Real time strategy games cover a variety of environments and backgrounds which makes the genre so popular. Whether it was the futuristic but realistic battles of Command & Conquer or the fantastical ramblings encountered in Warcraft, gamers enjoy building bases and taking part in some resource management at their own pace. Undoubtedly there is degree of satisfaction in controlling numerous units who will for the most part do anything you want, even if it's an obvious suicide mission. In Majesty 2 the tables are somewhat turned as you can't control your heroes directly, they do what they want to. Maybe they want to explore the kingdom a bit further or fancy a little face to face with the local demon population. However much like any situation, money makes the world go round, so if you throw enough gold at them they may be tempted to lend a hand.

King Leonard ruled under the shadows of his glorious forefathers, unable to match their bravery because the realm he reigns over no longer possesses such beasts and dark forces. You would think King Leonard would be happy to keep the peace, however delusions of grandeur has left him thinking that maybe it is worth raising a demon which he can beat thus engraving his name into Ardanian history. So he decides to summon a demon from the deepest depths of hell with help from his not so wise wizards. Unfortunately for all concerned Leonard's reign as king comes to a demonic end. Now the Demon is in charge and Ardania is no longer at peace, it's time for you to step up to the throne and do your mightiest to end the evil that has plagued your lands. In the world of Majesty, you are the supposed future ruler of the fantasy kingdom of Ardania. At your service are your loyal yet gold orientated subjects, who have their own ways of doing things. In Majesty 2 your heroes decide what objectives will be completed, leaving you with no other alternative to tempt them with what's left of your treasury gold. Ardania has been blessed with many generations of heroic kings who battled monsters and slayed demons in their conquest for a peaceful kingdom and now it's your turn.

Just like most real time strategy games, you play from a top down/isometric viewpoint where you are able to zoom in and out. As you may have already realised you do not have direct control over the inhabitants of your kingdom instead you have to bark orders within the confines of your castle. You have guards that patrol your castle and the outer perimeter of your kingdom whilst you're Tax Collector visits the local peasant population to collect funds to add to your coffers. As your kingdom grows and you order more buildings/structures to be built more peasants start populating your kingdom. The more peasants you have the more your Tax Collector can collect. As well as improving your funds the increasing peasant population speeds up the building of new structures. Of course in such a fantasy scenario you find yourself having to protect your feeble peasants from the evil hordes that have crept out of hell. Luckily you have palace guards who patrol your castle and the perimeter of your kingdom doing their best to keep the beasts out. However to prosper in Majesty 2 you need to attract a range of heroes to your kingdom via the creation of specific guilds. For example The Warrior guild will attract warriors whilst building a Temple guild will provide clerics for your town.

The resource management doesn't stop there though, as each guild opens up a variety of upgradeable features for not only the building itself or it's heroes but also spells and potions that can be used in battles. One of the Ranger guild upgrades include improving the accuracy of weapon strikes whilst the Cleric guild can conjure health potions. If you thought your peasants were the only ones to increase your treasure then you'd be wrong. The Marketplace increases trade links thus collections whilst your heroes need weapons and relaxation time so you better build a Blacksmith and several inns! All these little necessities make Majesty 2 all the more appealing as you have to devise strategies and tactics which in the past you would never have envisioned employing. By the way if any of your buildings get damaged your citizens will try to fix it so this is one occasion where you don't need to offer any reward or wish you could bark orders at them. With the fantasy setting you may not be surprised to hear that your heroes over time level up which you may think is waste of time as they'll be lost once you complete the level. You'd be wrong though, as you are able to carry through your 'veterans' to the later levels which is essential as you need create a team of super-heroes. You are able to hire Lords i.e. your veteran heroes who still possess their high ranking and specialist skills. In regards to the building management, there is a minor grievance in that if you decide to build another Marketplace or defence tower it costs you more. This can become increasingly frustrating when you are trying to build numerous defence towers as it becomes increasingly more expensive to erect one, sometimes it can have disastrous consequences as you haven't collected enough taxes to fund your next tower and your town succumbs to a rat infestation. Although you're never told why building the same structures increases how much they cost each time, surely such mass production would lead to decreasing costs?

Finally once you've started attracting heroes you better start exploring the rest of kingdom defeating evil and discovering treasure. Your heroes will naturally venture out seeking their own rewards so they need some encouragement i.e. you are going to have to give some of your much heralded gold away. Placing flags around the map and awarding an appropriate bounty to explore the unknown or to destroy a demon portal will interest your heroes. Large bounty's will interest several heroes however don't go in too high or you'll have wasted valuable gold on a simple task, it's a very intriguing way to invite heroes to do your will and makes you really micro manage your gold. You can also set flags to protect buildings or accompany travelling traders so you really need to think 2 or 3 steps ahead. At all times you need to remember to protect your kingdom, so don't spend too much time sending your heroes to the farthest reaches as it'll undoubtedly back fire as you realise your castle is under attack from six skeletons and you have no protection!

Graphically the maps are quite varied as you move around the kingdom, it's quite involving watching your peasants building their homes in around forests and near lakes. Little rabbits and other mammals roam the lands which add to the ambience. The buildings compliment the background and it's calming watching your citizens working away improving buildings as per your royal instruction. The varied evil beings on show look distinctive from your heroes and at first make you smile as you notice the Minotaur's hairy face, although maybe there could have been a few more versions of each fantasy species. The heroes glide across the landscape although their action motions seem quite limited for example the Rangers' just replicate the same bow and arrow action. If you remember Dungeon Keeper, each unit had several attacks it could use, considering the attention to detail that can be found in several areas of Majesty 2, you could be forgiven for thinking your heroes possess more than one attack, this is not the case here. The ambience is enhanced with some excellent fantasy background music that invokes a sense of magic as you play. Even the voiceover by a mildly amusing Sean Connery sound-a-like has a place and adds to the atmosphere.

For Majesty 2 to be successful the AI had to be above average, you don't want to see your heroes attempting suicide missions or even the enemy just repeating the same wave of attacks. Thankfully your heroes tend to value life over greed, often retreating back to your town to replenish there health whilst enemies will regroup and sometimes change tactics. Your heroes are even capable of healing the injured and battle weary comrades. Unfortunately though the death of a level 1 or 2 unit happens far too often in the later missions, you would think that a cleric would think twice before taking on an ogre by themselves. This is especially annoying if you consider how much it costs to resurrect your fallen low level hero!

With so many appealing features and an innovative take on the real time strategy genre there are number of flaws which over time become annoying. As your town increases in size, sewers and drains seem to appear randomly. This at first you may think is not a bad thing; however from these crawl rats and various vermin which start attacking your structures and civilians. Unfortunately your heroes can destroy a bear hideout or a demon portal, but you are unable to block up a drain for some reason so you constantly have to check that no more rats have managed to sprawl out. The flag system works well to a point, but sometimes if you set a flag for example to destroy an enemy hideout your heroes will walk past treasure chests that are littered around, you have to then set more flags to collect the treasure. Also whilst your heroes set upon a lair they tend to forget about the occupiers, so you'll see your warriors taking down a skeleton crypt but not defending themselves from the skeletons! Bearing in mind how expensive it is to resurrect heroes, this can become increasingly frustrating. Majesty 2 can at times suddenly jump in terms of difficulty, so it is advised to save regularly to avoid much disappointment. Online wise there is much more fun to be had as the deployment of the usual tank rush tactics won't work here because you have no control. Both you and your opponents need to make the most of trade posts and strategically throw your bounty. Too much bounty and every one of your heroes will take on the challenge leaving you defenceless whilst a flimsy reward will only have your weakest wannabes taking the mission on.

Majesty 2 is definitely a game you should play as it changes the way you approach a real time strategy game. The fantasy background and the attention to detail brings a smile to your face from start to finish. Whilst the fact you don't actually control your units is something to be experienced. With a few tweaks here and there Majesty 2 could have been a truly innovative must have title, in its current form it's a superbly entertaining and involving strategy game that gets a royal seal of approval!

Reviewed by Christopher McNally for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).