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Note: This is a follow-up to an earlier Just-RPG article by Eric Arevalo. Rather than repeat his fine work, I would refer the reader to our prior preview of an earlier beta, version 2.2. Instead, I will focus on the changes that have been made to this title in its new shiny beta version 3.0.
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Gameplay modes:
In KnightShift there are several game modes: Campaign, Skirmish, RPG, and Multiplayer. The gameplay in KnightShift is a strange mélange of role-playing (RPG), tactical strategy, and real-time strategy (RTS). The role-playing elements are most evident in the Campaign and RPG modes, whereas the Skirmish mode is almost purely RTS. The tactical strategy element exists in the form of being able to pause the game, issue commands to your troops, then resume the game and have them execute your will.
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In the Campaign mode, you play the role of Prince John, who must reclaim his throne after narrowly escaping the clutches of Valdemort…err, Valtamand, the evil wizard. There are three large single-player campaigns. Much to my chagrin, beta version 3.0 only included the first full campaign, “The Long Path to the Throne.” By the end of the beta version, I had assembled a crack team of archers, fighters, and my knight and Prince were gaining hefty experience. This left me hungering for more…
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The Skirmish mode is basically a free-for-all campaign where you develop your town and battle it out with other players, either human or computer-controlled. This mode is the most like a pure RTS title and thus, was my personal least favorite, though for the genre, it was well done. Some role-playing elements still exist here; for example, some troops can pick up and wield armor and weapons and some characters will gain experience levels as they fight, raising their combat skills and endurance.
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The RPG mode was the least polished in the beta, with almost no voice acting in place and many text windows untranslated. It’s fairly difficult to fulfill the various quests your avatar is assigned when you can’t understand the text of the mission. These quibbles aside, the RPG portion of the game looks to be rewarding, as you can choose your character from several of the Campaign portion’s archetypes to suit your particular taste, be it magician, archer, knight, etc.
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Bells and Whistles:
I agree with Eric – the graphics are fantastic. Besides entertaining and detailed character models and animations, there are many nice atmospheric touches like flickering torches, birds gliding lazily overhead, clouds’ shadows dappling the ground, and a seamless transition from day to night. The water reflections are the best I've seen in any title to date. The camera can be panned on the fly, either with a set of control keys or by holding the right mouse key, then moving the mouse to pan and rotate and the mouse wheel to zoom in or out. This gives some great visuals – with a little practice, you’ll key your man to whoop some monster’s booty, and then be able to zoom in and rotate your view around him as he does so, a la “The Matrix”. The cutscenes are well scripted and flow nicely with the story. Some of the characters and situations are just darned funny – the mother-in-law chasing folks around with her rolling pin, the cows sidling up to the cowshed to get milked, and the good wizards’ close resemblance to the elders in the old film, “The Dark Crystal”, all come to mind.
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The audio is currently a mixed bag, in my opinion. The music is beautiful, especially the haunting female vocals for the opening number…I let the entry screen play for a long while just to hear the full tune. Heavy on woodwinds, the background music is appropriate to the various journeys in the outdoor scenes, and moody and driving when it fits with the battles or underground exploration. The sound effects are fair, though largely without pizzazz. Dialogue is almost uniformly great, both witty and fitting to the story, but the voice-acting ranges from good (the archers and villains) to mediocre (wizards and bit players) to poor (Prince John – if you’ve played “Evil Islands”, just think of the protagonist and you’ll know what I mean. If not, buy “Evil Islands”, as it’s a great game, but turn off the sound any time your character opens his mouth). Many of the voice-overs didn’t play correctly, which I suspect is simply a work in progress.
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Impressions:
Overall, my thoughts on the game were quite positive. The campaign storyline was engaging and light-hearted with a good balance of strategy, tension, and humor. The skirmish mode, while not my cup of tea, will broaden the appeal of KnightShift to the RTS audience. The RPG mode seemed a bit skimpy on the rewards (I like big loot) and somewhat repetitive in its current state – kill wolf, run back to magical “recharge health quickly” point, heal, repeat ad infinitum – but it may be better once the quests are legible and fine-tuned. If so, it will be a nice addition to the game.
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Look for this title to hit retail in the near future and check back then with Just-RPG for a full review.
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Minimum System Requirements:
- PC with 450 MHz processor
- Windows™ 98, ME, 2000
- 128 MB RAM
- 3D Graphics Accelerator with T&L
Support
- 700 MB free HDD
- Mouse and keyboard
- DirectX™ 8.1
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