A Review of Elemental: Fallen Enchantress

from Sins Forums

So, after playing Elemental: Fallen Enchantress for 10 hours, here is a short review.

After seeing this product rise, fall, and then rise again from the ashes, I felt I had to try it out.  I haven't ever seen a gaming company re-release a game like Stardock has done.  I am impressed with the single player experience.  

There isn't a multiplayer element to this game, they probably learned from sins that you will have all your balance issues pointed out constantly if you do :).

That being said, I enjoy this cross of Civilization and Heroes of Might and Magic.  I should note, both of these games bore me after about 30 minutes with their simplistic game play.  This game leaves a pleasant feeling in your mind after you have played it for hours and hours, something that neither Civilization nor Heroes of Might and Magic ever achieved with my single player experience. 

There is a world full of intricate lore with a lot of little tidbits here and there that show the love that went into crafting the game.  I particularly enjoyed the epic quest that wins you the game, although I wish there were a few more "ending the game" quest options that were designed around each initial sovereign choice.  

The negatives I see are that after you choose your sovereign in the very beginning you are "soft locked" into a type of play style (not as noticeable on easier difficulty settings).  I prefer multiple paths to victory within each victory condition.  

As I haven't played the game for too long since it's release I can't say much on replayability, except that there are a lot of sovereigns to choose from and that I haven't tried them all.  Each Sovereign plays very differently. Yet, each race doesn't have the strategic depth that i'm used to playing with sins.

I particularly enjoyed the moment when a big bone troll destroyed my town nearest to it while my sovereign stack was far away clearing baddies.  It reminded me that I wasn't playing Civilization!  

The only thing I can see getting a bit repetitive is the combat.  Yet at the same time, there is a reasonable auto-resolve battle option that isn't designed to screw over your stack for being "lazy".  

I have to say though, I would enjoy larger maps, and more of them.

I would give this game a 9/10, taking off one point for no multiplayer.  I know its a LOT of extra work having a multiplayer community, yet multiplayer communities keep games selling for far longer then they would normally.

+100 to stardock street cred, because they kept their word.  Sadly there aren't many companies like them in the industry.

 

8,037 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Hmm, i wish you worked at ign or similar...

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

I should note, both of these games bore me after about 30 minutes with their simplistic game play.

I stopped reading there ^ because that PROVED you aren't a good reviewer.

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Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

@Willie. He isnt trying to prove anything, but giving us his review of the game. I find his points fair and balanced.

 

Regarding Heroes and Civ V. If I was a reviewer I would play them quite a bit and write reviews. Since I am a gamer, I drop them due to extensive research on the net, that shows me that these games are not up to standard (for what I like).

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting willie, reply 2

I should note, both of these games bore me after about 30 minutes with their simplistic game play.

I stopped reading there ^ because that PROVED you aren't a good reviewer.

I'm not in anyone's pocket either :)

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

Civ 5 was a bad game, Civ 1 - 4 were excellent games that kept me playing probably 500 hours in total. HoMM were okay, not really my style but they were decent for what they were. 

 

I like your review, but calling Civilization simplistic game play really shows you never actually tried to delve into the games. This game takes a lot for Civ, a lot from MoM, and a lot from GalCiv 2. 

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

I am surprised that you don't mind that the NPC monsters do not attack the AI, and that the AI autobuilds multiple units and buildings for free, but we all look for different things in games, I guess.

Until these cheats/bugs are fixed, the game is not playable for me, why play when your opponent is pulling units and buildings out of thin air?

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Kamamura_CZ, reply 7
I am surprised that you don't mind that the NPC monsters do not attack the AI, and that the AI autobuilds multiple units and buildings for free, but we all look for different things in games, I guess.

Until these cheats/bugs are fixed, the game is not playable for me, why play when your opponent is pulling units and buildings out of thin air?

Well if the game is too difficult with those settings then you should lower them :).

Nobody has a lifelike AI, this game is a singleplayer game, so naturally there will be the similar gimmicks to other games.  You aren't going to get a real AI to play you, so get into multiplayer games.  If you don't have the fortitude to take the ego hits to learn how to master a multiplayer game then you should just enjoy your cheating AI, imo.

I like your review, but calling Civilization simplistic game play really shows you never actually tried to delve into the games. This game takes a lot for Civ, a lot from MoM, and a lot from GalCiv 2.

I've played civilization for years.  I'm describing my player habits associated with playing that game for years.  I don't enjoy that game as much because it is simplistic.  I'm only comparing the single player experience of the game, which is a fair comparison because elemental is a single player game.  What keeps me coming back to the Civilization series is that it is a better idea then it is a game. 

What you didn't ask is what I meant by simplistic, so i'll just assume that question has been asked for the sake of the conversation.

Civilization as a series has simplistic gameplay because its all about going to cities to produce things over x amount of turns.  It has very simplistic combat that is really boring and repetitive compared to most other games on the market. 

Elemental is better because it gives you something like a Warcraft 3 RTS experience on top of the boring game mechanics.  You run around with your heroes and DO something in an interesting, wild world instead of waiting for turns to accumulate so that you can produce the next big building/unit.

Also, Elemental's combat, while simplistic, is WAY better for long term replayability.