This game does it right, it is a pure and solid rpg game similiar to the Diablo series. It is heavily inspired by the milestone that was released by Blizzard, but in a good way. You can pick usual characters like a warrior, mage, thief and hunter. Afterwards you wake up in a hostile world and have to fulfill quests and defeat monsters. Your adventure is pretty lengthy and there are some great sidequests on your way. Besides the game offers a good voice acting which is pretty rare in RPGs. The gameplay is great, the controls work well, mouse movement and hot keys make it easy to navigate through the immense world. You defeat enemies, collect loot and gain experience and level up. Giving you new abilities. Polished gameplay is what makes this game so great. The graphics are really nicely made and fit well with the setting. Everything looks detailed and nice, enhancing the immersion. The music is really good to and like I mentioned the voice acting is topnotch. If you are a real fan of the RPG genre, you should get this game. It is a classic game which still stands out even after all these years!
I bought this game because I am a really fan of the late Renaissance era and Napoleonic wars. This game seems like a Total War spin-off but offers a different experience than one might think at the first glance. This game has some flaws but it also has some great points. The game is an turnbased/real-time strategy mix. First you plan your moves carefully on the world map which is really detailed and gives a really nice feeling to it. There is a lot of options regarding the diplomacy, infrastructure and trading. Diplomacy is a big part and a strong point, creating alliances and mutual pacts to defend your empire. You also get some cool quests which are really funt to achieve and grant you some advantages. The AI is decent and can provide a decent challenge. All in all the strategic map is detailed and gives you a lot of information. The real-time strategy battles are not that great but fun nevertheless, it somewhat lacks depth and seems easy, controls are not so smooth and making formations can be somewhat a mess. You get a nice variety of units for every nation and use them properly. But sometimes it feels like the battles are rather won by sheer numbers instead of master tactism. The graphics in this game are really good, especially for a game which was released in 2005. It is a bit dated for today but the battles look really great and it works well even on older PCs. Like I mentioned the world map is pretty. All things considered, get this game if you are a huge fan of this era or if you want an alternative to Empire/Napoleon Total War. (or if you have trouble running the game on your rig) If you look for a really good topnotch rts you might pass this one. But I definitly recommend it for such a low price.
