PC Kingdom Elemental

Scott Tortorice

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Not every game needs to be an epic experience. Sometimes you just want to have a little, innocent fun. Unfortunately, with the major gaming studios churning out multi-million dollar titles that promise a virtual lifetime of gameplay, such simplistic gaming fare is hard to find these days. Attempting to fill this void is the plucky little game called Kingdom Elemental, by Chronic Logic. Taking a decidedly unique take upon the fantasy battles genre, Kingdom Elemental might be just the game to fill those slower moments in your gaming life.

A Lighthearted Quest

Kingdom Elemental is best described as a mix of different gaming genres - part real time strategy, part turn-based, part RPG - all presented as a running joke that pokes fun at itself and the RPG genus in general. In fact, now is a good time to warn those who consider the works of J. R. R. Tolkien sacred: Kingdom Elemental is not high fantasy, it is farce. Humor abounds in this game, something that becomes immediately clear with the tutorial. Likewise, the wizardly narration that occurs between each level quickly becomes something quite more bizarre than what we have all come to expect. You’ve been warned: Here be humor.

Speaking of the tutorial, I urge everyone to take time and give it a spin not just because it is the quickest way to learn the game’s fundamentals, but because it is such a refreshingly original take on the process. I, for one, am sick of tutorials that are presented as if they are a dry, PowerPoint presentation. The tutorial here is something decidedly different in a wacky sort of way. Instead of the standard “Click Here” or “Go There” directions found in most tutorials, Kingdom Elemental’s is conducted in a chatty, friendly matter. If only more games would follow Chronic Logic’s lead.

Once done with the tutorial, the player will discover that despite the humor, Kingdom Elemental’s gameplay largely functions in the fashion of standard fantasy-based gaming by leading the player through a series of campaign battles where victory is determined by choosing the correct mixture of forces along with the right selection of special abilities.

Here’s how it works:

Each battle in the campaign takes places on a different bit of terrain, from a farmer’s field to a dungeon (of course), to the front of a castle, to name a few. Bear in mind, I do mean “bit” as Kingdom Elemental doesn’t have rolling vistas, but small slices of environment that are more akin to a game board than actual terrain. At the beginning of each level, the player is given three “unlocking points” that can be used to unlock an assortment of units for combat, with one additional point given after each round. These units include the standard variety of fantasy heroes - the Swordsman, Paladin, Wizard and Archer, for example - with each filling standard roles such as ‘tank’ or ‘support’. For example, the Swordsman is your typical close-attack unit while the Bard supports other units with ranged-based capabilities. These unlocking points, however, are also needed to unlock the special abilities of the units as well. For example, the player can spend a point to unlock “fire arrows” for the Archer, which will deliver bonus damage, or “resurrection” for the Healer, a special ability that allows the gamer to bring a dead companion back to life. As can be seen, how the gamer spends his meager allotment of points can have a significant effect on each campaign and individual battles.

In addition to the unlocking points, the player is given some gold to purchase his available (i.e., unlocked) units. Having the right mix of units is crucial to surviving the next battle as the foes confronted have varied abilities as well, with some preferring to come right in and stomp your men into the ground, and others that attack from afar. Being sure your party can deal with the varied threats is essential.

Once you have unlocked your units and their abilities, purchasing up to nine of them to form a party, and placed them in some sort of tactical fashion in the green setup box, combat will begin. The action initially takes places in a real time fashion, with badies that include such familiar foes as giant spiders and Warg Riders spreading out and confronting the player’s units in combat. Even though the number of units on the screen at any given time is relatively small, action can quickly become fast and frenetic as in any other RTS game. For example, even though initially your Swordsmen might be nicely handling the first rank of enemies, a second rank might appear from behind and go for your generally weak support and ranged-combat units.

Fortunately, Kingdom Elemental includes a very much appreciated pause option, activated by hitting the space bar, that allows the gamer to freeze the action, evaluate the situation and trigger any special abilities before restarting the onscreen combat. In fact, this ability to pause is not just appreciated, it is essential. As wave upon wave of enemies appear, it all becomes just too much to handle and the gamer can quickly find himself losing battle after battle if he doesn’t stop every now and then to reevaluate the situation and issue orders accordingly.

Dspite the ability to pause, expect to die repeatedly. Fortunately, this does not ruin your campaign game, which is really just a linked series of battles set against different terrain, but simply results in the round starting over again. If there is one frustrating aspect of Kingdom Elemental, it is the ease with which the player loses a round of combat. After a few battles, it quickly becomes clear that winning is largely a matter of having the right mix of units with the appropriate abilities at the right time and less about any particular battlefield tactic. Unfortunately, finding this mix involves dying and dying again. It can all become a grind quite quickly. This is exacerbated by the fact that with the exception of the unlocking point given at the start of the round, all previous points are not allowed to be unspent. What this means is that unless you have saved some points from previous rounds, you are pretty much stuck with your current mix of units and abilities. So, for example, even though you might really need the abilities of a Wizard to win the current battle, if you have the majority of points invested in other units, you’re just going to have to make do with what you have. Fortunately, it seems that there is more than one way to kill a War Pig in this game, so this isn’t a game killer, just an annoyance.

Other Modes
In addition to the campaign, there are two other modes of gameplay. First, there is Single Level mode which allows the player to retry his hand at any of the levels that were unlocked during campaign play. This is a good way to refine some ideas on unit mix and skill choices.

The second is Skirmish Mode and includes two variations, Random and Challenge. Random puts the player in a nicely animated gladiatorial stadium, complete with falling confetti, where he must fight wave upon wave of enemies as long as he is able. If the player wishes, he can custom-tailor each session by difficulty and the number of tiers, waves and rounds. However, I find the Destiny Mode to be most enjoyable because your initial selection of units must confront an inexhaustible onslaught of monsters until the last man falls. At the conclusion of the mayhem, in addition to your combat statistics, you are given a funny little epitaph that sums up your performance. Challenge mode, on the other hand, allows the player to try his skills on the “challenge levels,” levels that present distinct, er…challenges. For example, one level gives the player four Pirates to confront a horde of Worms and what appears to be a number of Kobold-like creatures. Another: four Archers, four Swordsmen and a Healer to take on six spear-throwing Centaurs. Let me assure you, these Challenge levels – and there are twenty of them – are, in fact, challenging. If the twenty included are not enough, Kingdom Elemental allows players to create their own Challenge levels after reading a short primer on the procedure. You can even upload them to share with other players.

Graphics and Sound
Kingdom Elemental has some nice graphics for a modest game. All the battlefields are capable of being panned and zoomed, which will come in handy during battles where everyone is running around, chasing enemies. Unit animations are nice, with Wizards casting colorful spells and Pirates swinging their scimitars in bloody arcs.

The sound is nicely done as well. The music is suitably “epic” and the voice acting is professional. My only real complaint is that there aren’t sufficient utterances for your different units, so what they do say gets old real fast. This is exacerbated by the fact that most of the utterances are jokes of one sort or another, such as a fatally injured female Archer exclaiming “I’m dead sexy…get it?” The first few times it’s worth a smirk, but after that it becomes simply annoying.

So what’s not to like?
Even though Kingdom Elemental describes itself as having elements of a role playing game, it really doesn’t besides the fantasy setting. The gamer is not represented by any single unit, nor do the player’s units level up from round to round - that is, besides the unlocked abilities that apply to the entire unit class. Someday I would like to see those individual units that survive a round of combat gain experience and stick around for the next round, rather than the current system where the slate is wiped clean after each round of combat. Likewise, creating a special player unit, one that can be customized in skills and personally leads his men in battle, could also serve to beef up the RPG portion of this game.

I also miss any sort of multiplayer. While the AI does provide plenty of challenge, I imagine it would be quite fun to be able to play this game head to head. In some ways, Kingdom Elemental reminds me of the classic 8-bit game Archon, and I would love to see Kingdom Elemental fill that voided role someday.

Closing Comments:

Kingdom Elemental is a modest game with a modest goal of providing some old-fashioned gaming goodness. All things considered, it meets that goal even if it sometimes comes across as a down payment on a grander game still in the works. Nonetheless, Kingdom Elemental will provide hours of fun for those gamers looking for a break from heavier fare.

7.0 out of 10
 
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