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Velorath
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There are a lot of computer games I missed out on as a kid, largely due to the fact that from Jr. High through most of High School my family only ever had Macs. I was pretty much limited to whatever shit my brother and I could copy from the schools we went to (Sim City and Wizardry were the main ones) and whatever looked interesting in the Mac section of the Egghead Discount Software in Palo Alto. It wasn't all bad. Wizardry kept us fairly entertained as the the AD&D Gold Box stuff that made it's way to the Mac. Much further down the road we had Bungie's pre-Xbox stuff with Marathon and Myth. One of the games I remember most fondly though was King's Bounty. Enough so, that I mentioned it when we were doing our Top 20 games lists here as something I really wished I could have worked into my Top 20. I've always been fond of RPG's with strategy elements in them and coupled with everything being placed randomly on the map making each game different, it's a game I've played through dozens of times.
When I first heard that some random Eastern European developer had picked up the rights to King's Bounty, my only thoughts were that it obviously wouldn't be the same, but it was nice at least that somebody remembered the game. It wasn't until recently that it caught my attention that there was at least some similarity between the new games and the old one, and combined with the Steam sale, it prompted me to pick up Armored Princess (I've also picked up about 15 other games so far which are all fighting for my attention).
And indeed, there are a lot of things the developers took from the original. The basic gameplay is that you play a hero who goes around hiring units for your army. Some basic units you can purchase around the starting area. Other's you'll find while you're out exploring the series of islands that make up the game world. The max size of your army is controlled by how high your leadership score is, which can be raised by finding flags (as well as some of your equipment if I'm not mistaken). There are quests you can do, for gold, xp, and other rewards. It seems this game has some overall quest line as well, but I can't say I've paid too much attention to it yet. It makes a small attempt at telling a story at the very beginning, but then pretty much sets you loose to roam around which is nice.
Enemy armies are visible on the map, and coming into contact with them brings you into the game's tactical combat mode. Combat pits your units (for a maximum of 5, plus your pet dragon who hangs out outside of the map) on a hex grid against the enemy units. If you've played the original KB or the Heroes of Might and Magic stuff, you pretty much know what to expect from combat here. Aside from the basics, your dragon can also do shit from the sidelines. It's fairly fun although a little simplistic. Spells aside, there's isn't a lot of strategy to it besides "you and your enemies hit each other until one of you falls down".
Despite all the similarities between these new games and the original, I kept feeling like something was missing. Eventually it hit me that it was the sense of urgency the original had. In that one, you had a 900 day time limit (and that was on easy I think). Going across a desert tile would take one day. Traveling to another continent would automatically end the week you were on. Each week you'd have to pay your army, and you'd also receive money from the units you had garrisoned at conquered castles. Getting defeated often meant that you'd have to essentially burn a few weeks to get money to rebuild your army. Something about all that made the game really fun to me, especially when trying to complete the contracts on every bad guy (which wasn't needed to beat the game, I just liked the challenge of it).
I'm not trying to criticize the game for not being what I wanted it to be. It's just that I personally have a hard time playing it, without constantly having the nagging thought that I'd much rather go play the original instead. I also understand that because my opinion here is so colored by my memories of the original, this BiiF probably isn't all that helpful for people who just want to know if they'll like this game.
So while I'd personally suggest to anybody who hasn't played the original to go download it (the dated graphics don't really bother me much), I do think that most people will find these new games (or at least Armored Princess since I haven't played the other one) worth a purchase (although I think it's current price of $26 to be a bit higher than I'd pay, and it's regular price of $40 is way too fucking high). If you can get for under $20 my recommendation is:
Buy It
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