King Arthur: Fallen Champions is a real-time strategy RPG, which takes place between King Arthur and King Arthur II in which you get to play as three very different heroes. First there is Sir Lionel, a knight from Britannia, who is on a quest to rescue his lady. Next there is Lady Corrigan of the Sidhe, a creature of twilight whom mortals view as being a faery. Her quest is to find the secret path back to her lost home. Lastly there is Drest, a shaman who is following his visions in the hopes of helping his tribe, the Picts, return to the way they were.
The game opens to an aerial view of the area called Cumbria and the three heroes. Players can pick from any of them to start their individual adventures. Also, it is not necessary to complete one hero’s adventure before going on to another’s. Each hero has three levels to their adventure story, and each level will start with the RPG part of the game or what actually feels more like the adventure part. During this stretch, the player is told a story and must decide what path to take. Choose wisely because the decision made here can either help or hurt adventurers later on in the quest.
After you finish the adventure part you will enter into battle – the strategy part of Fallen Champions. Depending on choices made during the earlier adventure, the player will have use of certain units and artifacts which will help the hero during this segment. Once victory is achieved in battle you will return to the main area and move on to the next adventure and battle. In order to unlock the final level all three heroes’ stories must be played through to completion. In the last level players will gain access to all three heroes – depending on how the adventure part was handled – in an epic battle against a demon.
The battles with Sir Lionel turned out to be the easiest and the ones with Lady Corrigan to be the hardest. Since Sir Lionel is a knight and has access to large groups of soldiers, it is easy to just rip through the opposing enemy. However, with Lady Corrigan, you have fewer forces and they are also weaker. Sure Lady Corrigan has some magic powers to help even up the score, but there is a limit on how fast and how many spells she can cast. As for Drest, he came off as the coolest of the three heroes thanks to his ability to summon spirits to help in his defense. However, he is the most vulnerable of the group, so players have to pay attention to his health meter. In any battle, if your hero ends up dieing you will automatically lose.
The graphics that Neocore has delivered in Champions are, quite simply, amazing. The ability to zoom in all the way into the battlefield and see every thing as if you are standing right there with the army is great. When taking advantage of this tool, gamers will definitely appreciate how realistic and seamless everything looks. That being said, there was an occasional problem with the camera view. One time the camera was just moving on its own, but when the battle was restarted, this stopped. Also, because the maps are so detailed, some times it is hard to get the camera at an angle to see what you want because the camera can not see through terrain. So if there is a mountain or a high hill in your way you will need to find a camera angle that can see around it.
The music is also very fitting and will make players get lost in the game. My only complaint about it was that there are times when the music abruptly stops and the track starts up again. The music helps to set the mood of the game so much that when it would stop it would feel like the battle had somehow been lost, but then it would start back up again. Perhaps a future update will allow the music to go on a continuous loop with no pause, but it is definitely a problem as is.
King Arthur: Fallen Champions is a bit on the short side for a strategy game, and the ending is kind of a let down. After such an epic battle, it is normal to expect a grandiose cut scene or at least a conclusion to the storyline. That wasn’t the case, however; the last battle just ends with “You Are Victorious!” That is unacceptable. Nevertheless, I still recommend this game to anyone who enjoys RPGs and strategy games. It is definitely an enjoyable outing and the graphics are fantastic.
