King Arthur II Review

Some interesting but poorly realized ideas make King Arthur II the poster child for wasted potential

Posted by Tim Reid on February 13, 2012 - 9:41pm EST

If King Arthur II was strictly a strategy game, it would be impossible to recommend in its current state. However, it is also a role playing game, and the RPG elements here are much more impressive than the strategic ones. King Arthur II's campaign does have a story, with you playing the son of the wounded King Arthur. Your job is to find a way to cure your father, as it quickly becomes evident that the wounds he has sustained are magical in nature. You learn that the demonic Femorian forces have opened gates all over the continent and are infecting people with a strange demonic plague. Your overarching objective in King Arthur II is to stop the Femorians and find a way to cure your father.

The world-map is used for quests and broader strategic decisions

To progress the story, you must complete a series of quests. These come in a number of different forms; adventure quests, diplomacy quests and battle quests. Adventure quests are probably the highlight of the game, and are essentially interactive stories where a series of occurrences are described to you and you must make decisions as to how to proceed. These segments are generally well written with a strong use of imagery that really draws you in to the scene. The decisions you make during these can dramatically alter how they play out, and can lead to different outcomes, including in some cases battles and different rewards. These adventures are generally voiced by a single voice actor, and while he makes a valiant effort, there are times when having at least one female voice actor would be a huge benefit as a man doing the voice of a young maiden simply sounds silly. During these segments you will help cure a disease in a village, explore labyrinth-like dungeons, take part in diplomatic discussions with other lords, and even solve a few puzzles.

Skirmishes with flying beasts are uncharacteristically challenging

Diplomatic quests are less time consuming also interesting, simply giving you a variety of different choices on how to resolve a situation that will have different outcomes. For instance, you might choose how to deal with a pack of rogues that have been stealing from nearby empires and have now entered your borders. You could either have them killed, and in doing so steal the goods they acquired through pillaging; put them in jail and return the stolen goods to their rightful owners, which would improve relations with other nations, or let them go free with the agreement that they leave your empire and instead rob that of your enemies. While the choices presented seem very interesting, the outcomes are often unapparent or non- existent. Battle quests simply involve defeating an enemy army through the battle mechanisms discussed above.