A LIGHT HEARTED RTS/RPG GAME

Welcome to the fantasy world of KnightShift. Players will welcome this colorful world as well as the light hearted charm that graces the story, funny characters such as cows and the varied environments. KnightShift is a game developed by Reality Pump Studios and soon to be published by ZUXXEZ Entertainment. Reality Pump Studios is well known for creating the impressive Earth 2150 real time strategy (RTS) series. Taking a break from their more complex and darker RTS series they decided that they wanted to create KnightShift, a bright and humorous fantasy game that combines a mixture of RTS and RPG elements. I have recently been informed that the developers of KnightShift are implementing some new changes to the game which will delay its release for a few months. Planned additions include enhanced terrain graphics and improved character models. They are also planning on improving the skirmish and multiplayer modes in the game. Certain items in this preview may change from the final version of this game. This preview is based on the recent beta 2.2 of KnightShift. A second preview in the future will focus on the planned changes to KnightShift. This game is estimated to be released in the 2nd quarter of 2003. What follows are my thoughts on this fascinating and interesting game.

LEGENDS OF THE REALM

KnightShift welcomes you to a fantasy realm that takes place in the Middle Ages during a time when wizards and mystical creatures such as unicorns were very common. I enjoy playing games that include this setting and that in itself was enough to warrant my curiosity and interest in this game. The game has a variety of modes to play in: a multiplayer mode, a skirmish mode, a single player mode and even has an editor that can be used to create your own scenarios. Our focus here will be with the single player portion of the game. There are three single player campaigns with over 20 scenarios among them included with the game. The three campaigns in order are titled, “The Long Path to the Throne”, “Kidnapped Princess” and the last one is “The Dragon”.

Our story centers on Prince John and his imprisonment by the evil and cruel wizard Valtamand. He hopes to end the prince’s life through a spell, but when the wrong one is used the clumsy wizard unknowingly teleports the prince out of his reach to another realm. Prince John is eventually brought back to his world by the kind and good wizard Gallus. But several years have passed in the kingdom under the evil of Valtamand that the prince must now find the power to defeat him and save his people. Not an easy task to ask of someone who has barely arrived home but it must be done, and you as the player must do it. Thus in the first campaign, “The Long Path to the Throne” the prince must learn what he has forgotten, find his people and eliminate the evil Valtamand. But this will not be easy, as he must prove his worth as the true prince by finding four lost artifacts, in the form of armor, a helmet, a sword, and a shield.

This is the interesting story that will propel you into this rich and detailed world. In beta 2.2 I was delighted to find some very detailed cutscenes before starting most of the campaigns. In one cutscene you can witness the hilarious acts of a wizard that appears to have no idea what he is doing while in another you will see a huge and immense boulder fall on an unsuspecting cow. I easily found myself laughing at these humorous scenes. I compliment the cutscene designers for some impressive and detailed work. You will also enjoy many of the voices used for units in the game, such as the one for the prince. I am glad that they decided to add voices to the characters in the game as the ones I have heard so far have been done well. These voices will add a nice atmosphere and style to the game.

CREATING A 3D MEDIEVAL REALM

The world of KnightShift is an impressive one due to the new and enhanced Earth-III 3D engine that powers the 3D graphics within this game. I admit to spending many moments just admiring the varied effects that the engine is capable of. Just be prepared to have at least a GeForce 3 or equivalent video card so that you can see the game in all its glory. Due to pixel and vertex shading technology of current video cards we are treated to some beautiful water effects in this game. Just wait until you see this water, as well as the reflections of the sun or clouds moving along it. Most things are reflected upon the surface of the water as already mentioned, as well as your own reflection or even the trees near a lake.

There is life within the world you travel in as well, as you watch birds fly overhead, fish swim through the waters of a nearby lake or ducks glide upon its surface. As if that is not enough the land that you travel upon is just as impressive with mountains, villages, underground tombs and other detailed spots that you will come across. Trees also move in the game as if by some wind blowing through them. Time advances as you are playing as the game features a regular day and night cycle. I appreciate the time that Reality Pump Studios took to create all these small details that make a game even better. There is an impressive atmosphere in the game that you will learn to appreciate as you play through it.

A PRINCE AND HIS QUEST

Let me take you through a small tour of the game by revealing part of the first campaign. When we start the first campaign Gallus the wizard acts as a guide that will teach you what you need to know before you start your journey. One of the things you will learn is that you can rest when you are wounded. Simply by pressing the rest button, your character will lie down upon the grown and recover his lost hit points. Just make sure you do not do this when there are enemies pursuing you. If you do not have time for resting there are mushrooms you can eat to restore hit points or areas that heal you over time just by being near them. A map is always available to use to the left of your interface located at the bottom of the screen. Your current quests can be viewed as well on the quest screen and when you have completed a specific quest a checkmark will appear beside it. At the beginning of the first campaign you will find an ordinary sword and then a shield to use against your enemies.

As you keep progressing through the game you will find better weapons and armor that can replace what you currently have. Fighting enemies is not difficult and the more you fight the more experience that you will earn. After so much experience is earned you will level up and gain more health points as well as increasing other attributes that will make you even stronger. Some of the enemies that you will face are bears, wolves and other creatures of the wild. Eventually you will come across archers, witches and stronger and cunning enemies. As you are already aware, you are on your own until you prove yourself by finding the four legendary artifacts. You can begin your search by completing specific quests given to you at a nearby village you come across. Some quests involve finding a lost child, going inside abandoned tombs, fighting certain creatures within an area to reach one of these items.

Once the artifacts are found then the next part of your quest commences and you will be joined by some of your people, a variety of units that include archers and warriors. Along the way the wizard Gallus may appear to give you further instructions and directions. You will be able to control a specific number of units in your party and must learn to use their abilities to survive the upcoming challenges. With your new units added to your party you will need to make it to a nearby outpost where you will learn how to create additional units. It is also here where you will learn about the mechanics of base building as well as how to defend it against an attack. You will eventually learn that milk is your economy’s primary resource as the amount of units that you can build is determined by how much milk you produce.

It is important then to concentrate on your cows and on their efficient production of milk. One unit that can help in this is referred to as the cowherd, a boy who helps cows to produce milk, tame wild animals or even take over enemy cows. There is also a funny unit called the mother in law that goes around wielding a rolling pin that increases the efficiency of woodbutchers so that they will work even harder. There are also towers that you can build in the game from which specific units such as archers can attack. The benefit of these towers is that it gives the units on them increased defense before their main health is affected. There are other wonderful characters such as Priests that can unleash fireballs upon your enemies or a wizard that can use powerful magical amulets that you find along the way. As you have seen, each character has some strategy or ability that will be worth using and it will be in your best interest to discover the benefits that they each possess. Expect to find a cast of some 20 characters throughout your journey.

I enjoyed the fact that they included three difficulty levels in the form of novice, medium and veteran as this can accommodate different types of players. The music in the beta was also appreciated and complemented the medieval theme of the game very well. I found I quite enjoyed the variety of units that were available. Although I did feel as if things could have been explained better, being that this is a beta they may include a more refined and detailed tutorial in the final version. This is but a glimpse of the first campaign as Prince John sought the four artifacts, found some of his people and quested to bring down the evil wizard. Before all is said and done, you will face more challenges, find other units, and attempt to save a beautiful princess as well as fighting a dragon that plagues your realm.

BRINGING ALL THE ELEMENTS TOGETHER

Reality Pump Studios has done a fine job in creating a medieval fantasy world for us to play in. It combines interesting gameplay elements of an RTS with that of an RPG through quests, varied units, an experience system and many other features. Beta 2.2 was interesting and I look forward to seeing many of the changes the team is now working on. KnightShift is a game that hopes to impress you with its graphics engine and thrill you with its light hearted and humorous medieval story. I admire the fact that the developers are currently taking the time to add improvements and features to KnightShift. This clearly shows that publisher ZUXXEZ Entertainment and developer Reality Pump Studios are determined in releasing a quality game. If Reality Pump Studios is able to bring all of these elements successfully together, KnightShift should prove a game worth buying!

Official KnightShift website