Unlike their fast-paced counterparts, turn-based strategy games are a rare breed, often overlooked in the grand scheme of things. With Elven Legacy, the upcoming game by Ino-Co also known for another turn-based strategy title called Fantasy Wars, the sub-genre finally earns another game for its ranks.
I couldn't ascertain the particulars of the game's story, since my preview copy was dubbed in Russian, but what I could infer while playing is that a human sorcerer gained the ability to cast Elvish spells after exiting some old and forbidden castle, and it's up to the Elves to stop him. Along the way, the Elves do battle with zombie hordes, rampaging monsters and enemy armies.
Elven Legacy plays much like a majority of other turn-based games out there. You start with several units, ranging from melee, ranged, and spellcasters, to individual heroes and castles or towns to reinforce your troops and earn money. You move your troops about the 3-D map, which is highly detailed and looks great I might add, on large hexagonal spaces. Objectives can range from killing all enemies in the vicinity, attacking or defending a specific town, or reaching a certain area within a specific amount of turns. Unit combat isn't anything exciting to watch unfold though. The only thing you have to do is move your troops to the proper designation and attack, the rest is handled by the game. It's a shame the game's combat wasn't similar to Heroes of Might and Magic, where units move as a singular army rather than individual squads, so battles rage between two armies instead of eight swordsmen versus eight individual archers.
Even though Elven Legacy is similar to everything else out there, the game brings with it several notable differences, allowing it to look a little different from the rest of the pack. As mentioned before, the game features excellent graphics making it one of the more visually appealing turn-based games I've played. Besides that, Eleven Legacy also makes a few tweaks and changes to the traditional formula keeping things a little refreshing. At times, I thought some of the changes were really cool and a refreshing shift, but on several occasions I scratched my head in confusion.
One example of this new direction is the implementation of flying units. It adds a whole other layer of strategy since I had to start worrying when I was going to get bombed. Individual units and heroes can gain experience when killing enemies to earn new spells and abilities. Also, healing and reinforcing your units is a lot easier here since all you have to do is rest or be near a town. Thankfully, unlike Heroes of Might and Magic, you don't have to wait an entire week – seven turns – to reinforce your army.
Sadly though, one thing Elven Legacy should have incorporated into the game is the ability to build structures inside your towns to gain specific bonuses or new units. I'm not sure why that wasn't implemented. My biggest complaint with the game though is the lack of things to do. Yes, I'm well aware that Elven Legacy is a turn-based strategy game and not an RPG, but I recall my days with Heroes of Might and Magic when I had to capture specific resources for unit production, or scare small armies into joining my cause. There just isn't any of that here and the map, while nice to look at, is dull with nothing on it save for a couple towns, trees, and enemies.
I'm sure I would have enjoyed Elven Legacy if the game required more from me than just unit positioning and recruitment, and if there were a few more things to do. Hopefully, some of my complaints can be addressed before the game's release early next year, but who knows. What we have now is a fairly mediocre game, and that's a shame.
