King's Bounty: Armored Princess - Review

System: PC
Date: November 20, 2009
MSRP: $39.99

King's Bounty: Armored Princess is a standalone expansion to the multi-award winning King's Bounty: The Legend. But does it live up to its predecessor's accomplishments?

Graphics

The graphics in King's Bounty: Armored Princess (KB:AP) are beautiful! Being a PC game, you will need a fairly decent GPU and processor to maximize your visual experience. I ran KB:AP with an nVidia 9800 GTSm (512 MB) and a Core 2 Duo (2.26 Ghz). With my set up I was able to run everything on high and in 1920 x 1200 with little to no lag.

The environments are vast, ranging from medieval castles and Caribbean-like beaches to toxic wastelands and frozen tundra. Even if you don't have a very powerful set-up, you will still have a nice visual experience.

- 18/20

Sound

The sound in KB:AP is decent. It fits the game well with scores that are more upbeat in tempo when you are in battle. Overall, you probably won't pay much attention to the music as you will be focused a lot more on your battle.

- 17/20

Story

You play as Princess Amelie, daughter of King Mark, who travels to Teana, to find a man named Bill Gilbert, and hopefully save Endoria from impending doom. You start the game off by picking your class: Warrior (excels at physical attacks), Mage (excels at magic), Paladin (balanced). Also, near the very beginning of the game you will get to choose 1 or 8 dragons to aid you in your journey. The dragons have different attributes, abilities, and colors, so choose wisely.

Get ready to read, read, and read some more in this game. Every bit of dialogue in KB:AP is text based and there are deep conversation trees, too. Because of the immense text, you will find yourself just skipping/skimming through so you can get back into battle.

- 16/20

Gameplay

You control your character in real time as you move throughout the game's world. When you encounter an enemy, the game will switch into a turn-based strategy fight. Once in an actual fight, you will control your army and move and attack with each unit. Basically, you pit your army against another one to gain experience and gold to buy new units and upgrades.

You have to play smart and you can't just throw your soldier's lives away, because you never know when you will have to fight again and you could have a very weak army. You can also use your pet dragon intermittently during the battle to attack or support your troops. Your pet dragon isn't just something that was thrown into the game either. You will want to utilize him quite often to help give your army an advantage.

- 18/20

Replayability

Your army can be very broad and unique with countless type of troops you can get to join you. The troops include: archers, mages, knights, zombies, robbers, pirates, bears, griffons, dragons, and then some! You will probably want to try out all of the different units, as they all have their own unique traits and characteristics.

This game is very long and most people will probably invest at least 40 hours or more into it. The level cap is 50, there are tons of enemies and army units, and there are various abilities to learn as Princess Amelie and her pet dragon.

- 20/20

Conclusion

You have to be either a fan of Strategy Role-Playing Games or enjoyed the first game to have a true appreciation for this title. You do need a fairly strong PC to get the most out of the visuals, but it's still playable on an older PC. Additionally, the music is nice and the gameplay is excellent! I just wish I didn't have to read a novel or two while playing King's Bounty: Armored Princess.

Final Score

- 89/100

November 23, 2009
Justin Hubbell