Rating: Summary: You'd have more fun driving nails into your foot Review: Alright, this game has graphics that look like they were inherited from Civilization 2. There's nothing to complain about in reference to the strategy portion of the game, since it's pretty standard, but the real time portion will make you lose the will to live. You deploy your soldiers and then helplessly watch as they run around the map and fight the enemy. Yes, I'm not kidding, you actually can't control the army in battle, it's reduced to you sitting there watching little soldier A throw things at little soldier B until one of them dies or runs away. The idea that you can't make real time changes during a battle is rather absurd, and as a result of the game design there's no strategy, you might as well wander off and do something interesting while the battles are running. This game hurts brain.
Rating: Summary: Very Disappointing Review: Coming from the company that has produced the very successful Europa Universalis games (which are great) - Legion is a flop, a big flop. As an experienced war gamer my expectations continually rise due to continual improvements in war gaming. This is the most disappointing game I've ever bought and that probably covers 50+ different games. I tried playing this 5-6 times for several hours and no the game is not too complex. It is way too simple and wooden. Like the 'town' in an Italian spaghetti western.This game fails as a strategy game since there is so little depth to it. It looks like a cheesy imitation of Civilization I (without the tech tree, wonders, new units, leaders, etc.) which came out over 10 years ago. Yet Civ I is better than this for strategy (guns v. butter decisions). Legion fails in the tactical sense. Don't even begin to compare this to Age of Kings for battle play. All you do is a one time launch of the battle. After it starts you have no control. AoK runs circles around this in controlling and viewing battles plus AoK is better at the strategic level. And yes, AoK did come out over 2 years ago. That Legion is turn-based (i/o RTS) makes the flow much more stiff but at least I knew that up front. The graphics are like something out of a time capsule - an not in a good sense. Ancient Art of War does come to mind. Top it all off with almost useless documentation and, you get the point. Strategy - F Tactics - F Graphics - D Instructions - F Am still looking forward to Paradox's Hearts of Iron (which looks great) and Crusader Kings. Still, how can something as bad as Legion come from the same company that produced EU? Reminds me of a line from the Sheriff (Jackie Gleason) at the end of 'Smokey and the Bandit' when he looked at his bumbling son and said 'when I get home I'm gonna puch your momma in the mouth'. Maybe that's how Paradox will look at Legion some day.
Rating: Summary: Very Disappointing Review: Coming from the company that has produced the very successful Europa Universalis games (which are great) - Legion is a flop, a big flop. As an experienced war gamer my expectations continually rise due to continual improvements in war gaming. This is the most disappointing game I've ever bought and that probably covers 50+ different games. I tried playing this 5-6 times for several hours and no the game is not too complex. It is way too simple and wooden. Like the 'town' in an Italian spaghetti western. This game fails as a strategy game since there is so little depth to it. It looks like a cheesy imitation of Civilization I (without the tech tree, wonders, new units, leaders, etc.) which came out over 10 years ago. Yet Civ I is better than this for strategy (guns v. butter decisions). Legion fails in the tactical sense. Don't even begin to compare this to Age of Kings for battle play. All you do is a one time launch of the battle. After it starts you have no control. AoK runs circles around this in controlling and viewing battles plus AoK is better at the strategic level. And yes, AoK did come out over 2 years ago. That Legion is turn-based (i/o RTS) makes the flow much more stiff but at least I knew that up front. The graphics are like something out of a time capsule - an not in a good sense. Ancient Art of War does come to mind. Top it all off with almost useless documentation and, you get the point. Strategy - F Tactics - F Graphics - D Instructions - F Am still looking forward to Paradox's Hearts of Iron (which looks great) and Crusader Kings. Still, how can something as bad as Legion come from the same company that produced EU? Reminds me of a line from the Sheriff (Jackie Gleason) at the end of 'Smokey and the Bandit' when he looked at his bumbling son and said 'when I get home I'm gonna puch your momma in the mouth'. Maybe that's how Paradox will look at Legion some day.
Rating: Summary: Not very good. Review: Definitely not worth what I payed. Very, very disappointing. It was fun, until I figured out what formation was unbeatable.
Rating: Summary: Lots of Strategy, fun. Review: First off, this game will not win game of the year awards or anything like that. But it is a good game. Management of your economy, army, and diplomacy is simple and doesn't take very long to learn. The best thing about the game is that there is lots of strategy... Keeping it challenging and interesting. One of my favorite things about the game is how battles are played out. You give your troops their orders BEFORE the battle, and then you have no control once it starts. It adds to the strategy as it is not a clickfest-- you can think about what your unit formations/orders should be, the position, and the terrain you want them to fight in. It is also very realistic-- in Roman times, once a battle had begun, orders could not be efficiently relayed to the troops. The economy interface is simple. There are 3 resources; food, lumber, and iron. You will need them to raise armies and build buildings. Some buildings provide the resources directly. Others improve your worker's productivity. And others add town defenses or military improvements. If you leave workers idle, the population will rise faster. There are many types of soldiers you can buy. Different tribes can build different soldiers (Rome builds legions, and Celts can build fanatics), and there are building requirements to get certain units. Every unit has its own specialties. Some fight well in rough terrain, whereas others (such as legions), fight well in the open. Some fall easily to cavalry-- but hopilites will tear them up. In the back of the manual it lists the abilities of the units, and all this adds to the battle strategy. The game is turn based. Each turn is a season, and each turn you can move your armies a certain number of spaces. In the spring, buildings you ordered are built and units produced. The diplomacy is fine. You can declare war, offer tribute, offer an alliance, and check a tribe's standing with others. They can make you an offer, such as: "We will agree to the alliance if you give us 100 food and 200 lumber." Or they might beg for peace, and offer tribute if you will accept. The graphics are NOT cutting edge. Rather, they are acceptable-- and this makes it so that the game will run on low-end computers. It runs perfectly on my G3 400 MHz iMac... And I am sure it would also work on even older computers. There is no multiplayer either-- but as the game is turn based, multiplayer probably wouldn't work very well anyway. This won't be the best game you buy, but I would recommend it.
Rating: Summary: Legion Rocks! Review: I have not bought the game yet, but I've played it....And its great! It gives a real sense of Roman leadership. Taking your army, and kickin the crud out of the enemy makes you feel all warm and cuddly inside. For the size of the sprites, you would be amazed by how much they bleed. The blood and gore gives it a nice touch, definently not for the faint hearted. So this game is most definently a "T" game. But the battles are so REAL.Like, if your Auxilary Archers are to close to an enemy, they drop their bows and whip out a sword,which trust me don't force them to do. You give your troops a plan, and they carry it out. But you can't command them on the feild. There are so many Units, as well. Theres cavalry, Praetorians, gladiators, spearmen, legions and much more! My friend says you can play as different sides but I have not tried that yet. Overall, Legion is a beautiful and wonderful, game and should be experienced by all teen strategy fans. -Pat
Rating: Summary: Sad...very sad. Review: I WAS looking forward to this game, but after thirty minutes of play I felt like I was playing something that should run on a low powered Commodore 64. There is virtually no diplomacy, the game mechanics are rustic, anachronistic and extremely boring, there is no internal decision making to add any flavor to the game and ultimately it is like managing a warehouse with three materials and making sure the shelves are stocked. The battles are even worse. They are a big mess and it makes no difference where you position your troops they always end up in the same spot...all lumped in a big ugly, indecipherable mess in the middle of the screen. I loved both Europa Universalis games and was extremely disapointed with this sad game. However I am still loking forward to Paradox's Crusader Kings, I still have hope.
Rating: Summary: Doesn't cut it Review: I was so looking forward to this game. I mean Really. Which is why I am really bummed it is not that good. As a Roman empire fan I was dying to use my legions to trounce those nasty celts. And it just seemed to lack any roman flavor. The combat baffled me as the units had no common sense, you can't use traditional Roman tactics, and I almost went mad trying to get my troops to realize they were in a great hill position just sit and wait! The Legion units scattered to the four winds in combat- so much for that great trained bunch of men hammering through the barbarians. And I was also mystified by the rqndom limits placed on units in specific areas- which why of all things are called "squads"? They went to great lengths to get every celtic tribe name correct, but allow only 8 "squads" in one place. Maybe its in the game someplace but after playing for a few hours I was just sick over what was missing. No forming the XX Legion and marching on the enemy. It really felt like a game from maybe 4 years ago. So as a Roman history enthuiast I just have to say I am very disapointed and wished they had put out a demo. WIth that I would have known in 10 minutes not to waste my money.
Rating: Summary: Improved with latest patch (1.06b) Review: I was somewhat disappointed with the original version of Legion because I quickly mastered it and was no longer challenged by it. However, with the latest patch (1.06b), the authors have added additional challenge since it is now more important to manage resources wisely, and the combat has become a bit more balanced as well. There are two new campaigns, which helps add variety to the game. I found the game easy to learn right out of the box, and enjoyable. It still is not a highly challenging strategy game, and the tactical battles are still mostly beyond the player's ability to control, but it is fun, although still somewhat limited.
Rating: Summary: The Mediocre Legion Review: I would recommend that you not buy this game for the following reasons: 1.There is really no attacking or defending. It seems like every battle is a meeting engagement. 2.Combat can get to be quite boring after a while. You usually know who will win when the battle opens and I was surprised to find that you can't control your units during the battle. 3.Cavarly units are very weak and their initial charge has no shock value. 4.In combat, units just march at each other and fight-there seems to be no tactical skill involved; the AI is exceedingly dumb,and the combat music can get very boring. All this said, this title is an average game. You may like it if you are a history buff, and the patch 1.06 improves a little on the games original flaws.
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