Utterly Brilliant!
The first thing that you'll notice when playing it is the animation and attention to detail - it's brilliant to say the least. They say the graphics are dated in the Gamespot review but really it just depends what you're looking for. If you want Mass Effect graphics then you won't find them here, but if you want 'cutesy' manga-esque style, then this is your game. It's without a doubt an adventure game for kids but the more you play it the more you realise just how technical and advanced things can get.
Upon starting the game we choose which path we want to take; that of a warrior a paladin or a mage. Upon choosing you'll understand how the game works, especially when you level up for the first time. leveling up gives your character a certain amount of runes. Depending what character class you chose you're given more of that kind. Thus you receive red warrior runes as a fighter, green runes for paladin and blue for mage. Also in the game you collect magic crystals which you'll use to level up your spells. You'll also collect money as well as various weapons and artifacts as you progress.
You play the character of Princess Amelie who must save her homeland from attack from one of the demons of Hell, Baal. At the beginning your whisked off into a portal into a new land where upon you start receiving quests, eventually finding out you need to find a series of stones as your ultimate goal.
Upon arriving you'll do a basic tutorial for combat and you'll earn yourself a pet dragon, who'll come in very useful in combat!
Combat is the bread and butter of King's Bounty Armoured Princess and as you move through the game you'll come up against wandering figures whom if you role your mouse across a pair of "crossed swords" will appear. However, before you even begin to start fighting you need to build an army. There are a certain number of slots available with which to fill with your desired troops and upon starting you're given a small army with which to fight with. The amount your allowed to carry of each troop depends upon your leadership skill which rises through gaining levels, wearing equipment and collecting flags scattered throughout the game. More so, build your army wisely as some units simply loathe being in an army with certain others. For example; griffins hate dragons and veteran orcs loathe necromancers. "So" you may say and you'll notice that their mood takes a beating if you put troops who don't get on together. Mood gives your allies positives in combat as well as gives them negatives so be careful. Thankfully we can see on their image when you mix them a little face that changes accordingly so.
The combat is like an animated chess game where you move your pieces around the board and use their attributes to overcome their foes. Mix this with spell casting and you have a wonderful little combat system that's great fun to play. Bring your pet dragon in, who also levels up giving him new skills and you have a truly absorbing battle system.
I chose mage and had a real blast and spent well over 100 hours playing it. It's really highly addictive game play and once you sit down the hours will fly by as you progress deeper into the game with an engrossing storyline. I'm ready to go again, this time as a warrior I think, but I'm going to have to leave it for a while as the last two weeks have disappeared..........