-own-way Heroes IV.

The Bad
Entertaining for 10 minutes. If you've played the Heroes series, this feels incredibly weak compared to it, but still fun because you know you're playing where it all began.

The Bottom Line
If you don't collect games, you have no reason to start on the painful search for this old title. But if you collect games in general or the Heroes series, or Might and Magic games, you really shouldn't pass this up.

The Good
The game features an open map for each chapter where you wander around from town to town recruiting your army. Different towns allow different kinds of units to be purchased. This game laid the ground work from Heroes of Might and Magic series of games, and share some basic features such as recruitment of units, castle sieges and treasure hunting.

The graphics are basic but adequate, the sound was not very memorable.

The Bad
The game relied too much on numbers and not so much on strategy. If you lack powerful troops, you can always recruit more weaker units and just hope for best. There is no much variation in the way to play this game, but there was always feeling this game should be so much better in terms of graphics and sound. Of course, the real spirit of this game was finally born when the first Heroes of Might and Magic was released.

The Bottom Line
It's a turn-based strategy role-playing game with elements of chess and modern turn-based games.