Elven Legacy: Siege PC
Published by: 1C Company
Developed by: 1C: Ino-Co.
Not too long ago we looked at Elven Legacy, a rather enjoyable fantasy turn-based strategy game. More recently we reviewed Elven Legacy: Ranger, the first of three expansions that developers 1C had planned for the game. Ranger, like the original game offered a solid and enjoyable campaign at a very reasonable price. We’ve now got our hands on the final two expansions and here we’ll look at the first of these: Elven Legacy Siege.
So what are you getting for your £7.95 then? Well there’s a new campaign containing nineteen missions. The campaign’s storyline is set a few months after the one in Elven Legacy: Ranger. Lord Saggitel has returned with his Elven forces and seems determined to start a war with the humans. During the campaign you’ll also unlock bonus missions should you manage to earn a gold ranked victory, although it’s fair to say this is far from being an easy accomplishment. There are also three new hero characters: Sir Karel, Inquisitor Morcius and Captain Adrian and two new armies. It should be noted that you only require the original Elven Legacy in order to play Siege (the Ranger expansion isn’t necessary).
The campaign missions in the Ranger expansion were not quite as difficult as those in the original game. The campaign missions in Siege are more challenging however, increasing the difficulty level to about the same as that in the original game. Even on the easiest of the three difficulty settings, it’s far from being a walk over unless you have an effective strategy of dealing with the many enemies that you’ll encounter. This does mean that Siege can be much more frustrating than Ranger. It’s worth noting that missions in the Siege campaign aren’t in isolation from each other. The outcome of a mission has a bearing on the following one. As a result you’re not going to want to simply win at all costs as you have to think about what the ramifications for the next mission will be. Serious strategy gamers will probably love the punishing nature of the AI but it’s not something that everyone will appreciate.
From a presentation point of view nothing has changed in Siege. The graphics have seen no improvement (hardly surprising in an expansion) and the user interface also remains the same. It’s also identical to the original game and the Ranger expansion in regards to how deaf gamer friendly the game is. This means that once again large portions of the tutorials are not subtitled meaning they are of little value for deaf gamers. In other respects there are no real problems however. The dialogue is accompanied by character portraits and names (for the main characters) so you’ll be aware of who is speaking. Briefings and objectives are shown in text and can be recalled at any time. You’re notified of how many turns you have left to win specific awards. Text and numbers will also inform you of unit damage and status during battles.
We could have made light work of this review by simply saying that if you’ve enjoyed Elven Legacy and Elven Legacy: Ranger then you’re going to enjoy what Elven Legacy: Siege has to offer. Essentially it’s more of the same. Sure, you’re getting an extension to the storyline and another campaign to play through but there’s nothing here that dramatically changes the experience, although it’s certainly interesting how the outcome from one mission can effect later ones. Those who were happy with the original game and the first expansion certainly won’t mind that but those who felt that something was lacking or that things could have been improved will be disappointed that no major changes been made with Siege.
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