Kohan II: Kings of War

The First Kohan outing was a critically acclaimed cult hit upon its release in 2001, gaining mucho props for the way it flung new ideas at the rapidly stagnating RTS genre. This long-awaited sequel boasts many of the same unique features. For example, you recruit whole companies of troops rather than single units, and you can attach powerful characters to these companies to boost their effectiveness in a scrap. But it's also simplified the game mechanics and tarted things up with fancy 3D visuals.

The single-player campaign revolves around a typically hackneyed fantasy yarn of undead hordes, immortal heroes, ice monsters and suchlike, but features over 30 missions and a generous assortment of races and factions to command. And while the resource gathering, settlement building and research are all standard fare, the gameplay is elevated by nifty features such as resupply (where decimated companies enlist reinforcements when taken back to a friendly settlement), a simple economy system and a nod to the tactics of terrain and unit formation.

Standard-issue multiplayer and skirmish modes are also chucked in, each of which uses a random map generator. While there's little here that we haven't seen before in some shape or form, Kohan II brings it all together tidily. RTS fans, or those looking for a better than average example of the genre, should lap it up.

Kohan II: Kings of War is a real-time strategy game, the underrated diamond of its genre. Destroy armies of darkness in a dedicated campaign, team up with other players over a cooperative network. Conquer territories, build settlements, and lead the world to prosperity in an extraordinary strategy of its time.

Continuing Events

The plot of the second part continues the events of the first. The defeated armies of the forces of darkness have retreated, but they have not surrendered. Resorting to ancient magic, the army of darkness summons the ancient demon Abaddon. Over the peaceful skies of the medieval world of Caldoon, a deadly threat has once again arisen. Immortal heroes, the Kohans, come to the rescue.

Revolutionary Offerings

In its time, Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns offered an interesting system of resource allocation and extraction. Everything in the game is bought for gold. If a player doesn't have enough mana, he can still hire a mage squad for it. Just shortage of mana will be filled with gold until you can find a new source of mining. This approach has made the game more interesting and easier.

A special game

Kohan II: Kings of War managed to offer the world of real-time strategy a lot, so this game is full of its own peculiarities:

• You don't have to maintain an army of only one race. Six races can gather under your command and hate each other. And not just races, even five political factions will come to peace in your army.
• You don't just have to watch units destroy the enemy step by step, only a carefully crafted strategy will lead an army to victory.
• Thirty-two story missions, with epic battles and wise artificial intelligence.