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Disciples II: Dark Prophecy

The Specs

In Disciples II: Dark Prophecy the four races return once again to do battle. You can play as the Empire, the Mountain Clans, the Legions of the Damned, or the Undead Hordes in this turn-based strategy game of light city-building and more involved troop management. If you've ever played the Heroes of Might and Magic series, you'll recognize a lot from those games in the Disciples series. Disciples II goes a bit beyond the Heroes series to offer more roleplaying elements — your heroes have much more impact on the battles — and arguably more interesting combat that requires careful positioning and use of special abilities to prevail. Some of the new features in Disciples II include 800 x 600 16-bit resolution (the first game was 640x480), improved AI, more interactive neutral creatures, and an upgraded battle system. And like the first game, Disciples II should sport some of the coolest spell graphics to be found.

The Speculation

Mark's Comments: All Disciples II really has to do is be as good as the first game. All indications are that Strategy First is working more on polishing the type of gameplay they have rather than reinventing the game. The spell graphics really are some of the most engaging you'll see in any game. It's hard for me to imagine how they could fail to deliver a good, turn-based strategy game, but the computer game industry continually surprises me.

Tom's Comments: I'm with Mark on this one. I loved the first Disciples for its elegant mechanics (dare I compare it to a board game?) so it seems like Disciples II is a no-brainer for great turn-based gaming. As long as Strategy First doesn't bog their sequel down with feature creep ("Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we did X, Y, and Z?"), Disciples II is one of the games I'm most looking forward to in 2001. However, I'd love to see the missions break out of the Heroes of Might & Magic "puzzle" feel of the first game.

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Publisher: Strategy First
Developer: Strategy First
Genre: Turn-based fantasy strategy
Release Date: Q2 2001