Publisher: DreamCatcher Interactive
Developer: Enlight Software
System: PC
Minimum Requirements: 1.5 GHz Pentium 4 CPU; 512 MB of RAM; NVIDIA GeForce FX series, ATI Radeon 8500 or 3D cards of the same grade; Windows 2000, XP or Vista
Genre: Real-time strategy
Release date: Available now
Review by: Michele White

Spring break, end of a relationship or just want to spend the next few weeks with your PC? “The time has come, the battlefields have been set and all hell is about to break loose.” In Seven Kingdoms: Conquest, develop your civilization from the early Bronze Age through the middle ages. Destroy your enemies while battling demons along the way. Or play for the other team and become a demon overlord and exterminate the human pestilence from the universe with numerous nightmarish creatures at your disposal. Sounds like a party, and I was all too ready to join.

I went in expecting a cross between Civilization, Stronghold and Middle Earth, and ended up playing something that more closely resembled Total Annihilation: Kingdoms. There are two tutorials: one for humans and one for demons. These are lengthy and boring but effective in learning the absolute basics.

I leapt head first into the human campaign. There appears to be some sort of storyline that peeks through between levels, but it’s thinly portrayed. The first of the five levels requires that Egypt take over the map (though you have the option of upgrading your cities to Babylon if you have the gold). Time to build up before the initial battle is adequate, but once those little red guys start creeping in, they don’t stop. You must build troops quickly, so spend your gold wisely. Build gold mines, farms and barracks to get started, and spell-casting heroes to help you on your way. Balances of gold, food and reputation must be kept in order to advance, and that little extra bit of essence (courtesy of dead demons) always helps in a pinch. Numbers of units and structures are severely limited and dependent upon the size of your cities (a good way to tell at a glance exactly how many troops your enemy has). Combat can take a while, so unless you’ve got a lot of spells that need to be cast, get comfy and keep the snacks handy while you watch the show.

Patience is the hardest part. I wanted to go and destroy the red plague that was rapidly spreading across the map. (“Work faster, slaves!”) Technologies can be learned, but once a civilization learns it, you have to relearn it for every city. This costs time and precious gold, so planning is key. Determine which cities you want to have which skills. Combat is tricky not in that it’s difficult, but you need to anticipate what your enemy is bringing to the party and be prepared to counter it. Once you get the hang of preparing for every contingency, it gets easier.