King's Bounty 2 review - standard tactical battles and minimal freedom of action that is not inherent in RPG

The King's Bounty series has always been out of the ordinary. Despite the fact that the second part is billed as an epic RPG with research, there is much more strategy, resource management, troop management and tactical maneuvers. The game tried to fix the main problem, but it did not quite succeed: tactical battles, which are sometimes enjoyable, are too rare, and most of the time it takes wandering around a not-so-attractive world.

In King's Bounty 2 you are offered to choose one of three characters, each of which follows the same storyline. After being released from the dungeon, the hero goes to the king, who allows an amnesty only so that you prevent a fantasy magical apocalypse. It is up to you to do this, as one of the powerful wizards said so. Standard intro with nothing you haven't seen before.

Then you set off on a journey through the world, completing a huge number of side tasks and fighting in battles. Although your hero does not actually fight in combat: he stands aside as a commander/fan or magical artillery, and leads the units. These units take part in tactical battles, with up to five units on each side attempting to overpower their opponents by moving around a tight hexagonal arena.

Usable tactical combat lacks an important - accessible and useful user interface. The details of many of the systems are generally predictable: skeletons take less damage from arrows, fire attacks burn enemies over time, and spirits and ghosts are resistant to physical damage. There are few interesting mechanics, but this is what we all expect from a modern tactical game. There is no manipulation on the battlefield.

Thus, the game is replete with usable, but painfully familiar systems that have nothing special or unique about them. In the end, it doesn't matter, because for every 5 minutes of good tactical combat, there are 10 minutes of wandering around the game world.

Gradually, the main character accumulates experience, gaining an increase in characteristics and talent points. All this is aimed at strengthening the troops and spells. The units themselves also gain experience. All of them are divided into four ideals - Order, Anarchy, Strength and Mastery. These principles must be followed by your hero. More precisely, follow two of them, because if you choose Order, then you deprive yourself of Anarchy, Strength - Mastery. Ideals are pumped through decisions made during the execution of story and side quests. The parade system in King's Bounty is similar to what we saw in Mass Effect. The possible endings of the game depend on them.

Role-playing systems cannot be called a highlight either: dialogues do not branch out, the choice is limited to making one of two decisions during the quest. And in general, the dialogues are fixed, so sometimes the character says something that you yourself will not be delighted with. It wouldn't be a problem if we got more interesting characters. For example, the sorceress is dumb, Eliza is desperately naive, and Aivar is completely devoid of personality.

I no longer speak for the script, although the Russian voice acting in many cases was quite accurate and appropriate. It is noteworthy that foreign publications complain about the English voice acting, and the PC Gamer journalist claims that after several hours of torment he switched to Russian voice acting, although he is not familiar with our language.

As a result, we get a game that is not surprising. The detailed, realistic art style looks good, but ultimately the whole thing is reminiscent of a 2012 game where stylization was a big deal. This should appeal to those who enjoy the comical, fantasy and fairy tale style that King's Bounty games are known for. The game is fun, not without humor, but, as is the case with tactical battles, all this is outweighed by an abundance of boring moments.

However, it cannot be denied that the world of role-playing tactics itself was created with great love, and this is one of the significant advantages of the game. You can notice small details everywhere, including benches, gardens and dilapidated statues, and almost every person is talking about something, telling something. You can even eavesdrop on all these short conversations, learning some new anecdote or smiling at a funny story. The game will tell you where golems are created or what members of the assassin's guild do between tasks. At the same time, the game is devoid of the quirky touches of modern RPGs, including the day/night cycle and dynamic NPC behavior.

But for some reason, the game world turned out to be static. All meetings and battles are fixed. As you approach enemies, a large golden ring appears and the enemies wave at you threateningly in an attempt to intimidate and convince you to join the fight. Looks funny. At the beginning of the battle, the camera changes angle, and the whole space becomes a battlefield - a great touch in a tactical game.

But all this beautiful design of the environment is wasted due to the fact that you have to wander a lot, talk to people and collect all kinds of rubbish to sell and earn money. Your character moves like running, but somehow hesitantly and slowly, with short steps. He is not able to overcome even small obstacles. On the other hand, you can jump on a horse, which is much faster, but in narrow places it is simply uncontrollable. All this is slow and tedious in terms of progress.

The over 40 hour campaign of King's Bounty 2 will please fans of the classics, fans of the series, but will hardly appeal to the person who expects an epic role-playing adventure or innovative tactical combat.

Verdict : FOR AMATEUR