We’ve seen many different types of real time strategy games over the years and Seven Kingdoms: Conquest appears to be no different.

Although it boasts a story line spanning 6,000 years on earth, first starting 5,000 years ago in Egypt and working its way towards 1,000 years in our future, it's nothing that we haven’t seen before.  Of course what is refreshing is that not only the humans fight each other but also the introduction of demons who long to take over Earth. The thought of demons is fairly intrepid, but how does the game really stack up underneath all the hype?

Graphics 80%
While the intro movie graphics leave much to be desired at least you can skip it and never have to see it again (except for when you start the game).  The intro seems to be sluggish even on my killer computer and seems to tear itself across my screen.  Again, once you skip the intro the graphics become much better.  All the visuals inside the maps on which you play are excellent.  Both the artwork and presentation do wonders for the game.  In fact, it appears to be so graphic intensive that my video card has to kick into high gear, rev the fan up high and throttle back to keep its temperature down.  That is actually not a good thing and shouldn’t happen with a game like this.  I can only imagine what would happen to somebody with a lesser computer system than I. 

Sound 50%
With the boasting of a full orchestral-quality soundtrack you would think that the sound would be excellent.  Unfortunately the orchestra used seems to be more of the midi type quality.  While the melody itself is written quite nicely the harshness of the sound distracts from its value overall.  The sound effects are quite annoying in this game as every time a unit or structure is clicked it makes a noise. Though, I do find some satisfaction in hearing a “Moo” every time I click a farm.  Over all the quality is just not where it needed to be for it to be enjoyable.

Gameplay 70%
The mechanics of the game are not hard to understand.  Though, it would be better if both tutorials were playable. The tutorials are split into two, the humans and the demons.  It says that the demon tutorial is to pick up on advanced gameplay but it seems to be the same as the human to me.  Of course, I would be able to determine how similar they really are if the human tutorial was playable all the way through. Halfway through it, I came across an impassable wall and was not able to complete the next objective; therefore I did not finish the tutorial.  Trying to play through the campaigns led me nowhere.  Each time that I thought I was doing well I would suddenly find myself being attacked by the AI who always had more men than me.  It seems as though the AI will ignore all the other villages around it and instead of progressing its way closer it will just launch a full out attack.  How aggravating is that?  It even happens in the skirmish.  It happens no matter what race I play, human or demon.  Quite frankly I don’t know why I kept trying to play the game as much as I did.  The only way I think you are going to see the future civilizations is if you set it up that way in a skirmish game. 

Cut Scenes/Video 50%
The only video in this game is the opening video and I believe I mentioned how well it plays (Not very well!)  It is the only one and it's sluggish and lackluster. The loading screens are generally quick and sometimes offer a word of advice.  So while those don’t offer any excitement, neither are they boring to look at as you won’t be looking at them for very long.

Controls/Interface 70%
Even though Seven Kingdoms: Conquest offers the same basic necessities for a RTS that every other game does, a few things spice it up.  I really like the option it has to assign abilities of units to a number key.  It really speeds things up in a pinch.  The controls are really smooth.  I had no problem moving the view around the map.  You are even able to zoom and turn the camera if and when you feel like it.  Units are selected easily both with a box you draw out or my favorite, the double click on a unit approach.  The interface is snazzy too, offering the stats you need to determine if you need to build more supply gather building or not, based on how fast your depletion rates are.  Unit’s health is display constantly over their heads no longer leaving it to guess work or having to select them.  Still though, This is nothing out of the ordinary.

Summary 64%
Several parts of this game just do not mesh together.  While the graphic quality is fairly high the gameplay simply drags everything to a halt.  It has no replay value as I doubt anyone would make it through the game in the first place.  With its overly aggressive AI I cannot see many people really sticking with this game.  As much as I love the demons and think everyone else will like them, I just cannot enjoy a game where I constantly feel like I am losing unfairly.  This is the kind of game where I want to take it out back and shoot it.  Skip this game, it is disappointing and frustrating.

Did you enjoy this article? Please bookmark it onto: