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| Disciples: Sacred Lands: Disciples: Sacred Lands Preview |
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The graphics for Disciples: Sacred Lands are three-quarters tile-based, as is typical for turn-based strategy games. The sprites both on the map and in the battles are well-detailed, and there are a variety of unit types. The home castle looks great as well. The sound isn?t terribly memorable at the moment, but considering this is a preview copy, that?s quite all right. Don?t expect any 3D enhancements, though -- this is old school turn-based fantasy battle. It looks quite nice, though.
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After a rather rough learning curve, I figured out how to move my characters. What took me longer was to figure out combat. Disciples is pretty standard turn-based strategy fare, with some funny voice acting accompanying the various units and such, and all set in a rather dark medieval world. There are four rulers that you can have in the full game, but being a preview, only the Empire (whose leader is very Jesus-ish) is playable. Their units are your typical ?light warrior? types. About the only thing this game really hurts at is the battle engine. In its current form, it?s more of a hassle than a playable battle-method. And the only way I could figure out how to do it was to load a developer?s saved game and play around until I figured it out. But, once again, this is a preview, and the battle engine has potential, if worked upon. Otherwise the game plays solidly, if a bit... unoriginally. It reminded me strongly of Heroes of Might and Magic, which is not necessarily a bad thing. But hopefully the full version will stand out more from its predecessors.
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The learning curve was somewhat difficult, but with that out of the way, Disciples is a pretty good game when it comes to difficulty. It starts off relatively easy and grows a bit harder. But since this is a preview, you don?t really see the full range of gameplay. As far as I can tell, though, the game will have not-too-hard, not-too-easy difficulty. This is a Good Thing.
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Once you figure out how to move and how to do battles, the game mechanics are quite simple and intuitive. The game plays responsively, scrolls smoothly, and looks very good for a preview. The finished game will only have more of the same, we hope. All in all, Disciples: Sacred Lands has a great deal of potential, and if it?s worked on, has a chance to break out of the generic fantasy strategy mold and forge new ground in turn-based gameplay.
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-Sunfall to-Ennien, GameVortex Communications AKA Phil Bordelon |
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