Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Played Lately: King's Bounty: Armored Princess

  • I wonder some times at how my tastes have changed over time. I learned how to like foods other than a burger and fries. I learned how to appreciate movies that didn't involve anything exploding. And apparently I've gotten over my hatred of the Heroes of Might & Magic games. So long as you call them King's Bounty, at least. During the year end Steam sale, I pick up the new version, King's Bounty: Armored Princess, and I'm enjoying it a lot more than I expected.

  • The comparisons with HOMM are completely apt. After all, HOMM was based on the original King's Bounty from 1990. Your hero (in this case, the sub-titular princess) travels over the world, gathering troops, collecting treasures, and defeating enemies. What amuses me about all this is that I hated Heroes when it came out, but I am loving King's Bounty for doing the same thing. Whether it's really a better game or my tastes have changed, I'm not sure.

  • One thing the game has going for it is a lot of personality. The graphics are bright and charming. Everything is hugely over-exaggerated. That makes the world feel smaller, but also more iconic. The quest text is well written for what it's trying to accomplish. It's no Bioware game, but it doesn't want to be. It's fun and it's funny and it doesn't try to be overly serious.

  • I'm still in what I would consider the early game. I've traveled to a couple of the islands and completed the quests available. But I've enjoyed all the ways to upgrade my character. There are very WoW-like talent trees for different specialties. You can find and buy equipment. Some equipment can even be upgraded by fighting the gremlins that live inside them. And finally there is a dragon pet that travels with you. That's dragon is a game changer. I'm not sure I would do nearly as well without his assistance.

  • I never played King's Bounty: The Legend. But by all accounts, Armored Princess is just that game plus more. I would happily recommend this to anyone who's interested in an RPG-like strategy game that just wants you to have a good time.


© 2010 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.

5 comments:

  1. I've considered picking it up a couple of times now, but I keep stopping myself because I just have too many other games to play that I've already bought (even ignoring MMOs). Glad to hear it is fun though, hopefully at some point I'll get a chance to grab it and play.

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  2. Steam just had a sale on both King's Bounty games. I picked up the bundle for just under twelve bucks!

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  3. @ Blue Kae - If you can hit the right sale, it's definitely worth it. I especially enjoy the save anywhere, drop in and out anytime nature of the game. It make great filler between other games.

    @ Jayedub - I thought I caught that on your Steam profile. Curious what you think of them!

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  4. I have played very little of the first game, but it's pretty!

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  5. Anjin, it really does look good, I just have too many on my backlog already. I would've played the original earlier but it wasn't available anywhere for download initially.

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