Imagine you’re a king. A real king, not some bloated rock ‘n’ roll star with a penchant for burgers and dying on the lavatory. At first it might seem like a pretty sweet deal. You get to sit back on your throne and drink lots of mead and make light conversation with your queen. But then imagine that a host of hideous beasties suddenly invade your kingdom, intent on stomping everyone to bits. You scramble to build an army and tighten your defences, but no one wants to fight for you - not unless you pay them right. Meanwhile, half of your realm is ablaze and a 50-foot ogre has just appeared at your window.Welcome to the world of Majesty.The original game by Paradox was a strategic mediaeval romp similar to Age of Empires. The player progresses through a series of missions by building up a ‘base’, then attracting a bunch of heroes to do their bidding. The twist was, unlike most strategy games, you have no control over your troops. Instead, you must get the heroes to do your bidding by offering them incentives. This added an extra level of sim-style gameplay - keep everyone happy or you’ll never be able to complete the task at hand. Who said being a king was easy?Majesty 2 sticks closely to the original concept, and impressions from the preview demo are generally positive. The interface may be a little intimidating at first, taking up a hefty chunk of the screen, but it’s very intuitive and the average gamer should be comfortable using it within half an hour. You have the usual minimap, toolbar, status bar and menu options, all arranged around the edges of the display. Click on a building and the toolbar shows all the actions you can take, such as upgrades and further construction. Hover over a resident of your realm - or even an enemy - and useful information such as current status and health is displayed.For the first mission, I had to wipe out a den of ogres to the North. Not content to just sit there and wait for their impending doom, the big brutes set about bashing in the defence towers I’d built around the perimeter of my base. I didn’t realise this at first as the rousing music didn’t change to alert me, but if I’d been paying attention to my map then it would’ve been obvious, as a series of swirling blue squares descended on the location of the chaos.At first, I decided to sit back and see if any of my heroes would rush in and attack. Just one soldier tried his luck, and was soon the mangled recipient of a club sandwich. My castle fell without much trouble, and that was that. The game-over screen showed just how much damage the ogres had caused, and just how badly I had sucked as king.Next time, I made full use of the flag system. The flags are basically messages to your people, telling them what to do. Place an explore flag, and your loyal subjects should wander over to that area and have a look about. If a beastie is giving you grief, slapping a kill flag on them should make them a target for lances and pitchforks. Two new flags have been created for Majesty 2 - the protect and fear flags. The protect flag is self-explanatory, while the fear flag keeps heroes away from a certain area. Of course, your loyal subjects aren’t actually very loyal at all. They’re all about the green - or in this case, gold - and you’ll have to attach a monetary reward to each flag as an incentive for them to do your bidding.As soon as the ogres appeared, I pinned a kill flag on the pair of them and offered a generous sum of cash for their heads. None of my heroes budged. Unperturbed, I upped the fee a little. Still no biters. One of my heroes appeared to wander in their general direction, then changed his mind and went for a stroll instead. In desperation I offered up all of my cash, but by now the ogres had reached my castle and quickly set about reducing it to rubble. A solitary soldier finally gave a half-hearted attempt to stop them, but ended up thinner than a McDonald’s burger. Game over.Still, at least when your kingdom’s burning down, it’s pretty to watch. Buildings show damage in real-time, so the more they get pummelled, the more they fall away in great chunks. Sometimes the pieces can be a little blocky, but it’s a thoughtful addition. The character animation is smooth and deaths are particularly fun to watch, as the unfortunate victims stagger and shake before collapsing in a heap. Ogres show their might by smashing their way through the scenery, taking down massive trees as they advance on your position, which certainly helps raise the tension.I had the chance to try out a few other missions, which were nicely varied. One had me establish a trade route with a nearby port, while another gave me the chance to recruit certain heroes from the surrounding area. I found I had the same trouble getting people to do what I wanted, even with tremendous amounts of gold on offer, but hopefully the finished product will have rectified that issue. The AI of the enemy characters was also basic at times, with the ogres often ‘wandering aimlessly’ (as their status revealed) until they happened across a building to smash.Majesty 2 certainly seems to be shaping up into a complex and enjoyable title, providing Paradox make it easier to get your subjects to do your bidding. Glimpses of humour add to the fun - your tax collectors’ status changes to ‘fleeing’ once they’ve done their rounds - and instructions and updates are given in a refreshingly conversational tone. We’re also promised some new gameplay mechanics, such as the ability to set up your own hero parties and a more complex system for interracial integration. However, I can’t help but wonder how great it would be if you could play the role of a tyrant - threatening to burn down your soldiers’ houses unless they follow your demands, instead of offering them cash incentives. Perhaps that’s one for Majesty 3.
We all have those moments where we feel completely out of control, usually in the pub after a few post-match pints when 'Hot Stuff' comes on the jukebox. You wake up the next day with a killer hangover, a stale taste in your mouth, and vague, terrifying memories of dancing on a table with some hairy scouser called Kenneth. Majesty 2, the follow-up to 1C's original fantasy sim, has similar moments - although thankfully nowhere near as painful or traumatising.
The story of Majesty 2 starts with a rather hasty king, whose main concern is that the absence of any worthwhile opponents will leave him with a rather dull legacy. To spice things up with a challenge worthy of the history books, he summons a demonic overlord from the depths of hell, an act which ends in rather predictable tragedy. The overlord takes his place on the chargrilled remains of the throne, and it's down to you as the last of the royal bloodline to kick his fiery arse back to hades.
Thankfully, you're not alone in your quest. A rather handy advisor (who sounds just like Darrell Hammond's impression of Sean Connery from Saturday Night Live) fills in the backstory, and provides you with helpful advice throughout the single-player campaign's 16 missions. The first couple of trials act as simple tutorials, to introduce you to the interface and controls, as well as the host of buildings and structures you can use to form your kingdom. Simple tasks such as clearing out a group of weak enemies or establishing a base for trade are quickly accomplished, and ease you into the game at a perfect pace. Build some guilds to attract and train groups of heroes, then add in a blacksmiths to upgrade your weapons and armour, a marketplace to sell potions and charms, and an inn to provide rest and refreshment. Some defensive towers and a big fat statue of yourself finish the town off nicely, and at this point you'd be forgiven for thinking, 'so far, so familiar.'
Things get really interesting when you set out to explore the map or conquer the enemy, thanks to Majesty 2's interesting and unique gameplay mechanic. As already mentioned in our preview, the main difference between the Majesty games and other strategy titles is the method of control. Typically, the player has direct influence over their armies. Select a unit, click on an enemy, then sit back and watch the fireworks. However, Majesty 2 uses an indirect control method, which means your heroes actually have a will of their own. Try ordering them to attack a cluster of hell demons, and chances are they'll just wander to the nearest inn and strut their funky stuff while your castle gets blown to tiny bits. You need to offer them an incentive – for example, a large bag of gold - in order to actually get them interested.
The way you provide these monetary incentives is via four different 'flags', available at any time in unlimited number. Lay down a flag in any part of the world and attach a reward amount, and any hero that fulfils your request gets the money you offered up direct from your coffers. The more money you offer, the more heroes are likely to be interested. Don't worry about offering a high amount if required, as the successful hero is liable to return that money straight to you through your town's inns and marketplaces.
The four flag types are:
Explore – Slap this down in virgin territory, and your heroes will hike out there and check the place out.
Attack – Attach to an enemy to get your heroes to attack it.
Defend – The first of two new flags, which enables you to order your heroes to protect a particular structure or character for a short amount of time.
Fear – The second new flag, and certainly the least-used. Keeps your heroes away from a certain area for a certain period.
Thankfully, you do still have a modicum of direct control over any battles that take place, which helps to ease any frustration created by the control scheme. This comes in the form of spells developed by your guilds. Some, such as the healer spell, allows you to protect and restore some health to any injured heroes. Others, such as the lightning bolt, give you the power to inflict damage on particularly troublesome enemies. The spells can get you out of a tight bind if needed, whilst never tipping the balance firmly in your favour or overriding the usefulness of the heroes.
The original Majesty contained a variety of different heroes, such as the combat-hungry warriors and the versatile clerics, and most of these return for the sequel. Thankfully, the different races are no longer quite as intolerant of each other and will even band together to form a party, although some animosity does still exist. The new party system is a helpful way of grouping together heroes with different skills, to ensure they last a little longer on the battlefield. For instance, pair up a warrior with a cleric, and you have a formidable fighting force that can heal itself indefinitely.
Majesty 2's maps actually feel like living, breathing worlds thanks to the eye-pleasing graphics and impressive detail. Wildlife livens up the forested areas, with birds soaring across the screen and rabbits hopping around munching on tufts of grass. Towns actually feel real, with a population that gets on with their lives completely independent of you. Tax collectors go about raiding peasants' homes, guards patrol the boundaries, and heroes complain that they're bored or express a sudden concern that they left a pie in the oven. These random sound bytes provide a great deal of the game's light-hearted moments, along with your advisor's comedic remarks and general banter.
Although Majesty 2 is a highly enjoyable game, one area that could have perhaps been improved is the heroes' AI. On the whole it isn't bad – they'll heal themselves when in trouble, and flee if they're out of potions or generally outnumbered. However, there are instances where a guard or peasant stands around twiddling their thumbs while a demon shoots fireballs up their arse from afar. Either these guys are wearing asbestos underwear, or something isn't quite right. It's also quite common to see your heroes charge straight through a huge group of enemies en route to a flag, and not even notice until they're completely surrounded and beaten to a bloody pulp. All the more frustrating because of your total lack of control over them.
Once you've finally finished the campaign, which takes a good few hours even if you're a strategy maestro, there's still some other modes to keep you entertained. A number of standalone single-player missions can be played out, which are just as strong as the campaign's quests, and you can play a multiplayer versus match with up to three other players over a LAN or the interwebs. Overall, there's a lot of content here for your hard-earned pounds.
Majesty 2 doesn't do things a whole lot differently to the original, but the additions it makes are welcome ones and the game itself is fantastically fun. Just beware of the high system requirements – a powerful processor, preferably an Intel dual core, and an absolute minimum of 1GB RAM is needed to ensure a smooth experience.
