Elven Legacy

The Good
Elven legacy is one of those games that are challenging, in the right way. There are no sections that can not be beaten through skill, and the luck factor is very low. Whenever something goes wrong, it is your fault! The graphics is also nice, from an artistic point of view. Everything is colorful and nice looking, and every faction has its own distinct feel.

The Bad
While the graphics might look nice from an artistic point of view, the engine does not exactly feel modern. There also seem to be some odd leftovers from the previous entry in the series (fantasy wars), as the manual claims that you can chose between two campaigns: An orc and a human campaign, and that there is a third that you unlock as soon as you are done with those two. There is in fact only a single campaign (that contains elves). The tutorial seem to be having the same problem, as it flat out states that you are playing elven legacy. The campaign is also a bit on the short side, and while there are a few times when you can chose one mission or the other, plus a few bonus missions, finishing the game only requires you to beat 10 missions, and there is no way to go back and play the other mission, when you had the choice between two, without reverting all your progress back to that point. The story is also a bit bland, and none of the plot twists are very interesting.

The Bottom Line
Elven legacy is a panzer general ripoff, plain and simple. It borrows most of its mechanics from panzer general, and only adds a few new things. That is not to say that elven legacy is a bad game, not at all! Where panzer general was a bit rough around the edges, elven legacy is smooth, where panzer general would get a bit repetitive after a while, elven legacy manages to feel fresh all the way through. But if you disliked panzer general, chances are that you will dislike this game as well.

If you never played the above mentioned panzer general, the section above might not have been very enlightening. The game is a hexagon based, turn based, tactical game. You move your troops, then the enemy moves his/her troops. Most missions are about capturing a certain location or killing certain units. Combat works like this: You move your units within attack range of the enemy (usually next to it, but archers can shoot from 2 hexes away), and then you click on the enemy. Both sides will take a bit of damage, depending on their stats and how damaged the units were in the first place. Some attacks can not be retaliated against, and archers will be able to support friendly units next to them, that are being attacked. The system is very simple, but offers a lot of tactical depth.