Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Developer: 1C Publishing
System requirements: Windows 2000/XP/Vista; 2 GHz dual-core CPU; 1 GB RAM; 512 MB graphics card with Pixel Shader 2.0 or better; DirectX-compatible sound card; 4 GB hard-drive space
Genre: Real Time Strategy
Release date: Available now

A lot of folks used to think their real-time strategy beds would be made the same way with each purchase. They expected resource gathering, troop management and a certain degree of base building that comes standard with the genre. That rule-set changed in 2000 when Cyberlore sent out their RTS offering Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim to store shelves. Its bounty-based, above-the-limits-of-troop-management style quickly gathered a healthy following, selling more than 500,000 copies and spawning an add-on pack called The Northern Expansion, which many regarded as a pseudo sequel. Nobody expected Majesty to go anywhere for awhile. Then, everything went black. Where was the fully expected Majesty 2?

Around the summer of 2007, news sprang up that publisher Paradox Interactive had acquired the rights to the Majesty intellectual property and that they had big plans to make the sequel fans had been anticipating. Finally, Paradox has made good on their promise with Majesty 2. We’re still in the magical fantasy land of Ardania, brimming with skeletons, goblins, dwarves and all other manner of foul creatures, but we’re set 500 years after the first game. It seems that each successive ruler that has tended the lands of Ardania has enjoyed some form of landslide success in one way or another. That is, until the last ruler, bored out of his mind and fearing political obscurity, decided that the only way to get his name in the books was to summon a demon and slay him. Only problem is, instead of being the means to the king’s glowing chapter in the record books, the demon shows up, offs the king and takes his place on the throne! You play the guy who is next in line for the crown, but you’ve got to get the current occupant out of your seat first

What Majesty 2 has in line with other games of the genre is base construction, economic worries and lots of killing and dying. You build around a central castle, which serves as the heart of your city. A market supplies coinage, guilds offer different classes of fighter and player-cast spells (Dungeon Keeper style), and temples are your source for heroes, some of whom are carried over from mission to mission. Your task is to complete a set of goals for each level while amassing an army and fortifying your buildings with upgrades. Scenario difficulties range from novice to expert, and where one might be a casual build-and-occasionally-defend routine, others have you ridding the land of giants, making gold in a specific amount of time or setting out to kill the rat king. In other words, it’s pretty varied.

My main problem with Majesty 2 is one of balance and fairness. Sure, this is an RTS and a requisite amount of incoming attack is to be expected, but it gets pretty difficult in the harder levels to even maintain your settlement, much less expand your army and upgrade structures.  I was constantly assaulted by ogres, zombies, liches and bearmen(?) at almost every turn, and I saw my fair share of failure screens as a result. This is a tough game, and because there’s no direct control of troops (it’s all done using a bounty system like the first Majesty), it was hard to get my heroes to do my bidding without draining my coffers in the process. Okay, my money is gone and my settlement is burning like a holiday fire…how am I supposed to rebound after this?

Some would just call this a hearty challenge, and to them I tip my beanie. Success is obtainable, I’m sure, but it won’t be an easy ride. Yet it’s not all doom and gloom for Majesty 2. The visuals are crisp and colorful, the music is charming fantasy and the controls are easy to understand. Anyone can learn to play this game; it’s the mastering of it that could cause you to cry in frustration. And it’s at its least frustrating points that Majesty 2 can be a load of fun. I spent the first few levels maxing out everything I could and building a huge army to crush my opposition. When your defenses are sturdy and you have some well equipped heroes (all of whose stats you can monitor), it’s easy to let the game go on in the background for awhile and see how much gold you can gather. I think the ability to mess around with the matches before being dipped into the fire is what helped me learn why the game works so well.

There, Majesty fans, you’ve got your sequel, and it’s not half-bad. Pick it up because it’s pretty and it offers a bear-blasting challenge, but shy away if you crack under pressure easily like me. All in all, though, I think Paradox did well to pick this license up; hopefully we can all look forward to another sequel sooner than later. I’d be interested to see what they do.

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