Kohan II: Kings of War

As far as RTS games go, it takes a lot to standout anymore as the genre was abused a few years ago. All the collecting of resources, unit and structure building, and upgrading really became stale and RTS games, whether it was Star Wars or Age of Empires, lost their edge and became mundane. The original Kohan was one of the few exceptions as they found clever ways to reduce the micromanagement in addition to adding a number of original concepts. This time around however, Kohan II: Kings of War is based off the original so its not as groundbreaking but a number of features have been added and tweaks have been made to further enhance an already solid performance.

If you're new to the world of the Kohan you're in for a treat as you'll find one of the more original stories put to a fantasy universe. You're thrown into a well developed civilization where immortal beings called Kohan have been battling across generations. The mortals around them are drawn into the conflict as well and often they're the ultimate key to the success of either side. There is also a clear good and evil element with the evil Kohan creating abominations as they try to wipe out or subjugate the good Kohan or anybody else in their way.

The gameplay of Kohan II: Kings of War deviates from the standard RTS elements in a number of areas. First, resource collecting is not done by creating a collector and having them constantly sent to various resources. Instead when a building or mine is created, it automatically starts collecting the specific resource. In addition, only gold is stock piled and the rest are subtracted when units are created. Another difference is the way units are created. Kohan II: Kings of War requires the creation of squads instead of individual units. These squads can be made up of various different units depending on what resources you have available. Another element that works well is that as long as one unit from a squad survives, the entire squad will regenerate once out of battle and near a friendly settlement. This changes the dynamic as squads also gain experience and become stronger so throwing them into battle haphazardly isn't an effective strategy as you'll want to have them retreat if the battle goes badly.

Kohan II: Kings of War also has a graphical upgrade from the previous version and looks much improved. The unit animations are varied and realistic, the environments are detailed, and the overall game has a polished feel to it.

Kohan II: Kings of War is a solid sequel and although not as innovative as the original, it still draws you in with a well developed story and balanced gameplay.