Story Neocore Games - touching path from diligent enthusiasts to successful professionals. On their first game, Crusaders: Thy Kingdom Come , It was evident that these people really want to make good strategies, but so far they have not learned: there is talent and agility, but there is no rest.
The second game they waved to the laurels Total War , properly evaluating their ambitions and strictly indicating what they are able to compete with Creative Assembly , but what - no. As a result-a truly interesting mixture of RTS and macro-strategy. In a review of " King Arthur »We wished them a good publisher, and after a couple of months it became known that their new game, Lionheart: Kings ’Crusade , I liked it Paradox. Well, what else to wish the developer of strategies?
A familiar story
“Work with Paradox is only good. We discuss key issues together, but they did not insist on any cardinal changes. They like what we do, ”says Orsol, the PR manager Neocore. That is, the Hungarians will again perform in their genre "Authentic Wargam without Budding". In addition, having poured out with Anglo -Saxon myths, they return to the topic of the crusaders: Lionheart: Kings ’Crusade - about the third crusade.
And this, if you think, is one of the most interesting and most cited historical events. In 1187, Saladin captured Jerusalem, decently angry with this European rulers and the pope of the Roman. Having gathered troops, Philip II August, Friedrich Barbarossa, Leopold V and Richard Lion Heart went to free the troops of the Lord. The last, English king, is most interested in us: he played a key role in the entire event, and it was he who is in the focus of the new Neocore strategy. Accordingly, there are two campaigns: for the crusaders and for the Saracens.
Lionheart: Kings ’Crusade is ambiguous. The first half of the game - according to the textbook: Richard spent several battles on the way to Acre, captured the city, and then went to Jerusalem. Further, discrepancies with reality are quite possible. Richard destroyed the same as Alexander the Macedonian: the king’s troops walked around the desert for a long time, the infantrymen were exhausted, and the cavalry in the sand is not so effective. As a result, a large -scale and bloody battle led to the fact that Richard occupied a small part of Jerusalem, but there was not enough strength. The parties signed a peace agreement. In Lionheart, each of us will have the opportunity to surpass Richard and capture Jerusalem, and then the whole Holy Land.
However, the fantastic outcome of the campaign does not mean that Lionheart is a fairy tale in the spirit of King Arthur: troops, weapons, cities - everything is fully consistent with the era.
Closer to the heart
It was assumed that in general terms it would be in general terms to repeat King Arthur, which, in turn, almost literally copied Total War. In fact, the developers practically invented their own genre: this is no longer a global strategy plus RTS, but, on the contrary, RTS, flavored with macro -strategic elements. And really important elements, and not formal, as, for example, in Warhammer: Mark of Chaos.
Lionheart is a series of battles. You will not have to wander from angle to the corner on the global map: you only set the general commands, for example, which area to attack. The main task of macrostategia is the management of units. The troops are gaining experience, they have a set of specializations (in which direction to develop a detachment is your business), and key warriors will have special skills. In our hands the richest possibilities of unit management: you can separately improve the weapons of soldiers and their armor, hire priests in a detachment and appoint captains.
But what is really unusual: in Kings ’Crusade, in addition to individual military formations, such a concept as the“ army ”, which you have from beginning to end, has been introduced. That is, all your units form special tactical chains, complementing a friend, and, in addition to the management of individual detachments and types of troops, there will be an army management as a single structure.
RTS mode has also undergone a number of changes. Firstly, of course, both the crusaders and Saracens will have unique units (starting, in fact, from Richard and Saladin, which are represented as playable heroes on the battlefield). Secondly, their troops will seriously differ from each other in terms of tactics. For example, Saladin always has abundance of weak cannon meat. Richard has smaller people, but they are usually well armed.
Finally, the so -called “episodic missions” will be added to the game - this is when one big battle is divided into several episodes and the parties have a chance to regroup between clashes. In addition, the battle conditions themselves will now change constantly. If the traditional "wall on the wall" bored, you can attack the enemy camp at night. Or all the same night to put up troops close to the camp - sleepy enemies will be very surprised. The authors promised that before some missions it would be possible to crank up a special reception, for example, send a spy or lure part of other people's troops to their side.
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In King Arthur there was another peculiarity that we loved: text quests, which in some elusive way related to the game with the old RPG. We did not miss the case of the developers why they decided to add them to a global strategy. “Well, this idea came to us because of a great love for the old interactive fantasy-book: we wanted to do something, but in the modernized version to attract young players”. Unfortunately, there will be no quests in Lionheart, but there will be something new: when some important military or political issue is brewing, you will be given a text description of the situation and suggest a choice of several solutions. The selected option, however, will not affect the gameplay, and all the situations presented in the game will rely on real historical events.
That is, neocore, of course, is growing: their first game is a clone of Total War RTS-spray, the second is the full-fledged clone of Total War, and the third is the development of their own ideas. It is very interesting what the fourth attempt will be.
We will wait? The third crusade and the third attempt of Neocore Games to break Total War in an open collision. Now - under the care of a powerful publisher and without fear of his own ideas.
Percentage of readiness: 60%
[[Break]] on both sidesHistorical opponents Lionheart: Kings ’Crusade
Richard I Lion Heart
Son of Henry II, born in 1157 in England. Received an excellent education, wrote poetry. Went on a crusade in 1190, a year after his own coronation. During the return journey from the campaign, he was captured by Leopold V - he accused Richard of the death of his blacksmith. Richy Fish sister sites A huge ransom was appointed for the king, and his mother collected the necessary money, Eleanor Aquitaine, exorbitantly raising taxes in the country. However, Richard did not live for long: five years later, in 1199, he died from blood infection, and his brother John took the throne, with whom the lion's heart was at enmity.
Richard’s lion's heart was nicknamed for an ardent, passionate disposition: in battle he behaved like a real knight, dashingly rushing into the thick of the battles. They say, however, that the politician and strategist from Richard was mediocre, and that is why he at one time failed to take Jerusalem.
Salah ad-Din
Born in 1138, in the family of the ruler of Baalbeck. The exact opposite of Richard, Saladin was cunning and patient. When Egypt was ruled by Nur ad-Din, the ambitious Salah could at any moment overthrow him, but stubbornly waited for his natural death, having so far with the reforms of the army and the economy. Since 1174 - Sultan Egypt.
Saladin is known primarily as a fighter with crusaders, although he spoke warmly about Richard the Lion's Heart. Having seen at all once, they were actually “correspondence friends”. Salah ad-din died in 1193 from yellow fever.
Elective
Where else can you meet Richard
Age of Empires 2
The best part of the Age of Empires, and one of its most successful campaigns is called "Saladin" and is dedicated for the most part the third crusader. Missions begin in the vicinity of Cairo. The narrative is conducted on behalf of the European Knight, who wandered around the desert and was captured by the Egyptians: the crusader writes in the diary that he was confident in his imminent death when he saw the riders on camels. However, in captivity, they treated him with respect, did not hold locked up and even allowed to meet Saladin himself.
Assassin’s Creed
If you rightly got bored after the hour of playing Assassin's Creed and you can’t even look at the first part after the beautiful sequel, it makes sense to squeeze the will into a fist: a careful and thoughtful player can get true aesthetic pleasure here, even if you are forced to jump thoughtlessly for three hours roofs. Cities in the game - Akra, Damascus and Jerusalem from the Third Crusade, the plot appears Saladin and Richard, as well as such less well -known historical persons as William Montferrat (the governor of the lion's heart in Acre) and the head of the Templars Robert de Sable.
Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader
The most optional game from our collection: by mechanics, this is a rather boring compilation from Diablo and Baldur’s Gate. But the plot is curious: during the third crusade from some parallel world, devils and other evil spirits poured to the ground and Richard and Saladin had to immediately sign a peace agreement in order to unite forces against the invaders. Black Isle Studios was somehow flashed into the co-authors of the game.
