Majesty 2: Build a Kingdom Up From Nothing Company: Paradox Interactive Remember Majesty? Probably not, but don't feel bad - it was an obscure PC title from 2000 that saw some success, but was also dinged for being a little too hard. What it lacked in ease of play and notoriety, it made up for with an interesting spin on the fantasy strategy game. Rather than micromanaging the hell out of your empire, you took a hands-off approach - letting everyone else do the work for you. Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim's design uses a similar method. The main goal is to complete quest objectives and earn money. The catch is that you can't complete these quests; you have to hire someone else to do it for you. You begin with a castle that serves as the centerpiece of your entire kingdom. You start by building farms, which you can then tax. Eventually you can build barracks, defensive towers and other structures. The ultimate goal is to create guilds, which will then attract heroes that will eventually perform all of your dirty work. However, until there's money on the table, they aren't that apt to do anything to help advance your kingdom. To get troops interested, you need to set bounties on various tasks. For example, if a structure in your kingdom needs protection, you can offer a bounty on its defense. Of course, how much you offer plays a big role in whether or not things will get done (greedy peasants). If the price is too low, the task will go ignored. On the flip side, if you offer too much, the task will get done, but you're losing out on profits that would better help your kingdom. Finding the right price for the job is a delicate balance and gives Majesty 2 a distinctive gameplay model. As more adventurers wander into your kingdom, you'll have to start meeting their needs. You'll find out early on that Majesty 2's inhabitants aren't much different from the players you find on any MMO server. They're loot and experience-hungry, so you'll need to point them in the right direction. You can slap bounties on enemies, which is usually the best way to get rid of troublesome pests. It seems that heroes are totally willing to drop what they're doing to take care of a monster. Giving money to troops is only half the game. Once they have your money, you'll inevitably want it back and working for your local economy. To do this, you'll need to build shops and taverns for your troops to patronize. You begin with a shabby selection of buildings like taverns and markets, but as your kingdom prospers, you'll unlock shops that allow your troops to upgrade their equipment, bolstering your forces in return. If nothing else, Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim is a different style of strategy game, which already sets it apart from the rest of the bunch. There are some issues to work out, but so far it looks like Paradox has a good game in the works for later this year. -Starscream, GameVortex Communications AKA Ricky Tucker Related Links: Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim -- Official Site Paradox Interactive