Majesty 2 Review Page 2

17 Sep 2009 at 12:16:59 by Bill Vaughan
Systems used to review this title: (PC)

As the map opens up, several monster dens and spawn points show up. These are ideal places to mark with Reward Flags, because the wandering monsters inevitably make their way to your budding city. Peasants and tax collectors don't last long against even the most flimsy of villains, and your heroes are often elsewhere when they are needed! Without your henchmen to repair buildings and collect taxes, your kingdom soon grinds to a halt, so all care must be taken to protect them. Towers can be built, which fire arrows at any hostile unit within range and also act as a drop point for tax collectors. Inns are a safe-haven for heroes that find themselves out-numbered and too far away from their guild, and they generate an income from residents too. However, they don't last long against a group of enemies.

You quickly discover that quickly recruiting heroes is important to generate further income and to protect your lands early-on. Unfortunately, due to their bizarre AI nature, heroes can't always be relied upon to act responsibly. Often, they will walk right past monsters attacking a friendly building, other times they will tackle a boss single-handedly and die almost immediately. This was an issue many had with the first game, so it was with great delight that I discovered the new Party feature. An upgraded Inn has the ability to call heroes to form parties. You may place up to four heroes in a party, and from that point they will explore together. Due to the different classes available, it's advisable to mix the make-up of the party, with perhaps a cleric (healer), some ranged damage dealers and a melee unit. Wizards, for example, are USELESS alone. Being such an expensive class, it's almost painful to hear their death cry of “I'm melting!” often seconds after they've been recruited – most wandering monsters can one-shot them. This is why the party feature is priceless. In a group, Wizards flourish.

When heroes die, you have the option to resurrect them at the graveyard. A graveyard appears near to your palace after your first hero has died. This is an expensive option, as it often costs several times the amount you spent to recruit them, depending on their level. In my opinion, it's worth it for high-level well-equipped heroes, assuming you can afford it! The graveyard also spawns monsters periodically, just like the sewer entrances that pop up when your population starts to grow. It's a good idea to place a defensive tower near to these places to deal with anything that emerges.

Another new feature in this game is the Hall of Lords. At the end of each mission, you can choose from all of your surviving heroes and make one of them a lord. Complete with all their purchased potions and upgraded equipment, the newly-promoted lord can be recruited in following missions in the campaign. Naturally, the Hall of Lords building is expensive to build and, depending on the level and class of the lord, they are even more expensive to recruit, but if you can afford them they are very useful.

At most guilds, you can purchase upgrades that give its heroes improved damage and offer services to other heroes, such as the enchantment of weapons at the Wizards guild. Many guilds also offer a spell that the player can cast. To name a few, the Rangers guild allows you to expand the view of the Rangers momentarily, the Wizard's guild gives you a spell that does a small amount of damage to a single enemy unit, and the Cleric's guild allows you to heal a friendly unit. Use these with caution though, as with all things in Majesty 2, each spell costs a fee, and getting trigger-happy can quickly result in empty coffers.

Another good source of income is the Trade Post, which has changed slightly since the first game. You may now only place them on designated spots on the map, however, they can be upgraded to fire arrows at approaching enemies. As before, the further they are from your Marketplace, the more gold they generate. Another change to the original game is the Temples: they, too, can now only be built on designated spots.

Sadly, Majesty 2 does not offer the freestyle option that featured in the original game. Due to the fact that the technology used to make this version is unable to create random maps, it's unlikely we'll ever see it become available. The lack of a map editor included with the game also means that the community is unable to make and share more scenarios, which also reduces the replayability factor somewhat.

Despite that, the game is still lots of fun and provides many hours of entertainment. The first missions in the campaign are very easy, too easy perhaps, as the transition to advanced is quite a shock to the system. I found myself having to restart missions regularly after realising I'd made bad choices at the start. The AI is frustrating sometimes, especially when expensive heroes get themselves killed or refuse to respond to your flags. But on the whole, it's an enjoyable game and one that I can see myself replaying, even without the freestyle option. I'm holding on to the original though, which still remains one of my all-time favourites.

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