"King's Bounty" is definitely worthy of the mantle of its predecessor - assuming you can get past its quirks.
Pros: a huge world to explore; tons of interesting creatures to meet and grind into bone-dust; challenging campaign
Cons: a complete absence of multiplayer; story vacillates between serious and comical without any warning; combat-heavy style of play may not be for everyone.
Generally, I feel about game remakes about the same way I feel about Zooey Deschanel: cute, but, in the greater scheme of things, largely unnecessary. Game remakes have a tendency to be either dull (as was the case with "Tomb Raider Anniversary"), or grating (as was the case with the XBox remake of "Conker's Bad Fur Day.") Occasionally, as many game critics have seen from the experience in intellectual self-mutilation that was "Dune 2000," they can be both. Yet something has obviously been added to the water to make all that change, if the small-time Russian developer 1C could have a go at the old stand-by Commodore 64 classic "King's Bounty," and -- shocker! -- actually do a very good job with it. Not only pleasantly surprising in its evocation of nostalgia, but also curiously deep and involved on the strategic level, this remake stands on its own just as well as it does in the shadow of its predecessor.
To set the record straight on "King's Bounty"'s story, it only tangentially relates to its predecessor's plot. In the original, the hero was betasked by the King with orders to recover pieces of a secret map. The map was divided among a number of villains populating the land in castles. Why the map was split between these enemies, or why the King would even need it was never explained, but this did not put a dent into the hours of entertainment one could reasonably derive from the game proper. Same holds true for the remake, as its story is barely more substantial than that of a music video from the eighties: the player, as in the original, is tasked with a variety of missions by the King. Along with these quests, the player traverses the countryside and takes on a variety of other exploits, some involving heroic deeds and destruction of undead plagues, others mundane and trivial, usually involving obtaining pigments for a painter. To be fair, the hero in question is a bit of a tool, as not even being a level-56 badass with an army of armored thugs in tow will allow him to simply beat the painter's head in and loot his corpse in lieu of an appropriate answer to such a request.
The absence of any kind of moral compass a la "Fable" is disappointing, but it does free up the board for some excellent straight-up questing, looting, and levelling. This is where the gameplay that accompanies this story (or lack thereof) kicks in, and it is the real meat and potatoes of this title. The majority of the player's time will be spent travelling the overworld map which, much like the one in "Heroes of Might and Magic," is populated by all manner of monsters, treasure, and quests. During his travels, the player will collect two resources: gold, which allows for recruitment of an army; and leadership, which, on the most basic level, works as a squad cap for the number of units one may have in a stack. As the player's level increases, so do the abilities of the player, and, ultimately, the possibility of recruiting larger armies and tackling larger stacks of enemies. Profound this isn't, but don't let it be said that it won't eat up hours of your time as you struggle to take down just that last horde of beholders before you head off to bed at 4 A.M.
In addition to making the gameplay as close as they could to virtual crack cocaine without breaking the law, Studio 1C also managed to make the game visually appealing and extremely easy on the eyes. Most of the statistics surrounding your character have been limited to only the barest essentials, and all the visuals are presented in a colorful, pretty fashion that almost belies the fact that, at its heart, this is a game about mass goblin genocide. The variety of monsters available to the player for recruitment is also impressive, and most of them have an appearance and personality that are unique to them, making them extremely appealing. The battle animations are a bit stiff and stilted, however, making the humanoid characters appear less like humans and more like action figures; the less conventional critters, such as beholders and spiders, are less affected by this problem. Generally, though, the visual aspect of the game, though perhaps lacking the polish of "Heroes of Might and Magic," is one of the most impressive aspects of the game, literally sucking you in with its aesthetics and presentation.
The nicest thing one can say about the sound design is that it is unobtrusive. While there is nothing truly grating about it, there's also nothing even remotely interesting or remarkable that is brought to the table by the game's audio presentation. Shrewdly eschewing any kind of voice-overs or voice-acting (whether this was done to cut back on costs, cut down on cheesiness, or simply to avoid extra work is, quite frankly, irrelevant, because what is there actually works) the game provides a traditional-fare fantasy soundtrack and ambient sounds. Simplicity is the word of the day where sound is concerned, as precious little of it will register on the player's audio radar, and turning the sound off will produce just as mollifying effect as keeping it on.
The problem spot that "King's Bounty" comes up against is a rather steep difficulty curve. As large chunks of the world become available, the player is given ample freedom to travel around and attempt to take on stacks of freely-roaming beasts. The problem with this mechanic is that unless the player obtains the "Scouting" skill early on, which allows for the examination of a stack, he will be completely in the dark regarding the enemy's strength relative to that of the player's army. The game doesn't make any concessions for carelessness, either, as even the first area is peopled by some pretty tough opponents, and it becomes exceptionally easy to fall prey to a stack of fairies early on in the game. The game does not penalize the player for losing battles, save for the fact that after each defeat, the player must re-recruit his army, and considering most creature dwellings have only a limited number of each unit available for recruitment, this turns the game from one of strategic risk and reward into a process of saving before each battle and reloading the game if the casualties among the player's ranks mount too high. It's not game-killing, but it breaks up the pace of the game, and the title suffers for it.
"King's Bounty" is neither spectacularly creative nor original, but it performs well precisely because it is neither of those things. Sticking as closely to the formula established by its predecessors as possible, it negotiates between its simple nature and accessibility with the greatest of ease. Though I frequently harp on games for lacking originality, this is one of those cases where it is acceptable to not stray too far from the beaten path. "King's Bounty" is a title that's easy to recommend for fans of the turn-based strategy genre, particularly if they are also fans of "Heroes of Might and Magic" and, for some obscure reason, still retain fond memories of the original "King's Bounty" on the C64.