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Preview: Lionheart: Kings' Crusade on Game and Player

Preview: Lionheart: Kings' Crusade

Michael Ubaldi  //  September 30, 2010


A glance at Neocore's interpretation of an iconic struggle.

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ext week, Paradox Interactive publishes the latest title from the medieval aficionados of Budapest's Neocore Games. Set in a romanticized, 1190s Levant, Lionheart: Kings' Crusade brings real-time strategy to the military contest between prodigal legends Richard I and Saladin.

Players choose to command Saladin's empire or the Franks of the Third Crusade, building armies of soldiers straight from the martial history of the period — each with its own tactical fortes and vulnerabilities.

Fine weapons and armor, fanciful potions and even fabled holy relics confer power to those selected to take them into battle.
Fine weapons and armor, fanciful potions and even fabled holy relics confer power to those selected to take them into battle. Victory — or more germane, survival — lends experience and strength, allowing players to groom elite units over the course of a campaign.

Combat in Lionheart's detailed battlefields moves at a deliberate pace. While objectives are as brutely straightforward as they were back then — overpower the enemy and occupy the land he held — nuances of political and geographical landscapes influence not only the order and formation of forces but, thanks to competing royal demands, the very strategy a player employs.

Will Jerusalem fall to the glory of the men fighting for Christ or Mohammed? Three gameplay modes and considerable means for customization, ensconced in lavish production values, promise a memorable interpretation of such an iconic struggle. Read my full review of the game on Friday, October 8.





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