Kings Bounty: Armored Princess (PC) Review
The expansion that is not an expansion.
In short, wow.
If that’s not enough of a description try this one: I have not been much of a PC gamer in quite some time but I have found myself engrossed in my laptop for the past several weeks because of this game.
That’s it, review over. Thanks for reading.
No? Alright but just remember that you asked for it.
I did not have the pleasure of playing the last King’s Bounty game (The Legend) but I understand that I missed out on something great. So let me just start off with a little description for those of you in the boat with me.
You play as Princess Amelie as you transverse the world but the battles pit an army that you have amassed against another army. The Princess only commands the battle. The real strength of the game is the battle system.
Your army consists of five troops. The strength and number of each troop depends on a stat called leadership. For instance, you may have a troop made up of only 1 dragon because it requires a lot of leadership and another unit made up of 50 snakes because they require a lower amount of leadership for each snake. The make-up of your army is only limited by your whims and what is available. Availability of troops was one frustrating part of getting to know this game as some times as the limited supply of certain kinds of troops are available at certain locations. This had me traveling all over the place to replenish my supply of vampires after a hard battle. I had to learn to control my troops a bit better and not go all willie-nillie into battles without proper preparation. However, these also lead to more thinking and experimenting on my part. They also provide you with two alternate slots to hold troops so you can dip into those after a battle if you need to. I used these slots at first while experimenting with the number, variety, and placement of different types of troops. This really tapped into the side of me that loves experimenting with every aspect of a game. The biggest complaint I have is that there is not an endless supply of battles. They are numbered and if you find that you are vastly stronger than a would-be opponent, they will run from you and you will need to chase them down in order to tear them apart.
Another component of battle is your pet dragon. You will receive your pet at the beginning of the game and it will rest just outside of the battle field. Once it wakes up you can use its powerful abilities to level the playing field or just annihilate the enemy. It will then go back to sleep for a set period of time.
You will also carry a spell book with you that you can use during battle. It’s your standard fare here with spells to use that will cost you magic or scrolls that will not. You can level up your spells or abilities via your skill tree that is advanced by your use of runes. Your class will help you decide which runes to on which skills. Of course if you are playing as a mage, you will want to level up your magic but you are not required to do so.
Weapons, armor, and items can be carried equipped that also give you certain buffers. The game is kind in this area as it will allow you to pick up a companion who also has slots to fill.
The world map is made up of islands that you can travel to once you find a map of that island. This helps to make sure you don’t go to an area where you will be destroyed as soon as you step off of the boat.
The quests and inhabitants in the world are very well done. There is a lot of reading to go through but it’s not all that taxing and can be humorous at times.
I have heard that it takes anywhere from 25 – 30 hours to complete but it took me closer to 50 because of all of my exploring and experimenting. Regardless of your play style, there is tons of game here.
The ability to save anywhere makes AP a game that you can play anytime whether it is for just 30 minutes or a marathon session.
For being fun, addictive, and engaging King’s Bounty: Armored Princess gets an excellent 7.5.
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18 Dec 2009, 12:09 am
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