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Elven Legacy: Siege on Game and Player

Elven Legacy: Siege

Jessica Johnson  //  December 4, 2009


More challenging then you could ever imagine.

I

t is with a heavy heart that I write this review. Not because I feel bad for what I am about to say, but because I really feel for those of you out there who bought Siege expecting something better, something more fun. The third time's a charm, right? Well, this is more like third time's a reason to just turn off your PC and cry yourself to sleep.

I stated in my review of Ranger, the first expansion, that this game is ridiculously hard on the easy setting. In Ranger, they at least managed to warm you up to the point of being overwhelmed by enemies from all directions. With Siege, you are thrown mercilessly into the fray with a ton of your own men against a trillion enemies. Yes, a trillion.



Three new heroes to play (or shuffle into a corner to avoid an untimely death).
That is the only real difference between Siege and Ranger. There are 19 new missions, three new heroes to play (or in my case, shuffle into a corner to avoid an untimely death), and naturally more colorless narrative that probably should've been proofread before distribution.

Needless to say, I was not impressed by this expansion. I had sincerely hoped that I would find a bit of fun along the way, but it dwindled with each death of my main hero. After the last try, I was moved to reflect on past experiences with games that I wanted to enjoy but over and over again I was met with growing discontent.

So it is with Siege. Despite my attempts to use actual tactics and strategies even Sun Tzu would admire (and some he wouldn't), I just seem to fail more often in this expansion than the last. My mind is completely blown by the sheer number of forces being thrown at me each turn. No matter how many undead I slay, in the time it takes my army to heal the enemy forces have replenished the fallen. Which leads me to my overall question — in what way is this Easy mode so easy?



In what way is the game's Easy mode so easy?
It has always been my understanding that the Normal level of difficulty is the proper amount of challenge that your average gamer should be able to handle, with Easy and Hard difficulties scaling as such. With that said, I am too scared to try this game on Hard, but I would love to know what kind of person it takes to achieve the optimal success level on the hardest difficulty. If that person is you, then I gladly curtsey with all respect because Elven Legacy: Siege is like the Ninja Gaiden of strategy games, but less blood and no ninjas.

The effect of terrain stood out more in this game than others, perhaps because I had so many units of different kinds. The campaign begins on a snow-blanketed map where the high altitudes and barren wintry forests make a difference, which means leveling up units in order to get bonuses for terrain all the more important. Make my units dodge arrows? Halleluiah!

At its price, it may be worth it if you can handle the iterations up to Siege. With such an intensely brutal AI that outnumbers your entire army two to one, I can only recommend this game to those who have fully enjoyed the previous games.





Elven Legacy: Siege

System


Developer

1C Company


Publisher

Paradox Interactive


NA Release

November 17, 2009


Genre

Play Mode


ESRB Rating


In Favor

  • Environment effects on tactics make things interesting

Against

  • Easy mode is the new Hard

G&P Rating

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