Take your love of medieval real-time strategy, add a dash of larger maps and combine with a pinch of a campaign storyline and you have The Dark Legions by Mascot Entertainment. The only problem is that this game feels like it's been left on simmer a bit too long; there's not too much in Dark Legions which separates it from other RTS titles of days gone by.

The levels start off as what we have been accustomed to in RTS titles over the years; gathering those first precious loads of resources to begin the construction and expansion of your base along with your armies. Your slaves dutifully begin to deforest the nearby area, or strip mine for ore. After gathering enough materials, you have the option of producing new buildings to build new and different types of units. Various technologies can be researched from within the respective building. To access cavalry, for example, requires the research of horse riding, etc. To keep and maintain your units requires you to expand the number of houses in your community in order to provide for an increase of slave units. You can surround your villages with protective walls, and also upgrade your Keep to access other technology and various unit efficiency. Does any of this ring a bell?

Where the game play does pick up is when you are able to construct a dock to access your naval fleets. In fact, the marine warfare would have been a great place for the Dark Legions to try and differentiate itself from other RTS titles because of how much water there is in most levels. Sadly though, there just wasn't enough in the marine combat to draw me in any further than I needed to be. I used them at a bare minimum level necessary to clear the waters of enemy ships before sending in my troop-loaded transports.

If you get stuck in the Campaign Mode, or want to get a quick “taste” of what the Dark Legions has to offer, then a Random Game option is provided. You are presented with quite a few customizable settings for your map which opens up a lot more repeatability than what's available in the Campaign Mode.

As I have already commented on, the game feels quite similar to most other RTS titles, offering the same medieval setting, the same type of unit / resource production and other well-used (and abused) formulas. It seems a pity, as if the designers had spent just a little bit more time and effort on a few things, it probably would have allowed for a few nuances which would provide that differentiation from other RTS titles; perhaps the ability to name your units, increasing the depth of marine warfare, or even the addition of some unit sound effects may have helped the final result just a little bit.

Graphics:
The units and terrain are of mid-range quality, which is not necessarily a bad thing if this meant the graphics were secondary to the game play. We have all played our fair share of engrossing computer games with addictive game play that have tied us to our machines for days on end which didn't need the very best in high-end video cards. Unfortunately, The Dark Legions does not really fall into this category. The graphics are merely “good enough” for what they represent.

Sound:
When the action heats up and intensifies, I cranked up the volume so that I could surround myself with the audio of swords clanging, and arrows hitting their targets in their glory. The only interesting thing which I found odd was that there were absolutely no sounds from any units. In the past, I think we have all been used to clicking on a soldier, ranged hunter or worker unit to hear them report some feedback on their status. Eg “Ready to work.”, “I await your command.”, “Yes my liege?”. However in Dark Legions these audio cues are not there. The fact that nearly everything else in the game has a triggered sound effect only underscores the missing audio cues from the units themselves.

Gameplay:
I think the fact that Dark Legions resembles so many other RTS titles works in its favor when it comes down to actually playing the game. I was able to jump right into action and figure out the user interface with only a few minutes of study. The menus were self-explanatory so I did not need to waste much time hunting around for what I was looking for. The essential resources that my precious troops and building relied upon were easy to find and gather. Although the game provides a simple tutorial, I'm willing to bet that it's not used very much by the player, as the tutorial objectives are what you would expect of a game in this genre (eg. “create X number of Y units, etc.).

Concept:
While the campaign mode of play provides you with a bit more meat to tie in the levels together, the concept of The Dark Legions is not terribly new or refreshing; farm resources, build armies, smash your enemies. If you enjoy medieval settings in your RTS titles, then you'll probably enjoy this game. If, on the other hand, you're looking for a different experience, you won't really find it here.

Value:
The number of maps provide for a bit of value in this medieval real-time strategy game. You can quickly get yourself into a random game in only a few mouse clicks which is a great feature in the game should you get stuck in the campaign mode or if you only have enough time for a “quick fix”. In fact, given the amount of options available for customizing your “random game”, I almost had more fun with that then with the campaign levels.

Recommendation:
If you love real-time strategy games of the medieval flavor then you're not going to go wrong with at least trying out The Dark Legions. The action is fast-paced, and the campaign mode gives you something with a bit more meat. Unfortunately, if you are a die hard RTS fan, then there's nothing really new to be offered that hasn't been done by other RTS titles within the past decade.